He went from a space janitor to a space adventurer. Introduced in Thanos #8 (2004) by Keith Giffen and Ron Lim, Peter Quill is the son of the rulers of Spartax, J’Son, and his earth mother, Meredith. J’Son would leave Meredith after conceiving Peter and left her to raise Peter by herself. One day, a squad of the Brood attacked their home, killing Meredith. Peter fled and discovered his father’s Elemental Gun, which he used to kill the Brood. Peter eventually applied to join NASA but after an altercation with an important employee, he was dismissed. He would steal a Kree ship and travel into space but upon leaving the planet, he was captured by the Reavers. After a fight, Peter joined the Reaver……. as the ship’s janitor. Eventually, Yondu, the ship’s captain, needed him for a job but after finding out this was only because of his Spartax, he left the ship, taking the name Star-Lord.

He would later set up an orphanage with Ma Savage and eventually met his father, but they would not come to an agreement as J’Son wanted to rule the universe with Peter at his side, which Peter didn’t agree with. He would eventually encounter the Fallen One, a former Galactus Herald, and would end up severely injured, with some of his body parts being replaced with cybernetics. He would end up in the Klyn and during the Annihilation Wave, he would escape with many of the prisoners there. He would join with the resistance, becoming Nova’s strategic commander. He was eventually captured by the Kree, who restored his original body and had him help with the fight against Ultron’s Phalanx, leading a special strike force.

After the war, he would be set free and with the help of Mantis, persuaded many cosmic heroes to join him on Knowhere. This team would eventually become known as the Guardians of the Galaxy, a team he would lead throughout most of its run. He was eventually believed killed when he would aid Nova and Thanos in their battle against the Cancerverse. He would eventually return and reform the Guardian’s to protect Earth from the Galaxy. He realized that this was a trick by his father to keep him distracted and would eventually dethrone J’Son from the throne of Spartax. The Guardian’s would eventually team up with the time-displaced X-men and Peter would begin a relationship with Kitty Pryde and the two would become engaged. However, this was after his father, now going by Mister Knife, sent the Brood to destroy Hala, the Kree throne world.

Peter would take the throne of Spartax but was eventually removed by the high council and his engagement with Kitty was eventually broken. Skipping a bit, Peter was eventually killed by Gamora when she tried to use the Infinity Stones to try and get a piece of her soul back by folding the universe into the Infinity Warp universe. Despite this, he would defend her against the Dark Guardians and would eventually allow her to return to the Guardians when they reformed to stop the reborn Olympians. After their defeat, the team was given the honor of being the galaxy protectors by the Galactic Council.

Star-Lord wasn’t a very well-known character even for hardcore Marvel fans. That was because most of his original story took place in an alternate universe (twice!). It wasn’t until he was brought into the Prime universe as a new version (with no relation to the previous versions) did he get a bit more notoriety, especially after the formation of the Prime Guardians. But it was after the GOTG movie that he really became a popular member, with the character changing from a strategic hero to a comedic one. He would receive a number of figures, with his original GOTG costume being released in two different exclusives. He’s original MCU version can also be used as a comic figure as it was incorporated into the comics for a while.