Name: Peter Jason Quill

Superhero Name: Star Lord

Created By: Steve Englehart and Steve Gan

Played By: Chris Pratt

Powers: Human/Spartoi hybrid physiology, which means enhanced strength, durability and longevity. He also is an expert hand-to-hand combatant, skilled marksman, master tactician and leader in the field. Thanks to his suit, Star Lord can also fly, has use of various alien weaponry, including a helmet that allows him to breathe in space, and a translator in his neck, which allows him to understand and speak any language in the galaxy.

Mini Bio: Peter Quill is the son of Meredith Quill, a human woman, and the Spartax Emperor J’son. He was raised on Earth by his mother, as his father left the planet soon after conceiving Peter to protect him and his mother from J’son’s enemies, as he was fighting an intergalactic war at the time.

At ten years old, Peter grew an interest in space, after watching sci-fi shows on tv and visiting a local amusement park with space-themed rides, deciding he wanted to be an astronaut when he grew up. But, this wasn’t to be, as one day Peter’s house was attacked by two alien Badoon soldiers, who wanted to end the Spartax bloodline. Peter managed to pick up a gun and kill the soldiers, but not before his mother was killed in the fight.

Peter was sent to live in an orphanage afterwards where he struggled to fit in, especially with his dreams of leaving Earth and getting revenge for his mother’s death. He managed to get a job at NASA as a mechanic and used his free time there to train with the simulators in secret. When he was fired after an altercation with an astronaut, Peter stole a Kree ship and left Earth.

The ship malfunctioned, leaving Peter stranded for three days in space, until Yondu and his pirate crew found him. Peter outsmarted them, and when told he was going to be killed, he asked to join the crew instead. Yondu wasn’t sure at first, but felt like Peter was like him – a kid lost in space – and took him in as the cleaning boy. Eventually, Peter left the crew, setting off into space to find his destiny, taking on the name Star Lord.

In the next two years, Peter found his father, but the meeting did not end well. J’son wanted Peter to rule the galaxy with him but Peter resented the idea of the galaxy having a ruler, wanting it to be free to create and live as it wished. The two parted on bad terms, with Peter going off to help protect the galaxy from wrong doing.

To travel the galaxy, Peter made allies with a sentient starship called Ship, and the two travelled together for some time. Their downfall came when they faced The Fallon One, an ex-herald of Galactus, who was trying to starve his former master by destroying all the planets he would have fed on.

Peter and Ship tried to stop this and nearly died in the process, but they didn’t let that stop them. In the end, they realised that the only way to stop the Fallen One was to channel the life energy created by living beings into a weapon against him. Ship decimated a mining colony to do it, and while they were successful in saving millions of lives, their actions cost over 350,000 people theirs. The guilt was too much for Peter, so he turned himself in to the Nova Corps, who arrested him and sent him to the Kyln, an intergalactic prison.

After serving his sentence, Peter was released and joined Nova Prime and created the United Front against Annhilus during the Annhilation event. The fight would be where he met Drax, Gamora, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Mantis, and several others. They didn’t necessarily become a team at first, but they did all work together during the battles until Annhilus and everyone on that side of the war was defeated.

After the war had been won, the galaxy was in a fragile state, with reality starting to fissure and tear. To stop the collapse of everything, Peter asked Mantis to psychically nudge Gamora, Drax, Rocket, Adam Warlock and Phyla-Vell to join the Guardians Of The Galaxy. They set up in the severed head of the Celestial Knowhere and got to work.

But, the team split when they realised Peter’s deception, disgusted that he would manipulate them like that. The team would eventually reform, helping to fight off multiple galactic threats, including those coming from Peter’s father, J’son. J’son did not come out on top though, with Peter managing to expose his father’s crimes, inciting a rebellion from the Spartax empire.

Since then, Peter has had a lot more galactic adventures, helping save the galaxy from threats such as the Black Vortex and Thanos, having a romance with mutant Kitty Pryde, and helping fight in the Infinity Wars.

Most recently, Peter has spent over 100 years in an alternate reality, becoming a mercenary with his friends, then lovers, Mors and Aradia. He remained the same age as when he left, and when he arrived back in his original reality, he found that barely any time had passed. He’s sad to have left his lovers behind but is happy enough to be serving as an officially sanctioned protector of the cosmos with his Guardians team.

Interesting trivia: Peter Quill is bisexual, which was explored in the 2021 Guardians Of The Galaxy series by Chip Zdarsky. Tony Stark has also named a series of micro-satellites after him – the Q.U.I.L.L. Network, which protects the Solar System from alien threats.

First Comic Appearance: Marvel Preview issue 4 (1976)

Most Common Team Ups: Guardians Of The Galaxy, Nova Corps, Ravagers, Imperial Kree Army

Comic Recommendations: Thanos (2004) by Jim Starlin, Annihilation/Annhilation: Conquest – Star Lord by Dan Abnett, Guardians Of The Galaxy (2013) by Brian Michael Bendis and Legendary Star Lord (2014) by Sam Humphries.