Star-Lord’s Name Has An Entirely Different Origin In Marvel’s GotG

Peter Quill is the iconic team leader in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, but the origin of his alias, Star-Lord, is different from any other iteration of the character. Square Enix embraces the MCU movies in Marvel’s GOTG plenty enough without copying them, and creating a new backstory for Star-Lord’s name was one of the original takes the developer brought to the game. Additionally, the name Star-Lord has an entirely different origin from the comic source as well.

[Warning: Major spoilers for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy are below.]

Peter Quill’s comic origins are unlike anything fans of the MCU films experienced, and they’re actually close to what the Guardians of the Galaxy game presents its players. In short, Star-Lord’s mother was killed by an alien species known as the Badoon. Desperate for revenge, Peter worked as a mechanic for the NASA Ops Launch Facility in California. When the opportunity struck, he stole a Kree ship and left Earth. By the time Peter left Earth he was already an adult, providing an entirely different Star-Lord from the MCU and GOTG game.

Shortly afterward, Yondu Udonta, an alien and leader of a Ravager faction, found Peter stranded in space. Peter convinced Yondu to let him join the Ravagers for some time. When Peter left the Ravagers, he set out on his own adventure as the “Star-Lord.” Conversely, the MCU’s Peter Quill was nicknamed “Star-Lord” by his mother. In every version of Star-Lord’s origins, Peter Quill’s father is not from Earth. However, in the MCU, Peter and his relatives believed his mother’s claims of his father being from space was just a story, and a side effect of her brain cancer. Peter embraced the name “Star-Lord” when he was abducted by Yondu immediately following his mother’s death.

Marvel’s GOTG Introduces A New Origin For Star-Lord’s Name

Square Enix’s Marvel’s GOTG game introduces an entirely new origin for Star-Lord’s name, following suit with the character’s new origin story. The Guardians of the Galaxy game takes place in a universe whose Earth designation remains shrouded in ambiguity. Nonetheless, this universe can be uniquely identified by a few features, such as Drax killing Thanos, Gamora killing Nebula long before joining the Guardians of the Galaxy, and a band called Star-Lord.

In the Guardians of the Galaxy game, Star-Lord is the name of a band created specifically for the purpose of its story. This is the band that Peter Quill is listening to during the game’s prologue, and its latest album is available when players try to change songs in Marvel’s GOTG. The band logo is also embroidered on the back of Peter’s jean vest when he is abducted by the Chitauri on his thirteenth birthday. Surprisingly, Peter’s clothes were never destroyed after being captured, allowing him to keep the embroidery intact even throughout Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.

Peter Quill spent the next five years in a Chitauri prison as a casualty of the Galactic War in the Guardians of the Galaxy game. After his third year, this version of Peter Quill met Yondu, who was captured by the Chitauri during a Ravager raid of a Resistance ship. For two years, Peter and Yondu worked on a plan to escape the prison. Peter went on to join the Ravagers under Yondu when the two finally managed to escape the Chitauri. This wouldn’t be the last time Star-Lord encountered the Chitauri before Marvel’s GOTG official start, however, as Peter went on to fight in the Galactic War.

All the while as Peter continued to travel through space he kept his Star-Lord patch. Although he had outgrown the original jean vest and replaced a few jackets over the years, the patch he had embroidered on the back of his jacket is still the original patch. According to the in-game description of Peter’s “Standard-Lord” outfit, he received a jacket with the embroidery a month after listening to his first Star-Lord track. According to Peter, the band logo was part of his outfit in prison, in the Galactic War, and now as part of his main jacket in the Guardians of the Galaxy game.

How Star-Lord Became A Recognizable Alias in Marvel’s GOTG

As Peter continued to bear the name of favorite band, he became recognizable throughout the galaxy. This is a stark contrast to his Guardians of the Galaxy 2014 movie costume, where nothing mentioning the name Star-Lord can be seen. Peter’s in-game movie costume is influenced by the outfit dawned by the character in the 2014 film, and although it’s not an exact replica it explains why Star-Lord is not a recognized name in the movie.

Fans may recall that one of Ronan’s henchmen and an officer in the Nova Corp didn’t recognize Peter’s alias very well, and the latter even mocked him for it. Although he describes himself in the 2014 film as the legendary outlaw known as “Star-Lord,” it’s clear that self-proclaimed title that originally given to him by his mother doesn’t stick well among criminals and reputable people alike. Additionally, after Peter is captured by the Nova Corps his criminal profile refers to his alias as “Space-Lord,” which is the name of his 1975 comic outfit in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Peter is also referred to by his first name, full name, or last name more often than Star-Lord throughout both films.

Although the other members of the Guardians don’t refer to Peter as “Star-Lord” in Marvel’s GOTG, he does receive more recognition as Star-Lord through Mantis. As the Celestial Madonna, Mantis is able to perceive nearly every possible outcomes of the universe’s timeline before the events happen. Her referring to Peter Quill as Star-Lord throughout the game is good indication that, at the very least, Peter has done a better job making a name for himself as Star-Lord than his movie counter part.

What may also help Star-Lord’s case in Marvel’s GOTG is his relationship to his father. Peter’s father appears to be scarcely known by other Guardians of the Galaxy characters, particularly from the Sovereign as they attempt to kill the Guardians in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Peter’s father in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, however, is the king of Spartax and a key figurehead in the Galactic War. Although the game doesn’t directly state anything, it’s safe to assume that constantly wearing an embroidery of any kind, in addition to being royalty, would help other species associate Star-Lord as Peter Quill’s actual name rather than his given Earth name.

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