Peter Quill’s Father in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 2’ Revealed

Don’t like pretty massive Marvel spoilers? Well, then you should probably move along. Here’s a cute story about how Chris Hemsworth wants to make Thor: Ragnarok really funny; maybe you could read that instead. But, you definitely don’t want to read any further if you don’t want to know the identity of Peter Quill/Star-Lord’s father as revealed in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2.

Seriously, we’re going to print the character’s name below and go into some details about what this means for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

If you’re still reading, you must want the goods, so we’re here to provide it for you (though I’m not sure why you’d want to know this critical piece of information before having seen the movie, but this is a judgment free zone).

After Guardians of the Galaxy, one of the major unanswered questions revolved around who was actually the father of Peter Quill. There were some hints in the movie (he’s a member of an “ancient race”), and Gunn has gone on the record as saying it wouldn’t be J’son, Quill’s father in the comics. So who is it?

Captain Marvel.

UPDATE: James Gunn, who has previously said, “I have never knowingly lied to you guys about anything,” has gone on the record to say this report is “completely false.” You can read his full statement below.

No, not that Captain Marvel, that’s a she and she’s getting her own movie. This is the original Captain Marvel, Mar-Vell. Heroic Hollywood has the scoop and it’s certainly an unexpected choice (our original guesses as to who it could be didn’t even list Mar-Vell as a possibility), but also an inspired one.

Mar-Vell, as you could probably tell from his name, is the source of Carol Danvers’ powers as she transforms into Captain Marvel. Introducing him in Guardians would allow him to reappear in Captain Marvel setting up Carol’s story. To make it all work though, Gunn is going to have to do some serious rejiggering when it comes to Mar-Vell’s history. The Mar-Vell from the comics doesn’t exactly match up with what they’ve described for Quill’s father, so they’ll probably be taking some liberties with the character in the film. Considering that Mar-Vell isn’t even really the father of Quill in the comics, what does it even matter at this point. Mar-Vell is not part of an “ancient race” (he was a Kree sent to spy on Earthlings), but that could easily be adapted to make him a member of the Inhumans, a race Marvel is very keen on promoting in the MCU.

It will be interesting how Marvel and director James Gunn respond to this leak (which likely happened after Marvel approached Matthew McConaughey about the role). Gunn, who is very vocal on social media, could choose to ignore it, or face it head on and just get it over with. As Gunn once said about the reveal, “It’s not going to be something like in the Crying Game, though, where the big thing was, ‘He has a penis!’ I don’t want to do that. It’s not about the revelation of who it is; it’s about what his relationship is to that character.” So maybe the Mar-Vell news isn’t as big as we all thought?

You can watch Heroic Hollywood’s video on the subject matter below.

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 opens in theaters on May 5, 2017.