Star-Lord Is the New King of Space in Imperial Twist

When MCU fans last saw Peter Quill’s Star-Lord, he was finally experiencing a normal life on Earth, while the Guardians of the Galaxy continued on without him. Now, a huge new shake-up has indeed separated Star-Lord from his iconic team, but in exactly the last way you’d expect if you’re a fan of the movies.

Star-Lord Is the New Ruler of the Spartax Empire

Peter Quill Is Basically a Villain in His Grand Return

In Imperial #4 – from Jonathan Hickman, Iban Coello, Federico Vicentini, Federico Blee and Cory Petit – Marvel just unveiled a new status quo for the cosmic civilizations of the Marvel Universe. After a period of war and chaos, a new Galactic Union has been formed. All the major worlds of the Marvel Universe are now in alliance, short the newly radicalized Skrulls and the Shi’ar Imperium, who are reverting to an isolationist stance.

Peter Quill comes out of this new arrangement as one of the most powerful men in the galaxy – the ruler of the Spartax Empire, and a leading voice in the new Galactic Union. Sitting on a golden throne in a regal new costume, Peter has ascended to the position of power his villainous father J’Son always sought for himself.

Peter has taken the throne from his sister, Victoria, who was targeted by the assassins and remains in a coma, working to save her life using his new resources. While there are checks on his power from the other intergalactic civilizations, Star-Lord is now essentially the king of outer space.

Nova and Star-Lord Have Gone from Friends to Enemies

In the conclusion of the Imperial event, galactic leaders Hulk, Black Panther and Black Bolt strike up a new alliance which gives each of them more power. They’re all so pleased with the outcome that they bury Star-Lord and Nova’s discovery that it was Black Bolt’s Inhumans who originally (and deliberately) threw the galaxy into chaos as part of a complex power grab.

While Peter accepts the new status quo and the power it brings him, Nova is outraged by the new state of the galaxy – the Galactic Union is built on a lie that killed thousands of innocents, and the Skrulls have been shunted back into religious fanaticism via Inhuman manipulation. Star-Lord argues that with the power behind the Union, it will be impossible to get the truth out, causing Nova to attack his former friend and ally, stating they’ll never be friends again.

Star-Lord Just Became One of Marvel’s Most Important Heroes

While Star-Lord isn’t exactly a super-villain, he ends Imperial deeply tarnished on a moral level. Peter Quill knows the galaxy was tricked into going to war, but he’s content to let the guilty go unpunished for the power it gives him, with Shuri declaring, “There might be a bit more of his father in there than most think.”

Once upon a time, that would have been the biggest insult Peter Quill could have imagined – now, it’s something he accepts, admitting that he now sees his father’s Machiavellian streak as “the part of you that you couldn’t turn off.” The purpose of Imperial was to establish a new status quo for Marvel’s cosmic stories, but no-one expected Peter Quill’s Star-Lord to end up with so much power.

Fans might have imagined Imperial would set up an Earthbound status quo for Peter Quill, similar to where the MCU left him. Instead, Star-Lord now has immense power over the entire galaxy, sacrificing his heroic ideals to keep it.

Imperial #4 is available now from Marvel Comics.