Peter Quill and Gamora have enjoyed a far more complex and slow-burning relationship than most of the couples in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Whereas Tony Stark and Pepper Potts were living together in no time and Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter were head over heels in love with each other by the time Cap went into the ice at the end of his first solo movie, Star-Lord and Gamora’s relationship has been allowed to grow over time.
In a strange and beautiful way, they complete each other. So, here are the 10 Most Important MCU Moments In Star-Lord And Gamora’s Relationship.
Quill Introducing Gamora To Music
The first step towards Gamora opening herself up emotionally and falling for Quill comes when he introduces her to the wonders of music. He played Elvis Bishop’s “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” on his Walkman, puts the headphones on her ears, and starts to dance with her.
Set against a cosmic backdrop and showcasing the impeccable chemistry shared by Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana, it’s a truly beautiful moment. Until this moment, Gamora is a callous, cold-hearted, emotionless assassin following in Thanos’ footsteps, but Quill starts her off on the path to happiness by opening her heart with music.
“We’re Just Like Kevin Bacon!”
While the Guardians of the Galaxy movies' many references to Footloose might seem silly, they actually serve a deeper purpose. Even though “We’re just like Kevin Bacon!” is, on the surface, a ridiculous thing to say, it represents the Guardians coming together as a team.
Plus, ancient civilizations have always understood life lessons from their written or widely-told legends. As much as we might want to reject the idea, movies like Footloose are just that to our modern culture. Chris Pratt has offered his own idea about why Gamora took so long to express her love to Quill: “Gamora is completely cut off, based largely on her upbringing as a cybernetically-enhanced super-assassin.” However, moments like this show her capacity for fun.
Gamora Taking Peter’s Hand In The Guardians’ Final Stand Against Ronan
At the end of Guardians of the Galaxy, Ronan the Accuser comes incredibly close to gaining the Power Stone and destroying Xandar, but the Guardians won’t let him do it. Before he can take the Infinity Stone, Star-Lord grabs it. A whirlwind of cosmic energy surrounds him and Gamora reaches out to take his hand.
Suddenly, he flashes back to when his dying mother held out her hand for him and he couldn’t bear to take it, choosing instead to run away. This time, he learns from his past mistake and he doesn’t reject someone else’s love; he embraces it.
Gamora Convincing Quill To Get To Know His Father
At the start of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, the heroes are saved by Ego. Then, he lands next to them, informs Quill that he’s his dad, and offers him a trip to his planet. At first, Quill rejects him, but Gamora convinces Quill to give him a chance by reminding him of how, when he was a kid, he used to carry around a picture of David Hasselhoff and tell the other kids that he was his dad.
There’s also an awesome moment of foreshadowing when she says, “If he ends up being evil, we’ll just kill him.” This is exactly what happens, but we don’t expect that in the beginning.
Dancing To Sam Cooke On Ego’s Planet
Midway through the second Guardians movie, when Gamora begins to have suspicions about Ego, she goes to see Quill, who has become enamored with his dad (and his newfound cosmic superpowers). Quill is listening to Sam Cooke’s “Bring It on Home to Me” and Gamora dances with him.
Dancing has always been a very important part of the pair’s relationship, going back to when they first met. Quill tells Gamora that Sam Cooke is “one of the greatest Earth singers of all time,” and it’s hard to disagree with him. Unfortunately, this scene leads to the couple’s first big argument.
Star-Lord’s Love For Gamora Saving The World
During his climactic fight with Ego in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Star-Lord summons the power of love to defeat him. Although Ego is technically more powerful, he’s too self-obsessed to forge a real connection with anyone, and that becomes his downfall. Quill, on the other hand, has nothing but his relationships with other people.
When his friends are all dying and the world is at stake, Star-Lord has flashes of everyone he loves – Rocket, Yondu, Groot, Drax, and especially Gamora – before summoning enough power to kill Ego, save the world, and become “just like everybody else,” which he’s fine with.
“It’s Just... Some Unspoken Thing”
About halfway through Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Quill tells Gamora that they share an “unspoken thing,” like Sam and Diane in Cheers. Since Gamora has never seen Cheers and she’s also unwilling to face her feelings, she rejects this at first.
However, at the end of the movie, as the Guardians watch the colors of Ogord spread out across the vacuum of space in honor of Yondu’s funeral, Gamora gives Quill an affectionate look. He smiles and asks, “What?” and she says, “It’s just... some unspoken thing.” As vastly different people with equally tragic pasts, Quill and Gamora are taking baby steps with their relationship, and it’s heartwarming.
Star-Lord Trying To Kill Gamora As Promised
In Avengers: Infinity War, Gamora makes Quill promise to kill her if she’s ever captured by Thanos. When push comes to shove and the Mad Titan does abduct her on Knowhere, Quill has to face fulfilling that promise.
They look each other in the eye, she reminds him of the promise he made, and he points his Quad Blaster at her. For the first time ever, they say they love each other before Quill pulls the trigger and, instead of a plasma shot, bubbles come out of the barrel, since Thanos is using the Reality Stone. It’s a truly heartbreaking moment.
Quill Finding Out Thanos Killed Gamora
MCU fans were furious at the moment in Infinity War in which Quill found out Thanos had killed Gamora to acquire the Soul Stone. He lost his cool, beat the Mad Titan with his Quad Blasters, and allowed him to slip out of Mantis’ trance and grab the Infinity Gauntlet back from the other Avengers right after they’d gotten it off his hand.
Ultimately, this allowed Thanos to snap his fingers and wipe out half of all life in the universe. But that just goes to show how much Gamora means to him. And let’s face it: even if they got the Gauntlet out of Thanos’ possession, it wouldn’t have stayed out of his possession for very long.
Their Reunion On The Battlefield In Endgame
It was really sweet to see the look on Star-Lord’s face when he saw Gamora, alive and well, in Avengers: Endgame. After five years in limbo, Quill was brought back to life by the Hulk using the Infinity Stones and returned to Earth to assist the Avengers in destroying Thanos and his armies – and then he saw her.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t the Gamora he remembered. She was from 2014, right before she met him, so all of her character development from the previous movies was undone and she didn’t recognize him. Still, that hasn’t stopped him from searching the cosmos for her.