Who is Star-Lord? Let’s Get To Know The Guardians Of The Galaxy

The hero known in the Marvel Universe as Star-Lord is Peter Quill, a character that belongs to the Guardians of the Galaxy. The Guardians are a group of superheroes from Marvel Comics that achieved worldwide fame thanks to their own MCU movie directed by James Gunn.

The first movie was such a success that it allowed making a saga, being two movies of this team. On November 25, the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special was released while we are waiting for the release of the third part of these superheroes, led by Star-Lord.

Image: Marvel Studios

Who is Star-Lord?

Peter Quill is the son of Emperor J’Son, from the planet Spartax, and Meredith Quill, who is human. For this reason, Peter has a human and celestial mix. He was born from the union given when the ship commanded by J’Son crashed on Earth while his people were at war with the Ariguan Confederacy.

Peter grows up on Earth, unaware of his ancestry. His childhood was marked by tragedy, with a stepfather who tried to kill him for not looking like him and a mother who tried to raise him and is killed by aliens. Later, the space pirates Ravagers, with Yondu as their leader, found Peter. After facing and overcoming all the Ravagers, Yondu gave him a choice to be kidnapped or die. But Peter proposed to join them, and Yondu allowed him to be the “clean-up boy.”

That’s how Peter learned everything about the Ravagers until he became the rebels’ leader in an interstellar war. Later, Star-Lord forms a new version of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

The New Guardians of the Galaxy

After a period of inactivity, Peter discovered the possible approval of a law that would enact his father where he avoided any interaction that was extraterrestrial, or what is the same space, specifically with Earth. This gave rise to reform in his team of Guardians of the Galaxy, incorporating other members, such as Rocket, Gamora, Drax, Bug, and Groot, who, led by him, have as their primary mission to protect the Earth.

Image via Marvel Studios

The Black Vortex and Secret Wars

The Black Vortex was one of the devices capable of granting cosmic powers to humans. Peter and Kitty stole it because they knew that this way, they could face and defeat J’son’s killer squadron, who outnumbers them, more easily. This made them ask for help from the X-Men, fighting fiercely against the whole squadron. At the end of the fight, where they almost die, Peter proposed a romantic relationship with Kitty, which she accepted.

At this stage, Star-Lord and the Guardians of the Galaxy faced the Children of Tomorrow in the battle that determined the world’s end. Star-Lord was one of the few who survived on the Fantastic Four’s “life raft.”

Those who survived remained cryo-frozen for eight years until they were awakened and transported by Doctor Strange, Miles Morales, and a new Thor to safety. This was one of the battles where Star-Lord demonstrated an extensive command of his abilities. He got to pilot a ship where he would take Reed Richards to the heart of Castle Doom and managed to keep the Black Swan busy.

Peter Quill Goes to Earth

When reality was successfully restored, Peter assumed the throne of Spartax. In this case, the Guardians team is led by Rocket, while Kitty became Star-Lady. When the FF was disbanded, the Thing and Richards family tried to restore the multiverse.

Image via Marvel Comics.

When the story of Civil War II unfolds, the Guardians of the Galaxy, along with Star-Lord, help Captain Marvel fight Iron Man. In that fight, the Guardians of the Galaxy’s ship exploded, leaving them stranded on Earth. Gamora discovered that Peter had lied to them about where Thanos was hiding, who was always on Earth, so after stopping them, both Gamora and her team left him for not telling them the truth.

Peter was stranded on Earth, which was an absolute nightmare for him. He came to live alone and frustrated in an apartment gifted to him by Abigail Brand. When a battle broke out in a bar where they were fighting assassins, Peter attracted the attention of the police and was captured.

The one who prosecuted Peter was Matt Murdock, who claimed that Star-Lord was one of the most reckless superheroes. Murdock accused Star-Lord of being a threat to all civilians, counting the property damage he causes in his fights. Brandt intervened in Peter’s trial and got his sentence reduced, paying his penalty with community service. In this way, he was assigned to the elderly Edmund Allen, who was a retired super criminal.

Master of the Sun

Master of the Sun had a notable influence on Peter when the reborn Olympians began to disrupt the entire universe. Therefore, Peter and Rocket teamed up with Nova and other members of the Guardians to fight and stop the slaughter of innocents. The fight was tenacious and Star-Lord was captured by Hephaestus. Despite this, he managed to kill Olympus but he perished there. Later, it was revealed that he did not die but had been transported to another universe different from Alt.

Star-Lord managed to assume new powers that made him one of the most powerful opponents to face Knull. He managed to save himself and the other Guardians from an infection launched by Knull. Thus, they killed the dragon and the living abyss created by it ceased to have any effect.

Powers and Abilities

By his heritage, Star-Lord is a hybrid between the human and the Celestial so he has superhuman abilities. In the beginning as Peter Quill, when his powers were not yet discovered, he had Celestial powers. This is why he managed to survive for brief moments when he held the Gem of Power. Once he discovered and mastered his powers, he was able to face his own father, who was a pure Celestial and had defeated the other Guardians.

image via Marvel Studios

Star-Lord’s superhuman powers include:

• Durability and superhuman resistances, which allowed him to withstand the exposure of energy radiated from the Infinity Gem. He has also been able to withstand attacks and injuries, recovering quickly.
• He possesses a regenerative healing factor thanks to celestial powers, being able to heal without leaving any trace.
• Quill has immortality and can manipulate cosmic energy to generate solid constructions. In addition, he is able to manipulate matter molecularly. He is able to improve his durability and physical strength and is almost immune to damage.

Among his abilities are armed combat, ranged or melee, defeating anyone who crosses his path. He is an innate leader who has wisely guided the Guardians of the Galaxy team in their journey. To top it off, he is an expert thief, marksman, acrobat and pilot. And he is very fluent in multilingualism.

Among his favorite equipment are the Quad Blaster, the Hadron Destroyer and the Power Gem. He also wears a Helmet, Translator Implant, Gravity Mine, Troll Doll, and Sony TPS-L2 Walkman Headset.

Other Versions of Star-Lord

There are several versions of the character.

Classic

The classic version of Peter Quill is seen in the adventures described in Marvel Preview #4 and #11. There, Star-Lord is born during an unusual astronomical phenomenon, where many of the planets align. At birth he did not look like his father, so his father accuses his mother of infidelity, and dies of a heart attack when as a baby she tries to kill him, raising him by his mother alone.

When Peter was eleven years old, Ariguans killed his mother, so Peter went to an orphanage. Soon after he managed to escape and became a NASA astronaut. While on a space station, Master of the Sun, an alien entity offers him the mantle of Star-Lord.

Age of Ultron

By assassinating Hank Pym before he gave birth to Ultron, Wolverine and Susan Storm create an alternate timeline. In this new reality, Star-Lord serves as a member of the Defenders, who replaced the now-defunct Avengers.

Starkill

We first saw this version of Starkill in Captain Marvel #126 in 2018. This is one of the malevolent versions of Star-Lord in an alternate universe. Starkill possesses the Reality Stone, and in that version he is allied with Thanos.

Image via Marvel Comics

The Elder Quill

The Elder Quill is a version that belongs to the Old Man Logan universe, where Peter Quill becomes an emperor, in this case of Spartax. He leaves both Gamora and the Guardians of the Galaxy to marry L’ssa and have two children from that union.

This is a devastated Quill, who is found by the Guardians to be quite aged. They recruit him to fight on Earth and avenge what the Universal Church of Truth did to his world.

Star-Lord’s appearances in other media

Star-Lord has made many appearances in other media.

Television

The Guardians of the Galaxy appear in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, specifically in the episode “Michael Korvac”, next to Star-Lord where the voice is performed by Steve Downes. He also appears in Ultimate Spider-Man, voiced by Chris Cox.

Similarly, Star-Lord appears in an episode of Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers “Guardians of the Galaxy”– He appears in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., in a “Marvel Strike” episode of the first season, and in the second season in the episode “Monster Planet: Part 2”.

Likewise, we see Star-Lord in:

• Guardians of the Galaxy animated series by Will Friedle.
• Lego Marvel Super Heroes – Guardians of the Galaxy: The Thanos Threat.
• Spider – Man in the episode “Amazing Friends”.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe animated series, What If…?

Image via Marvel Comics.

Movies

On the big screen, actor Chris Pratt plays Star-Lord/Peter Quill in Marvel Studios movies:

• 2014 in Guardians of the Galaxy.
• 2017 the sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
• 2018 in the third installment of Avengers: Infinity War.
• 2019 Star-Lord appears in Avengers: Endgame.
• 2023 Star-Lord is again expected to appear in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Star-Lord Toys

Star-Lord appears in various toys such as:

• As a 3 ¾ figure in the Marvel Universe toy line where he comes out dressed in his guardian uniform.
• He is also as one of the figures in the Groot Build – A – Figure line.
• Sale in Hot Toys, 1:6 scale line referring to the Marvel Studio’s Guadians of the Galaxy movie.
• Likewise we see weapons and masks belonging to Star-Lord released by Nerf.

Video games

Star-Lord appears in several video games such as:

• LittleBig-Planet
• Marvel Heroes
• Lego Marvel Super Heroes
• Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes
• Guardians of the Galaxy for Minecraft on Playstation and Xbox
• Facebook’s Marvel: Avengers Alliance

Star-Lord in Theme Parks

In the Theme Parks, Star-Lord appears with Chris Pratt in Disney California Adventure, as an attraction in the Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Escape!

Star-Lord for many was an unknown character to the general public, but he became known thanks to the MCU and James Gunn who was the director of the Guardians of the Galaxy saga leading this character. So we think that in a third installment of this saga can not miss, Star-Lord is a key piece that has allowed this great team to keep in balance and peace to all worlds, especially Earth.