How Star-Lord's Creator Reacted To Chris Pratt's Guardians Of The Galaxy Performance

05/06/2017 05:56 pm EDT

Star-Lord (Peter Quill) was created by writer Steve Englehart and artist Steve Gan. He made his debut in Marvel Preview #4, which was published in January 1976. According to Englehart, when he first conceived Star-Lord, the character "would go from being a jerk to the most cosmic being in the universe." And based on Englehart's newfound interest in astrology, he wanted Star-Lord to have a "fast-action story on Mercury, a love story on Venus, a war story on Mars, and so on out to the edge of the solar system, and then beyond." However, after establishing Star-Lord's as an annoyingly foolish person, Englehart left Marvel before he could fully-realize his plans for the character.

Star-Lord went on to make infrequent appearances in Marvel's comic book magazines of the era. He was most often written by Chris Claremont, and the first collaboration between Claremont and John Byrne was on a Star-Lord story in Marvel Preview #11. The character was largely forgotten until Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning revitalized him for use in their modern Guardians of the Galaxy series.

Thanks to James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy films and Chris Pratt's crowd-pleasing portrayal of the character, people around the world now know the half-human intergalactic adventurer for being funny, charming, and emotionally vulnerable.

And with the recently-released Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 including another Englehart creation, Mantis, the writer was asked if there was anticipation or trepidation about seeing her on screen? Since he hasn't seen it yet, he expects he feel the same way that he did when he saw Pratt as Star-Lord.

"Yeah, I dunno," Englehart told UPROXX. "Sort of none of those things. [Laughs.] I mean, I created Star-Lord, right? And I've explained a zillion times: I created him and then I left the company. So everything that happened to him after, that was done by other people. So this guy shows up on screen who has nothing to do with my creation. Well, he's kind of an asshole and the guy I created was a real asshole. But, you know basically a very distant relative of the guy that I created. And yet I created him. I get my name on screen, and all that good stuff. But, I try to make it clear: Beyond creating him I didn't make him the popular success he is today. So, that was kind of different. I mean, it was like that was the first time that a character I created was going to be on screen but he was a totally different guy. So it's like I had no expectations one way or the other."

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Set to the backdrop of 'Awesome Mixtape #2,' Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the team's adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill's true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favorite characters from the classic comics will come to our heroes' aid as the Marvel cinematic universe continues to expand.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is written and directed by James Gunn (Slither). The film marks the return of the original Guardians, including Chris Pratt (Jurassic World) as Peter Quill/Star-Lord; Zoe Saldana (Star Trek Into Darkness) as Gamora; Dave Bautista (Spectre) as Drax; Vin Diesel (Furious 7) as the voice of Groot; Bradley Cooper (American Sniper) as the voice of Rocket; Michael Rooker (Jumper) as Yondu; Karen Gillan (The Big Short) as Nebula; and Sean Gunn (Gilmore Girls) as Kraglin. New cast members include Pom Klementieff (Oldboy), Elizabeth Debicki (The Great Gatsby, Everest), Chris Sullivan (The Knick, The Drop) and Kurt Russell (The Hateful Eight, The Thing).

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is scheduled to hit theaters on May 5, 2017.

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