One of the most enticing questions that Guardians Of The Galaxy leaves us with is the question of Peter Quill's parentage. Born to a human mother, but only after a tryst with an alien father, Quill remains in the dark about the alien heritage that kept him from being incinerated by the Infinity Stone at the film's close. But writer-director James Gunn knows all about who Quill's proud papa really is, and it's not in the comic books.
In an interview with Empire, Gunn reveals that Peter Quill's lineage in Guardians Of The Galaxy 2 will deviate heavily from the source material.
"There have been a lot of documents passed around about who Peter Quill’s father is between a select two or three of us. That’s been part of the plan since the beginning, that’s something I had to work out before we shot the screenplay. We wanted to make sure Yondu’s place in everything made sense and it does, so it’s all very specific stuff. It’s definitely not the character who it is in the comics, I’ll say that much."
Well, that brings up some possibilities. For one thing, it's probably not Yondu, the bounty hunter played by Michael Rooker: in addition to referencing Quill's father at the end of the movie, it seems like Yondu's story, according to Gunn's statement, is that the character has his own separate journey. He also says that Quill's father might not even appear in the second film if he doesn't serve the core story that's still in development, and surely Rooker's Yondu will return.
Some might speculate Thanos is his father, but that seems to stretch credulity. For one, that would place his embrace of Gamora at the end of the movie into Quicksilver-Scarlet Witch territory. And could you really imagine Thanos coming to Earth and mating with a human woman? Quill's mother speaks of his beauty on her deathbed, and, no disrespect to Josh Brolin, but Thanos ain't very handsome. Thanos also has a pretty particular affection for the physical embodiment of Death. He's not going to cheat on her for a random Earth fling.
The guess from this particular Marvel-head is Adam Warlock. The character was found in cocoon form in The Collector's offices, though no one ever refers to him by name. When we revisit the room in the post-credits sequence, the cocoon has been blasted open, which means Warlock is out there. Warlock becomes one of the leaders of the Infinity Watch in the comics, capable of taking care of the Infinity Stones and ensuring they do not fall into the wrong (THANOS) hands. The fact that Gunn's not certain if Warlock will factor into the story or not likely stems from Gunn's uncertainty as to whether the onscreen Marvel universe will be dealing with Thanos' planned acquisitions of the Infinity Stones by the film's July 2017 release.
Until then, unless someone calls up Maury, we're going to remain in the dark about Quill's dad for a couple of years. Do you have any guesses?
