Star-Lord

"So, what do you guys feel like doing? Something good? Something bad? A bit of both?" "We'll follow your lead, Star-Lord." "Bit of both."

- Star-Lord and Gamora

Star-Lord (real name Peter Quill) is a Marvel Comics superhero who is the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy. He is one of the main protagonists of the Guardians of the Galaxy film series.

A self-proclaimed "legendary" outlaw, Star-Lord was a member of the space thieves Ravagers who later formed a team with Gamora, Rocket Raccoon, Drax the Destroyer, and Groot to stop the evil Ronan the Accuser, and later to both protect the galaxy from threats, while at the same time getting paid for services.

He was created by Steve Englehart and Steve Gan.

Guardians of the Galaxy
Peter Quill was born in 1980 to Meredith Quill and an unknown father (later revealed to be Ego the Living Planet). When Peter was young, his mother brought together some of her favorite songs from her childhood into a mixtape she titled "Awesome Mix Vol. 1". Quill grew up and lived in Missouri. Peter got into fights a lot as a kid. Over time, his mother had gotten terminal cancer. When Peter was at the age of eight, his mother's illness had gotten worse. Shortly before she died, she gave Peter a present and a note attached to it. In her final moments, she begged Peter to hold her hand, but he couldn't bear to look at her. He regretted it and cried for his mother but was pulled out of the room by his grandfather.

Directly after her death, Peter ran out of the hospital crying. He was suddenly abducted from Earth by the Ravagers. Their mission was to take him to his father in deep space but their leader, Yondu Udonta, instead decided that they would keep him as their own and chose never to tell him about his father. The Ravagers taught Peter how to be the perfect thief. As he grew older, Peter started going by the name Star-Lord, which was a nickname given to him by his mother. Yondu gave Peter an M-ship that he named the Milano, after his childhood crush, Alyssa Milano.

Quill's extensive Nova Corps criminal record includes 1 count of fraud, 2 counts of public intoxication, 1 count of assault, and 1 count of illegal manipulation of Garmosian Duchess.

After living in space for 26 years, Quill built up a reputation as the self-proclaimed legendary outlaw "Star-Lord" and worked for the pirate Yondu Udonta, the leader of the Ravagers. During his time with them, he became disloyal to them, eventually planning to leave them. In the present day, Star-Lord visits Morag, where the Ravagers' next target, the Orb, was located. He is attacked by Korath the Pursuer but manages to escape. After escaping, Star-Lord travels to Xandar in order to sell it. He brings it to the buyer who had made the deal with Yondu in hopes of selling it. The merchant refuses to take the Orb after Star-Lord tells him that Korath had been working for Ronan the Accuser.

As he left the shop, Star-Lord encounters Gamora, an assassin, who, after he attempts to flirt with her, attacks and steals the Orb. Star-Lord is also attacked by the outlaw duo of Rocket Raccoon and Groot, who both desire the bounty that had been placed on Star-Lord's head by the Ravagers. After a lengthy chase, all four are eventually apprehended by the Nova Corps and taken to the Kyln for incarceration. After being processed, Star-Lord almost finds himself a target in the prison, only to be saved by Rocket and Groot who declare that Quill was their booty. That night, some prisoners, including an inmate named Drax, come to kill Gamora.

Quill manages to convince Drax that, since she had betrayed Ronan, he would most likely come for her allowing Drax to exact his revenge. The next day, Rocket devises a plan to break out of the Kyln, which went awry when Groot completed the last step first. Nonetheless, the group manages to escape.

On the Milano, Gamora explains to the group that the third party to whom she was planning to give the Orb was offering a large reward for it, and that if they help her bring it to him, she would split the reward with them.

Arriving on Knowhere, a remote criminal outpost in space built in the giant severed-head of a celestial, the rest of the group meet Gamora's contact, the Collector. The Collector reveals that the Orb is an Infinity Stone, an item of immeasurable power that destroys all but the most powerful beings who wield it. Suddenly, the Collector's tormented assistant grabs the Stone, triggering an explosion that engulfs his collection. Meanwhile, Drax, drunk and wanting revenge, summons Ronan, who arrives with Nebula and an army of Sakaarans. Gamora attempts to flee with Orb only to be pursued by Nebula who blast her ship and retrieves the Orb leaving her sister to die in space. Star-Lord, unwilling to watch Gamora die, sends Yondu his coordinates and exits his pod giving Gamora his mask to help her survive. The pair are rescued by the Ravagers and Yondu who Quill manages to talk out of killing him by telling him he knows where there Orb is and that they can work together to retrieve it.

Suddenly Rocket, Drax, and Groot threaten to attack the Eclector in an attempt to rescue them, luckily Star-Lord manages to defuse the situation. On the ship Star-Lord tells the group that he has a plan to stop Ronan and tells the others that even though it likely means certain death they cannot simply stand back as Ronan kills billions of innocent people. The entire group agrees and so Star-Lord calls Rhomann Dey and tells them of his plan. Ronan arrives with the Dark Aster and thousands of Sakaaran soldiers.

As the Nova Corps hold off the large ship by creating a forcefield, Quill, Gamora, Groot, and Drax fight their way to Ronan and blast him with the Hadron Enforcer; however, Ronan is unaffected by the attack and easily defeats the group. Before he can kill them, Rocket comes crashing in with his own ship heavily damaging the ship and causing it to crash. The group is protected from serious injury by Groot who shields them seemingly at the cost of his life, making a dome around the team. As Ronan emerges from the ship unharmed, mocking the Guardians, Star-Lord distracts Ronan by dancing to "O-o-h Child" by the Five Stairsteps, allowing Drax and Rocket to destroy his hammer and allowing Star-Lord to grab the Orb, which almost kills him. Gamora, Rocket, and Drax come to his aid and the four use the Orb's power to blast Ronan, killing him.

After the team destroyed Ronan, Yondu demands that Star-Lord hand over the Orb despite Star-Lord telling him that it is only safe with the Nova Corps. Quill tricks Yondu into taking a container supposedly containing the stone but actually contained a Troll doll. As the Ravagers leave Xandar, they remarked that it turned out well that they did not deliver Star-Lord to his father as a child. After the Ravagers left, Star-Lord gave the real Stone to the Nova Corps. Star-Lord's group, now known as the Guardians of the Galaxy, have their criminal records expunged by the Corps, and Star-Lord learned that he is only half-human, his father being part of an ancient species. Star-Lord finally opened the last present he received from his mother; a second cassette tape filled with her favorite songs. The Guardians leave in the rebuilt Milano accompanied by a twig recovered from Groot, which has already started regrowing.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Two months after the battle on Xandar, the Guardians of the Galaxy were hired by the High Priestess Ayesha, leader of the Sovereign race to defend some interdimensional batteries a creature known as the Abilisk. During the fight, Quill and the Guardians were badly beaten until Quill and Rocket forced the creature to look up, exposing a neck wound that Gamora widened to kill the creature.

Afterwards, the Guardians were thanked by Ayesha who handed over Nebula as a trade who had been arrested by the Sovereign. Ayesha made various disparaging comments about Quill's hybrid status that offended him but he said nothing.

Later, after apologising to Gamora for supposedly flirting with Ayesha something she didn't care about Drax told him he had no chance with her since "he was a dancer and Gamora was not".

The Guardians were then attacked by a Sovereign fleet and discovered that Rocket had stolen the batteries from them. Quill and Rocket tried to pilot the ship to safety, but their arguments over who was the more capable pilot caused them to run into a Sovereign fleet trap. The ships were then suddenly destroyed but due to the damage caused to the Milano, they crashed on another planet.

A ship landed on Berhert housing Ego and Mantis. Ego revealed himself as the one who destroyed the Sovereign ships and that he was Quill's father. Ego explained that he had been searching for Quill after Yondu failed to deliver him as he was paid to do so, though initially sceptical, Gamora persuaded Quill that he should go with Ego to see 'Ego's planet'.

The next day, Drax and Gamora accompanied Quill, Ego, and Mantis on board Ego's Ship whilst Rocket and Groot remained to repair the ship and guard Nebula. On the way, Mantis revealed her ability to feel the feelings of others and demonstrated by touching Quill and revealing his crush on Gamora to everyone in the room. When Drax burst into hysterics at the announcement, Quill became defensive arguing that it wasn't that funny though he was clearly embarrassed.

On arrival to Ego's planet, Ego revealed that he was a Celestial and explained his origins. He revealed that the planet was a part of him and his human form was an avatar body he walked in to explore the Galaxy and seek other lifeforms. Ego explained how he met Quill's mother and fell in love with her whilst visiting Earth and hired Yondu to bring Quill to him.

Quill asked Ego why he then chose to leave his mother behind, and Ego revealed that he had to return to his planet otherwise his avatar body would die after prolonged distance from his main source. Ego then helped Quill to access his abilities as a Celestial which allowed him to create objects greatly exciting Quill who then proceeded to play catch with his father using a ball he had created.

Quill later danced with Gamora trying to persuade her that she felt something for him too, something she denied. Gamora revealed her suspicions about the planet as Mantis seemed unusually fearful but Quill argued that he had finally found his family and demanded to know why she couldn't be happy for him. Gamora replied that she thought he had found his family before walking off due to Quill's arrogance at being half-a-god.

Ego came to comfort Quill afterwards and revealed that he was immortal due to his Celestial DNA and offered to bring him into what he had been working on. Excited, Quill accepted which was overheard by Mantis. Ego explained what he had not told him earlier; that when he found life he was disappointed by it and planned to improve it by planting parts of himself in every planet he went to. His plan was to bring all the planets together to become a part of himself. He hypnotized Quill into helping him before continuing.

He revealed that on every planet he went to he would impregnate one woman as to activate the parts of himself needed two Celestial beings. Ego revealed that he had loved Meredith Quill very much and that had he visited her again he would have stayed on Earth and never finished his plan - so he had caused the cancer in her body to kill her. This revelation caused Quill to break free of the hypnosis whereupon he shot his father repeatedly in a blind rage.

Ego repaired himself and attacked Quill forcibly activating the Celestial power inside him and triggering the parts of himself that began destroying the planets. He then broke Quill's Walkman before being crushed by a ship piloted by Rocket and Yondu as Mantis, Drax, Gamora, and Nebula arrived to save Quill after learning of Ego's treachery from Mantis.

Mantis explained that Ego's only weakness was his brain at the core of the planet, so Quill and Yondu piloted the industrial craft underground tunnelling through the planet surface. They arrived to find Ego's brain sealed in a core that was connected to the rest of the planet and began cutting into it knowing they only had a limited time before Ego found them.

They were interrupted when the Sovereign fleet arrived causing Drax, Gamora, and Mantis to fall out of the craft. Mantis used her power to subdue Ego by putting him to sleep whilst Quill, Rocket, and Groot flew to the core to plant a bomb on Ego made from the batteries stolen from the Sovereign and Nebula and Yondu piloted the ship. Quill defended the core from the Sovereign whilst Rocket gave Groot the bomb temporarily taking a break to ask if anyone had any tape to put over the death button.

He then argued with Rocket after the answer being 'no' with Groot running off whilst still being unsure about how to operate the bomb. Quill continued to fight the Sovereign before being shot at and knocked back into the ship. When the ship exploded after Nebula hacked herself into the infrastructure, Quill floated down with Yondu commenting that the latter looked like Mary Poppins and assuring him that "he" was very cool.

Mantis was then knocked out by a piece of shrapnel which awoke Ego who began to fight the Guardians. After subduing all of them and then using his power to force Quill into reactivating the seedlings around the universe. However, Quill’s bond for everyone he cares about enable him to take control which stopped the seedlings then used his Celestial powers to free his fellow Guardians and fight his father. Quill was able to use his powers to construct a rocky giant avatar resembling Pac-Man temporarily and also to create giant rocky gloves to punch him.

Both eventually collapsed, exhausted with Ego furiously trying to plead with Quill to help him, after discovering the bomb on his brain, telling him that with Ego dead, his powers will fade away and he will be rendered mortal. Quill stated that he accepted this fact, much to his father's horror. He held him down as the bomb exploded, destroying Ego's brain and watched as his father's avatar passed away in his arms, while his Celestial powers seemingly faded away. Without Ego's essence, the planet began to break down and collapse in on itself. A ship piloted by Kraglin Obfonteri rescued the other Guardians leaving Quill stranded at the core. Yondu saved Quill telling him that Ego may have been his biological father, but he wasn't his "daddy" before giving him the only spacesuit and dying in the vacuum of space.

After Yondu's death, Quill had come to realize that Yondu was the father figure in his life all along and he had always been searching for before Kraglin and the other Guardians burned the body as part of a Ravager funeral. Kraglin gave Quill a 'Zune' that Yondu had bought for him that contained 300 tracks that Earth was now listening to and Quill gave him Yondu's arrow.

Quill listened to his new Zune with Groot before noticing the arrival of the other Ravagers who had heard about Yondu's sacrifice and re-accepted him as one of their own. Quill and the other Guardians watched as Yondu was honored with a proper Ravager funeral and Gamora hinted to Quill that she may reciprocate his feelings, with the two embracing.

Quill went into Groot's room, who was by now the size of a teenager with the same attitude, and complained at him to tidy up after himself and stop wasting his time playing a video game.

Avengers: Infinity War
Peter returns in this film and fights Thanos on Titan.

The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
The Guardians came to Earth in search of Michael Korvac. The Avengers engaged in battle with the Guardians and Hawkeye took to fighting Star-Lord. They made their way to the kitchen and Star-Lord convinced Hawkeye to listen to what he has to say. The Guardians and Avengers formed an alliance but were sucked into the Soul Gem. When they were out, they worked together to take down Michael Korvac. But the cosmic-powered madman had defeated them. Witnessing Korvac's shaking feelings from the words of Corrina, the Avengers and the Guardians were surprised. As the Guardians prepared to leave, Iron Man wanted to know what other threats of the universe, but Star-Lord had grimly replied that it's better not knowing about it at all.

Ultimate Spider-Man
Star-Lord appears as the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy alongside Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, and Nova.

The Guardians battle the Chitauri an alien race led by Korvac. When Rocket Raccoon's ship is pulled into the Chitauri ship, Rocket fakes surrender so that they can free the captive Guardians of the Galaxy members. Afterwards, Spider-Man discovers that the Chitauri are planning to destroy the Earth. The Guardians plan to run the Chitauri ship into the sun while fighting the Chitauri forces. When their tactic does not work, the Guardians end up making their way towards the Dark Matter Cannon. While Nova and Spider-Man head to the Dark Matter Cannon, the Guardians fight the Chitauri and Korvac. After Korvac is defeated by Groot, Nova destroys the Dark Matter Cannon and the Chitauri ship is destroyed, saving Earth.

In "The Return of the Guardians of the Galaxy", Star-Lord is with the Guardians of the Galaxy when they land on Earth to rebuild their ship at the same time when Titus was leading the Chitauri into targeting Nova's helmet.

Avengers Assemble
Star-Lord was seen with the Guardians of the Galaxy when they are in the middle of evacuating the D'Bari from their homeworld before it can be consumed by Galactus.

Guardians of the Galaxy (TV series)
Star-Lord is a major focus in the Guardians TV series' first season, as he is the "key" for the box of an object called the Cosmic Seed. The Guardians search for the whereabouts of the seed through Star-Lord's connection with the box. During the search, the team lands on Spartax where Star-Lord reconnects with his father King J'Son and his younger sister Victoria. Initially glad to find his father, Star-Lord turns against him when he finds out that J'Son stole the Cosmic Seed from Asgard and caused a war between Spartax and Asgard. After leaving Spartax and doing more searching, the Guardians find the seed only for the seed to be taken by Ronan and Nebula, before being obtained by Thanos. The Guardians battle against Thanos on Earth in New York and take the seed away from him before causing massive destruction while using the seed's energy stored in the box to restore New York.

The second season begins with the Guardians encountering the Avengers after trying to leave Earth, but failing because of the Milano needing repairs. After leaving Earth, the team go on various adventures including the battling of symbiotes throughout parts of the galaxy and encounters with a Nova Corps helmet and Adam Warlock. Star-Lord, along with the other Guardians, have to confront J'Son again after J'Son manipulates Nova to help him escape prison. After escaping prison, J'Son gets a hold of Nova Corps helmets and wears one himself in an attempt to dominate the galaxy. The Guardians and Nova team up to stop J'Son from carrying out his plan in the galaxy and on Earth.

Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers
Star-Lord leads Drax the Destroyer and Gamora in search of their partners Groot and Rocket Raccoon, who crash-landed on Earth. There, they face the Avengers, and Star-Lord faces Captain America.

After the Avengers and Guardians stop fighting, the Guardians explain that they took an artifact called the Kree Mact to avert it from falling in Ronan the Accuser's clutches. Both heroic teams face Fin Fang Foom and Ronan, and after the battle, the Guardians leave the Kree Mact under the Avengers' care.

Disney INFINITY
Star-Lord appears alongside the rest of the Guardians in the Disney INFINITY: 2.0 Edition Guardians of the Galaxy Play-set by protecting Knowhere from Ronan the Accuser and his Saakaaran forces.

Disney Parks
Star-Lord, along with Gamora, first appeared in Disney parks as face characters at the "Awesome Mix Tape Dance Party", during the Unleash the Villains event in 2014.

Star-Lord appears in the Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Dance Off! street show at Disney California Adventure but currently doesn't do meet-and-greets.

Star-Lord is currently doing meet-and-greets with Baby Groot at Disney's Hollywood Studios in the Walt Disney: One Man's Dream building.

Trivia

 * Before Chris Pratt was cast as Star-Lord, Joel Edgerton, Eddie Redmayne, Jensen Ackles, Lee Pace, Wes Bentley, Jack Huston, Cam Gigandet, Sullivan Stapleton, Logan Marshall-Green, Garrett Hedlund, Chris Lowell, James Marsden, Jim Sturgess, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Aaron Paul, Michael Rosenbaum, Zachary Levi, and John Krasinski auditioned and screen tested for the role. Pace was later cast as Ronan the Accuser.
 * Star-Lord's entrance and escape from the Morag temple is reminiscent of Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark.