Peter Quill’s future in the MCU is up in the air following Avengers: Endgame. His leadership of the Guardians of the Galaxy has been called into question with the arrival of Thor, while some alternate version of Gamora could be anywhere. Exactly what will happen in the Guardians threequel remains to be seen, but it seems to be a given that he will screw up a lot.

There was that infamous screw-up in Avengers: Infinity War that all MCU fans remember vividly, but he’s actually screwed up a bunch of other times. So, here are 10 Times Star-Lord Screwed Up In The MCU.

Stealing The Orb In The First Place

At the very beginning of the first Guardians movie, we see Peter Quill dance his way into an ancient temple on a distant planet and steal the Orb, which turns out to be an Infinity Stone. The Ravagers, who he’d left behind, had been hired to take it, so they were after him, and Ronan the Accuser, the ominous Kree warlord, also wanted it, so he was also after Quill.

Okay, it turns out he was protecting the Orb from some very evil people who wanted to get their hands on it, but it almost got him killed a bunch of times and, at least initially, he wasn’t stealing it to “do the right thing” – he just wanted to make an easy buck.

Nearly Killing Everyone In An Attempt To Show Off

At the beginning of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, the titular team protects some Anulax Batteries for the Sovereign. When they discover that Rocket has stolen a few of the batteries, they send their fleet after the Guardians. Quill and Rocket get into a masculinity contest as they each try to prove that they’re the best pilot in the universe.

They end up crashing the ship and nearly getting everyone killed. Gamora points out the screw-up to him: “Either one of you could have gotten us through that field, had you flown with what’s between your ears instead of what’s between your legs!”

Losing Gamora To Thanos On Knowhere

This one isn’t really Quill’s fault since pretty much anyone could be fooled by Thanos wielding the Reality Stone, but it’s still a screw-up. When Thor joined the Guardians of the Galaxy in Infinity War, they split into two groups.

The God of Thunder went off with Groot and Rocket to get a new weapon capable of killing Thanos (but, as it turned out, only if you go for the head), while the others headed to Knowhere to stop the Mad Titan from acquiring the Reality Stone. But they were too late, and not only did Thanos get the Stone, but he also got Gamora, too.

Flipping Out At Gamora On Ego’s Planet

On Ego’s planet, Gamora tries to get Quill to confront his feelings and he ends up flipping out at her, talking about Cheers, television, and other concepts she’s totally unfamiliar with. She just wants him to understand that there’s something strange going on with his dad.

He says, “You know, this isn’t Cheers after all. It’s whatever the show is where one person is willing to, you know, open themselves up to new possibilities, and the other person is just kind of a jerk who doesn’t trust anyone! It’s a show that doesn’t exist – it would never be made, it would be so horrible! It would get zero ratings!” It’s not clear exactly why he’s angry at her – he has no real reason to be.

Answering The Asgardian Distress Call Late

Avengers: Infinity War opens on the Asgardian ship the Statesman, with Thanos wiping out most of the people on board, so the ship sends out a distress call. Later, we see the Guardians of the Galaxy bobbing along to the funky sounds of the Spinners’ “Rubberband Man,” heading towards the Statesman and looking for a reward.

By the time they get there, Thor is the only survivor of the wreck and he’s floating through space. He bumps into the windshield and they bring him on board, where he tells them that most of his people are dead. So, the Guardians didn’t exactly make it in time to save anyone or collect a reward.

Talking Back To A Prison Guard In The Kyln

In the first Guardians movie, when the characters are locked up in the Kyln, one of the prison guards starts playing around with Quill’s Walkman. Quill tries to stop him and ends up getting himself mercilessly beaten by the guards.

This is one of the most dangerous prisons in the universe – you don’t mess around with these guards. There’s a pattern with a lot of Quill’s screw-ups: he gives his emotions priority over reason. To be fair, it’s not all his fault – his dad abandoned him, his mother died when he was eight, and he was raised by cannibalistic aliens.

Unintentionally Breaking His Promise To Gamora

As Gamora was taken away by Thanos, she reminded Quill of the promise he made to kill her if she ever got captured by him. So, he aimed his blaster at her and prepared to pull the trigger. Thanos didn’t think he’d do it, but Quill and Gamora confessed their love for each other and Quill pulled the trigger.

However, thanks to Thanos and his control of the Reality Stone, the blast turned into bubbles and floated into the air, harming no one. It wasn’t really Quill’s fault, since the fabric of reality was out of his hands at that point, but he did break the promise he made to Gamora, thus allowing Thanos to take her to Vormir, sacrifice her, and gain the Soul Stone – coming one step closer to completing his evil master plan.

Trusting Ego

Everyone kind of saw it coming a mile away when Ego turned out to be a villain in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – well, everyone except Quill. Despite being initially dubious of Ego, he eventually came to love him and accept him as his father. They played catch together once and he immediately trusted him.

Later, he turned out to be a genocidal maniac who was bent on dominating the universe. He had even killed Quill’s mom and destroyed his Walkman. Trusting Ego was a huge mistake, but at least he rectified it by killing him at the end, even though it meant losing his Celestial powers.

Getting Knocked Out By Time-Traveling War Machine And Nebula

Of all the scenes that fans expected the MCU to revisit in the time travel plot of Avengers: Endgame, the opening “Come and Get Your Love” scene from Guardians of the Galaxy wasn’t one of them. However, it made sense, since the Power Stone was there, unguarded. And it was fun seeing Quill dance to Redbone’s greatest hit from a different perspective, with Rhodey watching him and saying, “So…he’s like an idiot?”

In the end, he and Nebula knock him out and take the Power Stone. Now, that version of Quill is stuck in a timeline where he’ll wake up on Morag, not find the Power Stone, and never form the Guardians of the Galaxy. Some fans have seen this as poetic justice for his colossal screw-up in Infinity War. He’s doomed to never meet Gamora, never join his surrogate family, and never find true happiness.

Punching Thanos And Indirectly Ending The World

We get it. He lost the woman he loved and then he couldn’t control himself when the guy responsible for her death was right in front of him. But the others had very almost gotten the Infinity Gauntlet off of Thanos’ hand. They were so close to robbing him of all his otherworldly power and saving the universe from losing half its inhabitants for five years.

And then Quill got all emotional and gave the Mad Titan an opening to overpower them, vanish back to Earth, and, ultimately, snap his fingers and cause “the Decimation.” A lot of people were angry with Star-Munch that day.

  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Release Date: 2023-05-05