Guardians of the Galaxy: Alyssa Milano Reacts to Being MCU Ship’s Namesake

Alyssa Milano, ’80s icon and star of Charmed and Netflix’s Insatiable, has finally learned that Peter Quill’s starship in Guardians of the Galaxy is actually named after her. In support of her new Netflix movie Brazen, Milano is out doing the press rounds, and learned about her connection to the massive Marvel Cinematic Universe series during an interview. While the ship sustained heavy damage during Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 and had to be replaced (this time with a ship named after Pat Benatar), its presence was a constant throughout Guardians of the Galaxy and Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, even going so far as to be repaired by the Nova Corps at the end of the first movie.

Apparently, Milano had never been informed that the Milano was named after her. Whether that means she didn’t know the name, or whether she saw the movie and just assumed it was named after the cookie, isn’t clear. After all, Milano is not only her name, but also the name of an Italian city, and a reasonably common English word.

“I had no idea,” Milano told Screen Rant, adding, “It’s pretty cool. It is. It is pretty cool. One of the more cool things, I think, that’s happened in my life.”

If she hasn’t seen them, Milano (like anybody) can check out the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies on Disney+. 

The upcoming year is a big one for the Guardians franchise. Sometime this year, Disney+ will roll out a series of animated shorts titled I Am Groot, which will follow the misadventures of Baby Groot. Later in the year, Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special expected to hit Disney+, while Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 is currently in production for a 2023 release. That’s pretty significant movement on a franchise that has been essentially on the shelf since 2017. 

The third installment in the series already should have been released, but writer/director James Gunn was briefly fired from the job when conservative activists, unhappy with the filmmaker’s criticism of former U.S. President Donald Trump on social media, found a number of Gunn’s old tweets containing “edgy” and offensive jokes about subjects ranging from sexual abuse to the September 11 terrorist attacks. The furor scared Disney into making Marvel change plans, but the cast and fans came out in support of Gunn, who had apologized for the old tweets years before but never deleted them. 

Once the initial heat of the controversy died down, Disney reversed course and put Gunn back in charge of the final installment of the Guardians franchise. During the time he was unemployed, Gunn was hired to write and direct The Suicide Squad for Warner Bros., which led to his Peacemaker spinoff series with John Cena as a result.