Marvel’s What If…? Writer Clarifies A Certain Star-Lord Plot Hole
Marvel Studios’ new Disney Plus offeringWhat if …?Fans have been enjoying the unique approach to alternate universes, as well as writers’ reaction to its unique take on punctuation. While many enjoy the lighter-hearted Marvel Cinematic Universe stories, there was some concern about the Star-Lord episode. Many consider it a plot hole. But, not everything is as it seems.
Episode 2 of What If …? had audiences following the omniscient narrator, The Watcher, into a less familiar version of the Guardians of the Galaxy tale. This time, instead of a young Peter Quill finding his path onto a universe-exploring vessel of outlaws, this honour went to a pre-black Panther T’Challa. The thing is, in this universe, T’Challa took on the name of Star-Lord, just like Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill did in the original version of the tale. Fans were quick to point this out as they don’t believe it makes sense.
Originally, Star-Lord came from Peter’s own mother, who gave him the nickname as a child. Fans argued that T’Challa would not have chosen the same name by accident. They’re correct about that. It was not a coincidence. It turns out that there might be more to the Star-Lord name than fans realized. A.C. Bradley, series head writer, was prepared for these claims to the surface and quickly addressed them.
“And before someone on twitter tells me Star-Lord wasn’t the nickname Peter Quill gave him,” she said in a conversation with Discussing Film. “The reason he’s named Star-Lord” was because we were guessing. You knew Star-Lord was also Ego’s nickname. Because Meredith Quill knew that Ego wasn’t human, she called Peter Star-Lord. So the word “Peter” was found in the ether, and Yondu started to call him Peter almost as a joke. It does help to explain the situation. In this interpretation of the story, at least, Peter Quill got the Star-Lord name from his mother, who had gotten it from Ego.
This episode of What If …? __S.21__ As Chadwick Boseman’s final performance in his famous role as T’Challa, the episode was an emotional journey for those still stinging from his tragic passing last year.
Perhaps it was just right that he received a little more energy from the audience in one way or another. Boseman is still able to make his presence felt, even after all this. Black Panther, RIP. Wakanda Forever.
