Marvel Comics has just officially confirmed that Peter Quill AKA Star-Lord is bisexual. The half-human/half-alien cosmic hero has always been something of a ladies man, with his previous romantic partners including Kitty Pryde and Gamora, but in this week’s Guardians of the Galaxy #9, Quill’s sexuality is explored in a deeper way.
“I Shall Make You a Star-Lord” is an ambitious one-off storyline from writer Al Ewing, artist Juann Cabal, colorist Federico Blee and letterer Cory Petit. In it, it’s revealed that Quill didn’t die in an apparently fatal explosion back in issue #2 and was instead shunted into a parallel universe, where he’s trapped on the planet Morinus for a total of 140 years. His companions on his journey through the Twelve Houses of Morinus are Aradia and Mors, a blue-skinned humanoid couple that Quill embarks on a polyamorous relationship with.
At first, he’s opposed to the idea as he still has hope of returning home to girlfriend Gamora, but after 12 years, he starts to see Aradia and Mors as his home and they share a romantic, intimate moment while bathing together in an ancient temple.
Nearly a century and a half later, though, Morinus is attacked by the Gods of New Olympus who are after Quill. He returns to the temple and finds a way to travel back to his home dimension at last, but not before sharing a tearful goodbye with Aradia.
The end of the comic emphasizes Quill’s connection to Aradia more than Mors, as he’s busy protecting the temple when Peter leaves, but nevertheless this is a major chapter in the continuing evolution of Star-Lord, who’s already changed a lot since he was created in the 1970s. And it’ll certainly be interesting to see whether Quill’s bisexuality is further explored in future comics.
Guardians of the Galaxy #9 is available now.
