When Thanos succeeded in wiping out the universe in Avengers: Infinity War, fans knew who to blame: Star-Lord, thanks to the grieving Peter Quill allowing himself to be goaded into hitting the Mad Titan, thereby disrupting the Avengers’ attempt to get the Infinity Gauntlet off his hand. Fans are now wondering, though, if Quill would’ve been more of a help than a hindrance to the heroes if he retained a handy-dandy power-upgrade he received in an earlier movie.
Redditor u/petergamoragroot (do you think they’re a Guardians fan?) asked the folks of r/MarvelStudios: “Imagine how cool it would’ve been to see Peter with his celestial powers in Infinity War and Endgame?” The fan even mocked up a taste of what that would’ve been like, amending the character’s Endgame poster to show the legendary outlaw armed with blue energy.
It would’ve been cool, but maybe it would’ve made for a boring movie.
A Strange and Celestial Star-Lord team-up? Sign us up.
Peter playing catch with Thanos >>> Peter punching Thanos.
James Gunn made the right call, overall, but that doesn’t mean fans don’t miss the power-boost.
Here’s a good point, though: would Quill’s powers even work when he’s not on Ego’s world?
Peter’s Celestial powers were of course demonstrated in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, when Quill discovered that he was half-Celestial through his father, Ego. When he was forced to destroy his psychotic pops, Peter’s powers vanished along with him. James Gunn has previously maintained that Star-Lord relinquished his Celestial abilities when he killed his dad.
This isn’t the first time fans have stood up for Star-Lord recently, with another Reddit thread arguing that it’s really Mantis and Nebula who are to blame for Peter’s poor anger management on Titan. Is the MCU’s resident pinata finally undergoing a reappraisal? If so, the timing couldn’t be better, as he’s about to return in a big way following his Thor: Love and Thunder cameo, in this December’s The Guardians of the Galaxy Special and May 2023’s Guardians Vol. 3.