Peter Quills Marvel Comics Father Isnt Ego, Its Way More Complicated

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Under the wise eye of writer-director James Gunn, the Guardians of the Galaxy movies are fundamentally about family. Few modern groups have personified the "misfits who accidentally create a found family" dynamic with as much heartfelt yet sardonic intention. The Guardians love one another by choice; Gunn took a more granular but structurally overt approach when it comes to bloodlines. If Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 1 hinged on Peter Quill's (Chris Pratt) relationship with his human mother Meredith (Laura Haddock), then Vol. 2 zeroed in on his father Ego the Living Planet (Kurt Russell), a Celestial being of phenomenal cosmic power and pomposity to match. Ego is a character from the Marvel Comics universe created by the legendary creative duo of writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby — and, surprise! That Ego has no relation to Peter Quill. Star-Lord's father in the comics is an entirely different character but still a pretty bad dad literally and metaphorically.

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Who Is Star-Lord’s Father in the Marvel Comics?

As is custom with the comics publishing industry, Marvel has rebooted Peter Quill's father several times over the decades with his origins, motivations, and personality (and therefore his role in the wider Guardians story) changing along the way. He began as a 1970s creation of Chris Claremont and John Byrne named Jason of Spartax, a humanoid alien prince whose spaceship crashed on Earth. He was returning to his home planet to help his people, the Spartoi, fight a war, but the crash landing rendered that plan null and void for a hot minute. Meredith Quill let him stay with her as he repaired his ship and recovered from his injuries, and the two fell in love.

Once Jason's ship could fly again, however, duty demanded he return to his people and abandon the woman he loved. He left unaware Meredith was pregnant, so at least he was relatively noble in his intentions. An adult Peter encounters his father during his time as Star-Lord, and with the mystery of his parentage resolved, eventually assumes Jason's role as the Spartax Emperor. That was about all the character of Jason amounted to until the early 2000s when Marvel's ongoing Inhumans run dusted off Jason's character and featured him at a time in his life before he met Meredith.

Now, buckle in; this is where things get hairy. When writer Brian Michael Bendis kicked off his reimagining of the Guardians of the Galaxy title in 2013, he retconned Star-Lord's father into a man named Emperor J'Son of Spartax. (That sounds familiar!) Marvel then classified the old "Prince Jason of the Spartoi" character and all of his published adventures — siring Peter and appearing in Inhumans — as part of an alternate universe (designated as Earth-791). The brand spanking new "Emperor J'Son of Spartax" was declared canonical for their main narrative universe (Earth-616).

Peter Quill’s Comics Father Explained

Small details aside, not much changed between Jason and J'Son aside from dropping the "a" for a fancier name. This new guy was a Renaissance man thanks to an expansive and princely education, but he was still heir to the Spartax throne, and his spaceship still crashed in rural Colorado. Meredith saved his life, they fell in love, and J'Son reluctantly departed to rejoin a war between his people and the Badoon, a race of alien conquerors aiming to subjugate the galaxy. By J'Son's reasoning, it was safer for Meredith to stay on Earth than accompany him into an intergalactic war zone; he planned to return to her when the war ended. Meanwhile, Meredith gave birth to Peter during a planetary alignment.

Peter and J'Son's paths collided when J'Son's actions as Emperor made Earth vulnerable to alien invasions. He'd become power-hungry and totalitarian in his older years and wanted Peter to join his ways, as any proper evil dad does. Peter refused, making himself a nuisance. J'Son tried to kill the other Guardians in retaliation and to emotionally isolate his son, but failed thanks to Carol Danvers saving the day. Peter outsmarted J'Son by using his father's words against him; the Spartax empire revolted against their selfish, cruel Emperor, and a disgraced J'Son went into hiding.

With no power left to his name, J'Son embraced his full-tilt villain era. He hid behind the moniker of Mister Knife, built up a formidable reputation in organized crime, sought out a Celestial superweapon called the Black Vortex, and sent paid mercenaries after his son. J'Son managed to obtain universe-dominating powers from the Black Vortex until the Guardians, the X-Men, and Captain Marvel outmaneuvered him by trapping his body in amber. As of this writing, that's the last word on Peter Quill's father a la Earth-616.

Why Did James Gunn Use Ego Instead of J’Son?

James Gunn's reason for swapping Kurt Russell's Ego in for J'Son in his Guardians of the Galaxy universe is simple: he didn't like the latter character. Gunn drew comparisons between J'Son and Star Wars, feeling J'Son didn't bring enough narrative distinctness to the table. Hence, Ego, whose Celestial abilities fulfill the villainous father figure on a scale as cosmic as it is deeply personal to Peter's development. It's true that a being as powerful as Ego makes Peter's rejection of all his father represents have galaxy-wide connotations, not to mention the dichotomy between Peter's selfless views on human life versus the literal ego of a self-replicating, all-consuming planet. But Guardians has always soared by prioritizing smaller-scale stories within the larger Marvel framework. There's nothing wrong with Ego from a narrative standpoint or with Gunn's storytelling instincts (and Russell is magnificently enjoyable), but a fallen-from-grace figure like J'Son might have facilitated a conflict that was just as intimate, if not more so.

Which is precisely what Disney XD's animated Guardians of the Galaxy series did. J'Son sees the light of day as the main antagonist in a loose adaptation of the Black Vortex storyline. In a casting win almost too glorious to believe, the character's voiced by none other than Jonathan Frakes, the actor behind David Xanatos of Gargoyles: a villain so magnificently suave, he earned his own pop culture term.

James Gunn's Peter Quill Is Different From the Comics

J'Son certainly isn't alone when it comes to being rebooted, reimagined, and reinvented across all his media appearances; one might say it's hereditary. The original Star-Lord, a character created by Steve Englehart and Steve Gan in 1976, joined NASA to avenge his mother's death at the hands of aliens. He's a reckless, angry, abrasive kid who manipulates his way into gaining special powers and their accompanying Star-Lord title from an entity known as the Master of the Sun. Being the Star-Lord grants him superior strength, agility, and the ability to fly through space, among other benefits. Peter also shares a psychic bond with his sentient ship (just named "Ship"). He hardly bats an eye when given the chance to destroy the aliens responsible for Meredith's murder, a prevailing attitude that plants him squarely on the antihero side of the moral equation.

Brian Michael Bendis's revamped Peter, circa 2013, loved space as a young boy but joined NASA with the same vengeful goal. J'Son's enemies had learned about Peter and killed Meredith during an assassination attempt against her son. But when faced with the opportunity to take gruesome revenge, Peter instead honored his mother's memory by choosing to protect humanity in her name. Peter Quill's defining characteristic across any interpretation is his love for his mother. Bendis and Gunn diverge from the original Peter by having theirs openly and unequivocally align with Meredith's morals over the power and heritage his father offers. It's an act of love especially central to Gunn's predominant themes as a filmmaker.

Bendis also forges his own way by sidestepping the Master of the Sun (at first) and giving Peter some of the typical super-powered benefits, like enhanced strength, endurance, healing, and a longer life span, through J'Son's bloodline. He also assumes the Star-Lord title from J'Son, but it's the only thing he claims from his father. Otherwise, he's a phenomenal pilot, a natural leader, and a skilled strategist, and although quips fall from his sleeves like an overflowing candy bag, this Peter is more severe than his movie counterpart. He carries a gravitas to him and doesn't feel unequal in ability compared to his alien friends. Gunn's Peter, in contrast, rejects Ego's powers and chooses to remain as humbly, entirely human as his beloved mother. The Peter of the modern comics preemptively forms the Guardians to protect Earth from threats; the MCU's Peter falls into the Guardians by accident, which fits the classic framework of "a bunch of jackasses standing in a circle" inadvertently becoming heroes.

What’s Star-Lord Like in Current Marvel Comics?

And then there's Peter Quill in the comics as he currently stands. The Master of the Sun bestowed upon him god-like powers and the mantle of the "true" Star-Lord after Peter spent hundreds of years in another dimension unknowingly proving his worth to the Master. It puts him almost level with a Celestial's abilities; ironically so, with Gunn envisioning Ego as a Celestial and The Eternals teasing future storylines with Starfox/Eros (Harry Styles), the good guy brother of Thanos (Josh Brolin). Although James Gunn has closed the book on his Guardians of the Galaxy films, a new team will continue. Whatever filmmaker takes up their story next might have Starfox cross paths with Rocket or follow his comics storyline where he forms his own Guardians crew (aka the Dark Guardians) to prevent his brother from returning from the dead. Until then, Vol. 3 is a compelling, tangible reminder about the importance of love — no matter who your daddy was or wasn't in comics canon.

Read More About 'The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3'

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