James Gunn Doesn't Deny That Guardians Of The Galaxy's Quill Is A Womanizer

This article contains spoilers for "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3."

Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is many things. He's a superhero called Star-Lord and the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy. He's also a brother to Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and son to a now-deceased Celestial called Ego (Kurt Russell). Some of his besties include a talking raccoon (Sean Gunn/voice of Bradley Cooper) and a sentient tree (Vin Diesel). He's also a womanizer.

I'm not casting judgment here. I don't ask for moral perfection from my superheroes (unless it's Superman). Quill is who he is, and even though he fell in love with the Earth-616 version of Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), it's been very clear from the first film that he likes to hook up. He briefly dated Bereet (Melia Kreiling), the Krylorian who he was with when he set off on a mission at the beginning of the first film. I mean, yeah, he forgot she was on the ship, but it was just a simple date, right?

When Gamora died and another multiverse version of her rejects his advances, he even briefly flirts with her sister Nebula (Karen Gillan) in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," calling the eyes her father Thanos (Josh Brolin) replaced to torture her "very pretty." Quill likes the ladies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is in keeping with his canonically bisexual counterpart from the Marvel comics. In an interview with io9, "Guardians" trilogy writer/director James Gunn spoke about this aspect of the character and embracing it with his films.

In the interview, James Gunn — who is now overseeing the DC Universe with producer Peter Safran — talked about the reactions to this side of Peter Quill's personality. "You know, one of the things that's been interesting in making these movies is people get upset with people's characteristics," Gunn explained. "So, like, Quill is a womanizer, and then people are outraged over that. Not 'many' people but 'some' people," he clarified before continuing:

"Almost as if that's me saying, 'Hey, this guy is a womanizer!' But he is a womanizer. It's a good thing. He's a womanizer. It's a part of his characteristics. It's a part of who he is. And I think that we see in ['Guardians 3'] is it's very much something that he uses to not be himself and not to be with himself and not to acknowledge the truths that he's turned away from since the death of his mother. And so I think that [the multiverse] version of Gamora makes him come face to face with that issue in a really dramatic and unusually dramatic way. Which is cool."

It makes sense. Peter has been running from a lot of things in his life. He ran away from his mother's death as a kid. He ran away from the fact that his father wasn't around by telling everyone that David Hasselhoff was his dad. He uses romantic pursuits to distract himself from the pain of his grief for his parents, the loss of both his morally-challenged Celestial dad and his surrogate father Yondu (Michael Rooker), and his grief over Gamora's death.

Chris Pratt himself spoke about Quill's personality in a 2013 Hero Complex interview, noting:

"He had a hard time as a kid, and now he goes around space, making out with hot alien girls and just being a rogue and a bit of a jerk, and through teaming up with these guys, finds a higher purpose for himself."

In the end, that's the main point. Peter Quill runs away from his problems, but finding his group — that is, his chosen family with his fellow Guardians — and a new home in the form of Knowhere allows him to finally confront his past. At the end of the third film, Quill even returns to Earth to be with his grandfather and heal old wounds. We also know from the "Guardians 3" after-credits scene that Star-Lord could (will?) return in future films, despite the fact that the Guardians' roster has changed quite a bit. 

Peter may be emotionally ready to enter into a healthy relationship again, but I, for one, am okay if he keeps up with the one-night stands and the flirting. A big romance doesn't have to be the endgame with him. In fact, let's see him not just womanize, but flirt freely with any being(s) he likes throughout the galaxy. Just ... Peter, do try to remember when you have a "guest" on the ship, okay? 

"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" is currently playing in theaters.