Guardians of the Galaxy was an amazing success story for Marvel Studios, turning what was at the time one of the Marvel Universe’s more obscure superhero teams into an instantly recognizable pillar of the MCU. A big part of the success of the Guardians films can be attributed to the MCU modernizing and updating the team in order to fit the big screen. One of the most important changes made from the comics was the romance arc between Star Lord and Gamora.
In the films, these two had a fairly straightforward journey into becoming a romantic couple, and while Guardians Volume Three put an end to their relationship, it was still one of the MCU’s best. But the love story between Star-Lord and Gamora was very different in the original comics.
Gamora Fell in Love With Nova, Not Star-Lord
To begin with, Gamora and Star-Lord were originally never in love with each other. The modern iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy team was formed in the aftermath of Annihilation: Conquest, a highly underrated crossover event where Avengers villain Ultron went into space and nearly conquered the universe. Because none of earth’s heroes were available to fight Ultron, Star-Lord decides it’s up to him to assemble a new superhero team to protect outer space, and so he recruits a team of cosmic heroes to form the Guardians of the Galaxy, including Gamora.
At the time, Gamora was actually in love with a different outer space hero: Star-Lord’s friend Richard Rider AKA Nova. Both Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy were being handled by the same team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, so the two books were meant to be read as a pair. In 2009 both Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova would conclude their stories with an epic six-issue miniseries called The Thanos Imperative, a crossover event that saw the Marvel Universe was invaded by a parallel “Cancerverse” where death itself had been eliminated, mutating all life into abominations
Star-Lord Died in the Comics, Not Gamora
By the end of The Thanos Imperative, both Nova and Star-Lord are trapped inside the Cancerverse with Thanos himself, and the two of them give their lives to keep the purple tyrant from returning to their universe.
With both Nova and Star-Lord dead, Gamora was heartbroken, but she continued to work with the Guardians. Eventually, Star-Lord would escape the Cancerverse… without Nova. Gamora and Star-Lord continue to work together and started to form a romance. Eventually, Nova would return to life, but he was traumatized by his experiences in the Cancerverse, and could never return to the path he once walked.
Gamora Killed Star-Lord (But He Got Better)
In Infinity Wars by Gerry Duggan and Mike Deodato, Gamora begins obsessing over the Infinity Stones just like her father did. Gamora was convinced that part of her soul had been trapped in one of the Stones, and so she sought to gather them to remake the universe for the better. During the fighting in Infinity Wars, Star-Lord is actually killed by Gamora… but he’s quickly revived, and Gamora is also redeemed for her actions in the end.
In the 2020 Guardians of the Galaxy series by Al Ewing and Juann Cabal, Star-Lord and Gamora have finally settled down and become an official couple. However, their happiness is quickly interrupted when Peter seemingly dies yet again in Guardians of the Galaxy #2 – only in reality, he was just thrown into an alternate universe for 140 years. Peter would finally return home to help his teammates fight the King in Black. Later, when the galactic economy collapsed, they became an official law-enforcement agency, but this did not last, and now the Guardians of the Galaxy are on the run, living as outlaws.
In a way, the Guardians have come full circle, and only time will tell what happens with Star-Lord and Gamora’s romantic relationship.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
