Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 – “He might have been your father, boy…”
Yondu Udonta (Michael Rooker) was the Ravager we loved to hate in Guardians Of The Galaxy when it was released in 2014. The grumpy space pirate was revealed to have abducted Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) from Earth when he was a child, and kept him as child labour – regularly threatening to eat him if he did not work hard. He saved our heroes more than once, but seemingly only because Peter had a very valuable orb in his possession (actually an Infinity Stone) that Yondu wanted to retrieve for profit.
In Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, however, further revelations about Yondu and his relationship with Peter lead us to entirely re-evaluate our view of the Ravager. Peter has met his biological father, Ego The Living Planet (Kurt Russell) and slowly learned that he is, in fact, a heinous, homicidal villain intent on destroying the universe in search of absolute power. He’s not interested in Peter, but rather the genetic power that Ego can derive from his biological son. Peter is one of millions of ‘seeds’ Ego has planted throughout the galaxy, but is the only one to demonstrate the power that Ego needs. Ego killed the others.
Peter is both heartbroken at this discovery and desperate to save the universe – and so he engages in a bitter fight with his father while his friends try to escape. After a lengthy sequence of combat, it seems as though Peter is about to sacrifice his own life for those he loves – including Yondu – but Yondu saves the day. With only one space suit between the two of them, Yondu flies Peter out into space to catch up with his ship, and gives him the mask at the last minute.
Peter cries out in protest, and Yondu looks him straight in the eye and says, “He might have been your father, boy, but he wasn’t your Daddy.” And then he dies, accompanied by the sound of every audience member’s heart breaking – just a little bit.
