Who Is Peter Quill’s (Star-Lord’s) Father? MCU & Comics

Comics and live-actions adaptations are almost always different. Directors and producers need to adjust the comics to the limits of the big screen since the action scenes are insane, including the characters’ origins stories. When the first Iron Man movie was announced, fans knew that writers would change some parts of the story to create the original ones and for them to be distinct from the source material. Iron Man was a stepping stone for MCU, and Guardians of the Galaxy needed to be different from the comics to make sense of the plot of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Star-Lord is one of them, and for that, this article will discuss who is Peter Quill’s father in MCU and Marvel Comics.

In the comics, Peter Quill’s father is a humanoid from Spartax, J’son. When his pod crash-landed on Earth, Meredith Quill took him in until he repaired his ship, during which they fell in love with each other. However, he didn’t know Meredith was pregnant. J’son and Peter eventually meet when the father arrests his son and the rest of the Guardians to convince him to rule Spartax. In the MCU, Ego the Celestial is Peter Quill’s father, who impregnated half the universe to expand his powers. Peter and the Guardians eventually destroy him for good in the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 movie.

We will discuss this topic by explaining and comparing each father and concluding their faiths in the respective universes. If you are interested, stay with us until the end.

Star-Lord has different fathers in MCU and Marvel comics

As we said, Marvel Cinematic Universe and Marvel Comics are vastly different. Everything from original stories to new original characters is different in some sense, which some appreciate, and others don’t. This mostly concerns the characters who may not have relations in comics but are connected in other media. Star-Lord is a great example since his background in Marvel Cinematic Universe is completely different from the comics.

In the comics, Peter Quill left the Earth much later than in MCU, and he went to space after the Badoon aliens killed his mother, Meredith. He worked in NASA Ops Launch Facility in California with the help of Lisa Chang, Meredith’s friend, and one day, took the opportunity to leave Earth and seek revenge for his mother.

In the MCU, Peter Quill was kidnapped when he was eight years old, after his mother died of cancer, and was raised by his kidnappees, Yondu and Ravagers.

The differences in Peter Quill’s origin story don’t stop there because he had different fathers. Let’s see who they are.

J’son

We mentioned that Peter Quill went to space to avenge his mother’s death as a young adult, but before that, the Spartax Emperor at the time, J’son, crashlanded on Earth. Meredith Quill took him in until he fixed his ship, but J’son didn’t expect he would fall in love with this Terran woman.

After J’son repaired his spaceship and left to participate in the cosmic war between Spartax and Badoon, he never knew that Meredith was pregnant with his child, who would eventually become Peter Quill.

The young boy lived with his mother but was shocked when he realized one day that the Badoon soldiers had killed his mother. They arrived on Earth to “destroy the Spartax bloodline” and tried to kill Peter, but he grabbed a shotgun and slaughtered them.

Eventually, Peter Quill got employed by NASA as an engineer and used the establishment to escape the Earth. In the meantime, J’son lost, joined the Galactic Council, and voted against Earth’s communication with extraterrestrial forces.

He didn’t realize that his son, Peter Quill, defended Earth from Badoon attack, and for that, J’son used his Spartax forces to capture Guardians of the Galaxy. Of course, Guardians escaped, and J’son made his mission to get rid of Guardians and convince Peter to join him in ruling Spartax.

At the brink of capturing his son and destroying Guardians, J’son is flanked by Captain Marvel, Guardians’ ally, who helps Quill escape the Spartax Empire and tells the truth about his father’s deeds as the emperor.

This moment is crucial in Spartax Empire rebelling against J’son, who was forced to flee the planet. Of course, the animosity between father and son doesn’t stop here, and J’son becomes a criminal mastermind named Mister Knife.

Star-Lord started raiding J’son’s establishments, not knowing who was behind the name Mister Knife and got the surprise of his life when the criminal interrupted Quill’s date with Kitty Pryde. Quill realized his father’s goals, and eventually, Kitty Pryde saved him from imprisonment.

Mister Knife then seeks an ally in Thane, Thanos’ son, and the despicable duo decides to acquire Black Vortex, an artifact that gives individual cosmic powers.

Let’s just say that Peter Quill, Captain Marvel, Kitty Pryde, and the Guardians defeated both Thane and J’son with Black Vortex, which resulted in J’son being trapped in the amber construct floating through Spartax’s orbit. J’son eventually ended up in the hands of the Collector, who took him to become a part of his vast collection.

Nevertheless, J’son wasn’t an exemplary father to Peter Quill and is considered a villain in Marvel Comics. However, the MCU version of Star-Lord’s father is, I believe, much worse. Let’s find out why.

Ego

Marvel Cinematic Universe barely showcased good parents in the countless projects released in the last 15 years, and Peter Quill’s father is one of the worst. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, we meet Ego, a Celestial humanoid extension of himself that’s actually a living planet. Ego spends centuries trying to find the meaning of life and eventually realizes he can do that by remaking the whole universe.

Ego “plants seeds” on planets across the universe, which will eventually become the extensions of himself in the process he calls “the Expansion.” Moreover, Ego needed a humanoid alien to produce a Celestial heir and ordered Yondu Ravager Clan to bring his babies to space to test them. None of them passed the test, which led him to kill “dispose of them.”

Of course, he arrives on Earth and meets Meredith Quill, who falls in love with the mysterious man. They conceive a child, but Ego leaves. Fast-forward eight years later, Peter Quill’s mother dies of cancer, leading to Peter being kidnaped by Ravagers, whose mission was to take the babies back to Ego, who would test them and dispose of them.

At first, a lovely man who seemingly cares for his son turns into a monster and reveals he gave Meredith Quill cancer to remove her so he doesn’t fall in love with her, or more so, so she doesn’t become a distraction.

The tragic story of Peter Quill is much worse in MCU, even though he is half celestial. However, the death of a parent is hard to swallow, and knowing that his father killed his loving mother, is devastating in many ways. Star-Lord eventually kills Ego but truly grieves the death of his real father figure, Yondu Udonta, the leader of an exiled group, the Ravagers. He saved Star-Lord’s life twice – by not giving him to ego and sacrificing himself to save everyone.

Despite the horrific doings of Ego, Peter Quill knew that he had a great father in Yondu, which is the most important thing.