Editor’s note: Every week Mashable presents “Let’s Talk About,” a look back at the the weekend’s new releases. If you haven’t seen the movie, be warned: This is a SPOILER MINEFIELD.
This week: Let’s talk about Guardians of the Galaxy …
Guardians of the Galaxy had it all: irresistible characters, iconic soundtrack, candy-colored palate and gaudy box office to match: Marvel’s space freakout obliterated the record for an August opening with $94 million, kicking off an altogether strange franchise as that’s already proven to be as big as Captain America.
But Guardians of the Galaxy was missing something. Something big.
If you’ve been reading the Guardians comic books, which Marvel rebooted just a few months after announcing the film at Comic-Con 2012, you already know what it is.
It’s the Element Gun, Peter Quill’s signature sidearm, a weapon of extraordinary origin and commensurate power. The Element Gun is an advantage that gives the half-Earthling a fighting change against intergalactic villains like Thanos and Ronan the Accuser, but for whatever reason, Marvel and director James Gunn decided not to give Quill the Element Gun … at least not in the singular form the most recent comics have made it out to be.
From the early 2013 Guardians of the Galaxy #1:
A page from the Marvel comic “Guardians of the Galaxy #1.”
Image: Marvel
Comics writer Brian Michael Bendis crafted Quill’s Element Gun as a composite from Guardians comics going back to Star-Lord’s origins in 1976. But in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, instead of the Element Gun, Quill has a pair of identical blasters, which suit him well when he needs them.
Still, they aren’t much of a factor in the story — Rocket Raccoon’s weaponry is more special, frankly.
A scene from Marvel/Disney’s “Guardians of the Galaxy.”
Image: Marvel/Disney
And let’s be honest, Star-Lord’s cinematic weapons look an awful lot like something you’d pick up at Home Depot before building a loft:
A cordless drill, not very handy in a fight against malevolent aliens.
Image: Festool
So what’s become of the Element Gun?
Quill’s special weapon may come to him yet in the cinematic universe; just because he doesn’t have the Element Gun now doesn’t mean it isn’t a part of the larger plan. (Did anybody else think the wrapped gift from his mom might have something to do with it? Nice red herring, Gunn.)
In fact, it’s hinted in Guardians of the Galaxy that Star-Lord’s father is the reason he’s more than your average Terran — his mother describes his father as “an angel, composed of light” while the Nova Corps notes at the end that Quill’s DNA is “something ancient, that we haven’t seen before here.”
What could that be? Once again, we turn to the squishy comic canon for our half-answer:
In the recent comics run, Quill’s father is J’Son, heir to the throne of a powerful intergalactic empire known as Spartax. In the midst of an intergalactic war, J’Son’s ship crash-lands on Earth, where he has a thing with Peter’s mom before he repairs his spacecraft and goes to rejoin the battle.
But he leaves behind the Element Gun, which Peter’s mother was keeping for her half-Earthling boy. Peter stumbles upon it one day when a hostile alien race know as the Badoon show up to put a stop to the Spartax bloodline. The Badoon goons kill Peter’s mom, but fail to take him out, and the orphan boy grows up to become Star-Lord.
The truth is, Quill’s origin story within Marvel is a messy mishmash of various threads that have been written and re-written in the decades since his first appearance in 1976. While he’s always had an Earth-bound mother, at one point it’s explained that his father is a celestial being known as a “Master of the Sun,” a true Star-Lord in that he possesses the power of, well … stars.
That would explain Quill’s mom’s description of his father in Guardians of the Galaxy — not to mention how he was able to hold onto the Infinity Gem as long as he did, which Gamora is quick to point out in the film’s final scenes.
The Bendis comics run — which is up to issue No. 17 now and going strong — were in that way a departure from Marvel’s older Star-Lord/Guardians lore, though it’s interesting to note that while the movie was being developed and shot, Quill’s comic-book weapon quietly went from the singular Element Gun to the power-tool-looking model — an indication that the two creative streams are being unified (and though his comic-book gun has been tailored to look like the movie version, he still only has the one).
Will this all be reconciled in the movies? Probably.
Marvel’s movie makers have never been entirely beholden to comic canon, but there is evidence that they’re bringing it around: In all likelihood, Quill will discover his father’s identity — and obtain some version of the Element Gun — in his further cinematic adventures (meantime, if you need someone to hang your galactic drywall, he’s your guy).
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Side note: Rocket Raccoon also has a major character element that was strong in the comics but quickly faded: His catchphrase. Rocket has had this thing for saying “Blammo! Murdered you!” whenever he blasts someone to bits which, in the comics, is often.
No surprise that “Murdered you!” didn’t fly in the Disney-movie version. Still, it’ll be interesting to see if it ever resurfaces, even in the comics, where it seems to have disappeared.
Read more: http://mashable.com/2014/08/04/element-gun-guardians-of-the-galaxy-peter-quill-star-lord/
The Major Element Missing From "Guardians of the Galaxy"
amc, disney, Entertainment, film, Finales, guardians of the galaxy, television
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