'Avengers: Infinity War': Joe Russo Compares Star-Lord to Peter Pan

The debut of Avengers: Infinity War made fans see some Marvel Cinematic Universe characters in new lights, but it looks like one character arc stood out to the film's directors.

During the directors' commentary track for Infinity War, the film's writers and directors discussed the storyline of Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) within the MCU thus far. Although Infinity War marked the Infinity War team's first time dealing with the character within a film, they were intrigued by his Peter Pan-esque sensibilities.

"Quill is a very interesting character to us." co-director Joe Russo explained. "He's sort of like a Peter Pan character. His mother as dying of cancer, he was kidnapped at the age of 10, & raised by pirates. He's unique, and what's fun about him is he's very flawed and he's emotionally damaged. His mother's been murdered..."

"Murdered his own father," co-writer Christopher Markus added.

"That's right." Joe echoed. "His girlfriend's about to die in the movie. So this is a guy who has incredible catharsis in his life."

While it's currently unclear exactly where Star-Lord's storyline will go next - both with the events of Infinity War and the current shake-up surrounding Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - the Infinity War team does have a point. And in a way, that "catharsis" that Russo is talking about is on full display later in the film, when Peter's emotions ultimately sabotage the plan to defeat Thanos.

"I mean, look, he's a character who's gone through a lot of pain." Joe Russo explained in a recent interview. "He's lost a lot of people in his life. He was kidnapped by pirates when he was 10 years old, raised by pirates, lost his mother, had to kill his father, and in the movie, the love of his life is taken from him. So if you can't understand someone making a human choice like that, I don't know if you understand humanity very well. But he is a flawed character, and that's what's so compelling about him."

"That moment is very emotionally truthful." Anthony Russo echoed. "And I think that's why we bought it in the moment and that's why we loved it as a storytelling point, because it made him so vulnerable."

Do you agree with the Infinity War team about Star-Lord's storyline? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Avengers: Infinity War is now available on Digital HD. Upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, and Avengers 4 on May 3, 2019, and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5, 2019.