Peter Quill is leading an interesting life. He is the son of a human woman and alien man, whose journey began in a rural setting on Earth but has unfolded across the universe. He is Star-Lord, a rogue, an adventurer, a hero, and a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

He debuted 50 years ago in Marvel Preview #4 (January 1976) as a creation of Steve Englehart and Steve Gan. Peter’s story began in Colorado when his father J’son of Spartax crashed his spaceship in the Rocky Mountains. Meredith Quill witnessed the crash and pulled J’son out of the ship, saved his life, and helped him recover. Over the next year, they fell in love and she became pregnant with Peter. Being the heir to a galactic empire, J’son needed to return home once he was healed and his ship was fixed. Because he was concerned that she and the child wouldn’t survive the war he was returning to, J’son locked Meredith’s memories of him so that she wouldn’t be heartbroken when he left.

Meredith raised Peter on her own, but their happy family ended in tragedy at the hands of Peter’s great-uncle. J’son sent his uncle Gareth to bring Meredith and Peter to his world, but Gareth wanted the throne for himself, so he killed Meredith and attempted to murder Peter. The devastated boy swore to get revenge for his mother’s death.

Years later, Peter joined NASA’s astronaut program and would work on NASA’s space station. A celestial apparition named Star-Lord met the space station’s crew and offered to turn one of them into a higher being. Though Peter wanted the honor, NASA disagreed and sent him back to Earth, so he stole a ship and found the celestial being to become the Star-Lord.

In this new incarnation, Star-Lord can generate a personal force field, survive in space, fly very fast, and heal quickly. He gained super-strength, is an accomplished swordsman, marksman, and hand to hand fighter. Star-Lord also has a gun that shoots energy blasts and only works for him, and he has a helmet that improves his sight and analyses data.

Not long after he became Star-Lord, Peter came up against Kyras Shakati, who was enslaving entire worlds. Star-Lord helped the slaves rebel, and he learned that Shakati was the one that his great-uncle Gareth hired to kill Peter and his mother. Peter traveled to his father’s planet, Spartax, to kill Gareth, and he finally met his father. J’son asked Peter to stay and be his heir to the throne, but Star-Lord refused.

The Phalanx transmode virus caused destruction and chaos throughout the galaxy, leaving any attempt at a defense system wrecked. It was then that Pater established the second iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy with Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, Adam Warlock, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot. They set up a base on Knowhere, an interdimensional location inside the severed head of a Celestial, that allowed them to teleport anywhere they wanted to go across the galaxy.

Before the team got its official name, Warlock informed them that the Annihilation Wave had torn holes in space and time. When the team sealed the rifts, they met Major Victory who hailed from an alternate future where he was a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Liking the name, Star-Lord and his team adopted it as their own.

When the Skrulls invaded Knowhere, the Guardians were pushed to battle their neighbors, including fellow peacekeeping force, the Luminals. During this time, the Guardians learned that Peter had used Mantis’ telepathic abilities to manipulate them into joining the team. Drax, Warlock, Gamora, and Quasar quit the team in anger, and Peter traveled to Hala to warn them about the Skrulls.

After he arrived, Peter learned that the Kree had reactivated the Babel Spire to protect the empire. Peter told Ronan to turn it off because he could damage the fabric of space, which was already unstable. Ronan refused and set Peter to the Negative Zone where Blastaar was trying to find a way to invade Earth via a super-human prison. Star-Lord joined forces with the inmates to stop Blastaar, connected with Mantis via another telepath, and called for the remaining Guardians to come help.

Eventually, Peter quit the team to become Emperor of Spartax, but his time on the throne didn’t last long, and he returned to the team. When the Guardians landed on Earth and became stranded, Peter became a bartender. He hung out with Old Man Logan, got into some trouble stopping petty criminals, and faced Matt Murdock in court.

When he returned to space, Star-Lord crashed on Softlands, a desert planet that harkened back to the Old West. Peter became a deputy in a small town and fought the outlaw Greylight before returning to space. Rejoining the Guardians, Peter worked with the team to find double agents in the Nova Corps, and they hunted for the Infinity Stones to try to prevent a war.

In the recent “Imperial” storyline, J’son and Peter’s half-sister, Victoria, were attacked by a group that was going after galactic leaders. J’son was killed and Victoria was poisoned then put in stasis to heal. Peter returned to the throne of Spartax while she recovered.