As a result of all the other success the MCU already achieved by 2014, it gave Marvel the freedom to experiment with characters who were considered more fringe than the likes of the original members of The Avengers. This led to the idea and development of a Guardians of the Galaxy franchise.
That experimental concept would go on to gross billions across its three films. This team of so-called fringe characters ended up becoming so popular, it guaranteed their inclusion in the last two Avengers films. The original team of Guardians featured fan-favorites like Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Groot, all of whom have now become hit characters worldwide.
The films themselves featured some signature James Gunn touches with their hipster-chic soundtracks, engaging characters, and humor-laced action. Of those characters, Chris Pratt did an amazing job as Peter Quill, also known as Star-Lord. As the team's semi-human leader, Pratt wonderfully depicted an anachronistic character with oodles of charm, and humor, capable of piloting the most advanced spaceships, while still listening to a Walkman.
While Quill starts off as hedonistic and morally questionable, his character development across the films nurtured him into a far more complex, tragic, and misunderstood member of the MCU. A smooth-talking and lovable miscreant of note, Quill has also had some unforgettable lines over the years. In honor of them, these are our picks for the best Star-Lord quotes across The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise.
10 "I don't learn, it's one of my issues."
Star-Lord's stubborn, defiant nature isn't always his best trait and often made him a very different kind of MCU hero. It makes him cocky, immature at times, and a hot head even when a calm one is needed (just ask Thanos). However, it's those same traits that also make him awesome. He is who he is, and stands up for what he believes is right no matter the odds or cost, even repeating mistakes if he thinks it will work out better this time.
This line came during a fight with Gamora. Of course, the intense love he would go on to have for her also proved that he wasn't always as rigid as he may seem. Gamora's presence in his life softened him in the best of ways and brought out the best in him too. Nevertheless, his unapologetic nature is still very much a part of the character, and quotes like this one were why so many fans had an affinity for him.
9 "Well, I come from a planet of outlaws. Billy the Kid, Bonnie and Clyde. John Stamos."
Star-Lord's sense of humor often made for some of the most memorable moments of his time on-screen. This quote came as an unexpected flex when Quill was trying to explain his credentials to his teammates. He was often full of hilarious lines like these that displayed his humble beginnings since he was once an Earthling. What made these kinds of references funnier was that it was always only the audience who could fully appreciate them, and know when Quill was actually using them parodically.
8 "You shouldn't have killed my mom."
Many people have daddy issues, but Peter Quill's make most peoples' seem tame in comparison. His father was of course Ego, an ultra-powerful celestial with the energy of a planet. When the pair reunite in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, it initially seemed like Quill had finally found the family he had been searching for his whole life, and learned he was something of a Demigod himself.
This sweet family reunion was short-lived after he found out that his father was actually only using him. Worse yet, Ego had also been responsible for his mother dying of cancer when he was a young boy. Given how this all shaped his entire existence and became the root of most of his inner pain, this line holds more poignance since it's the one he used before managing to vanquish Ego.
7 "That song belongs to me."
The Guardians films became iconic for their soundtracks, and that was all thanks to Star-Lord and his carefully curated playlists. Before losing his mother to cancer, she made a mixed tape filled with her favorite songs. These also became Quill's favorite songs and his last remaining link to Earth. This made the tape and every song on it incredibly sentimental to him.
In the first film, after he and the other Guardians are arrested, it enrages him when the Nova guards seize his tape, and he hears them listening to his music. The line was laced with deeper meaning, since to Quill, these weren't just mere songs on a cassette. They were the only part of his mother he still had left.
6 "I didn't know how this machine worked."
Peter Quill's lovably immature nature is one of his most endearing qualities. While this can also be his biggest flaw at times too, when it's just used for humor, the result usually becomes comedy gold. In this scene, the Guardians have to line up for their famous mug shots from the first film. Their arrest of course became a significant event in each of their lives since it precipitated their first collaboration.
That collaboration was for an escape plan, but it ultimately brought them all together and united them, giving birth to the legendary first team on film. Before all this though, Quill was at his comedic best. Using this line as a build-up, the "machine" was actually his way of flipping his guards the bird and made for one iconic shot from the film.
5 "Dance with me."
Star-Lord's famous love affair with Gamora made them one of the sweetest, but ultimately tragic, couples in the MCU. After initially hating each other, Quill comes to care about her a great deal. Gamora is notoriously hard-headed and takes a long time, and a lot of arguing, before she starts to reciprocate his feelings. When they do get together, their romantic moments often make for a kind of anti-romance relationship since they constantly bicker and annoy each other. Despite this, their feelings eventually do grow into deep love.
The tragedy of Avengers: Infinity War, their unexpected reunion in Avengers: Endgame, and the sad complications when it turns out that the new Gamora isn't the one Quill originally knew, made for an agonizing arc between them. However, their on-screen history together was also punctuated with some sweet and romantic moments.
In this scene, Peter's words are simple, but it leads to a poignant moment as the pair slowly dance against the stunningly beautiful backdrop of Ego's planet. It's made more magical by the fact that Gamora once told him, "I'm a warrior, an assassin. I don't dance!" Yet, here she was, dancing with him because of how much she'd grown to love him, and how much that love had changed her.
4 "I like your plan, except that it sucks. So let me do the plan, and that way, it might be really good."
The brief interactions the remaining members of the Guardians were able to have with Iron Man, Dr. Strange, and Spider-Man in Avengers: Infinity War was still enough for Star-Lord to throw in some of his typical humor. Even in company like that, his personality still made him want to immediately take charge. The funniest part about Star-Lord was that, no matter how dire the surrounding situation was, he could always still find time to throw in a joke or two.
This one came after Thanos had already obliterated anyone who'd tried to stop him thus far. Even against one of the most powerful beings in the universe, Star-Lord's cockiness and neurotic control issues were still apparent. However, this plan goes horribly wrong and infamously became his lowest moment in the MCU as his bull-headedness and grief over losing Gamora inadvertently allows Thanos to win.
3 "Stop massaging his muscles"
Avengers: Infinity War went on to become one of the greatest films of the MCU so far. However, its shocking ending also made it one of the most depressing films in the franchise too. Bathed in low moments for the audience from the beginning when events like Loki and Heimdall's death, and Hulk's unceremonious defeat by Thanos kicked off the film, this generally melancholic atmosphere persisted to its end.
Given its dreary overtone, there were far fewer of the MCU's famed comedic moments. When they did make an appearance, it was usually scenes with Star-Lord that provided them. In this one, the Guardians happen across Thor floating in space and save him.
Gamora's fascination with Thor's skin as she mentions that his muscles feel as if they're made of "Cotati metal fiber" causes Quill to become very insecure. He instantly feels a need to outdo Thor, whom all of his teammates are immediately in awe of him as they admire his physique and deem Quill chubby in comparison.
2 "I'm gonna blow that ***sack of a chin right off your face."
Thanos' devastating nature was in full effect in Avengers: Infinity Wars as he wrecked everyone that tried to stop him. Most opponents were terrified of him, and rightly so given how superior he was in every way. However, if there was ever one member of the MCU that could always be counted on to still say outrageously funny things no matter the context, it was Star-Lord.
The fact that he pulled this one out during an extremely tense moment in the film made it that much funnier. The unexpected quip catches you off guard, but what made it resonate the most was that Quill had finally put into words what every Avengers fan had been thinking the moment they saw Thanos, and his prominent chin, on screen for the first time.
1 "Remember what I told you. If you ever feel lost, just look into the eyes of the people you love."
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which can now be streamed exclusively on Disney+, showed a much-changed Star-Lord after the events of Avengers: Endgame. His elation that Gamora was still alive was only matched by his pain when he realized she wasn't actually "his" Gamora.
This sends him down a dark path, but also one that helps him appreciate how much his friends actually mean to him. While this line came from Star-Lord's cameo in Thor: Love and Thunder, its poignancy unmistakably smacked of themes from the Guardians of the Galaxy films.
Recognizing Thor's inner pain and anguish because of his own losses, Star-Lord strikes a rare serious tone and offers him some touching advice. In a way, this summed up why Star-Lord is so awesome. He was a goofball, immature, and bull-headed at the best of times, but could still always be counted on to pull out some amazing depth to his character when the occasion called for it, and when you least expected it.