Guardians Of The Galaxy Lead On The Strange Relationship Of Star-Lord And Yondu
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MINOR SPOILERS FOR GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY BELOW!
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is the comic book studio’s strangest movie yet. While much of the film will take place on alien worlds and in outer space, the film’s characters will hopefully give audiences an emotional attachment to ground all that weirdness. Director James Gunn has always said that Rocket Raccoon will be the film’s emotional center, but the film’s overall lead is Peter Jason Quill, played by Chris Pratt. In a new interview, Pratt talks about Star-Lord’s and his relationship with Yondu Udonta, played by Michael Rooker. Apparently, Pratt’s Quill was taken away from his family at a very young age and was raised by Yondu. Pratt says:
He’s never known his father, he’s sucked away into space just as his mother dies and is raised by a blue-skinned humanoid. He has spent all his life being told to toughen up and has a false sense of bravado as a result. But deep down he is lonely, and while he’s a guy traveling in space getting to do whatever he wants, he misses his family, his community, and through the course of the story he learns to care again and that there’s more to life than just taking and doing exactly what you want.
Comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis and James Gunn have both claimed that Peter Quill’s origin and backstory are one of the best in the Marvel Universe, even up against Peter Parker’s Spider-Man. They compare it to Luke Skywalker’s history in the Star Wars films — a young hero who knows very little about his past and family. According to Rooker:
‘It’s a beautiful story, a great uplifting story and I found the relationship between Quill and Yondu intriguing … He went to pick him up from Earth and for some reason he decided not to take him where he was meant to go and raised him himself. He made a connection with him, and Yondu now enjoys the fact that Quill has the courage to do his own thing.
Considering that many if not most of the people going into this movie know very little about the source material, it’s going to be interesting to see how Gunn handles Star-Lord’s backstory, along with that of the rest of the Guardians, while still injecting enough humor and pathos so the audience will become attached to the film and its characters. It’s not going to be easy, but everything we’ve seen so far looks like Gunn just might pull it off.
Guardians of the Galaxy follows Peter Jason Quill, a half-human/half-alien who is at the center of a galaxy-wide manhunt after he steals a mysterious orb. But when he’s caught and sent to a space prison, he tries to escape by building an uneasy alliance with a group of alien misfits and outlaws. However, when the team learns the orb’s true powers, they must work together to keep the galaxy safe from Ronan the Accuser and the evil Kree Empire.
Guardians of the Galaxy stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Benicio del Toro, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, Michael Rooker, Olivia Lovibond, John C. Reilly, and Glenn Close, and opens in theaters everywhere on August 1.
