Spoilers for the end of the second film
Towards the end of the fight against Ego, we see that the bomb Groot set off blows up Ego's core. Shortly thereafter, it cuts to a scene where Quill is shown apparently losing his powers.
Given that the movie builds up this finale so much, I'm left wondering:
Did Quill lose his powers or merely the means to access them after Ego's apparent death?
Answers from the film or comics are very much welcome.
We have no reliable way to tell.
Ego certainly claimed that the events at the end of the movie would mean that Peter was primarily human (and mortal, and non-glowing-ball-creating) at the end of the movie. Every on-screen act supports this - Peter is unable to do any of his Ego-like acts until he reaches Ego (the planet) and is taught how to use the abilities. During the lessons, he is told to reach out to the core of the planet, which is also the core of Ego's being. During the climax, the core of the planet is what
Groot destroys.
When this happens and Ego feels the effects, he certainly claims that it will prevent Peter from using his abilities, and indicates that it will make him "just like everyone else". There is on-screen evidence to support this, as well, as we see the visual evidence of Peter's abilities fade.
That said, Peter still has all the genetics that permitted him to use those abilities. He still has the capability, and we have only Ego's word that there are no other compatible power sources. Ego has every reason to lie in this case, as it is his last bid to save his own life and advance (or at least salvage) his plan. We have no evidence that his words were a lie, but it is not impossible that he was lying or mistaken.
For this reason, while it is likely that Peter is now just a fairly 'normal' human, that is not certain.
Edit:
There is, of course, another possibility as to what happened:
(image courtesy of Texts From Superheroes)
Post-Infinity War Edit:
During Infinity War, we see Starlord post-Ego. In most ways, he acts and reacts as a normal human. He does do some outlandish physical feats (such as handling superpowered combat relatively well, and surviving at least one long fall) but no moreso than most other 'normal' superheroes.
Thus, he is (at most) an enhanced human, with high-end human capabilities augmented by his alien technology. Starlord post-Ego is not significantly different than Starlord from GotG 1.
Whilst Ego said they were linked, he also had to wait for a second Celestial so he could power his plan. Just as the glowing centre of the planet was the celestial Ego, implies that Peter is a separate power source, like Ego, but perhaps not as strong. Ego having have millennia to access/build his power had easy access, whereas Peter had only just heard of it, and maybe needed more practice.
This is paraphrased from when I saw the film last week. However, Ego's dying words to Starlord are:
Ego: "Listen to me! You are a god! If you kill me, you'll be just like everybody else!"
Peter: "What's so wrong with that?"
Ego: "No!"
This seems to suggest that Peter Quill's powers are tied to Ego's existence, and without Ego Peter will be rendered Mortal. This however could just be Ego trying to stop Peter from killing him, and therefore Peter might just need a new source of "white light". This will likely be clarified in Vol. 3!
With regards to the comics this answer by Gandalf'sFISTS states that in the comics, Star Lord's dad is J'son, and therefore, as far as I'm aware, there is no reference we can take from the comics of what happened to Starlord. However as mentioned by Disturbed Neo. The MCU Universe is Earth-199999 and the J'son is Star Lord's father on Earth-616 (Original comics Earth)
I was wondering the exact same thing.
It turns out the comics aren't much help here. In those, Quill's father was not Ego, but rather a (strong but quite mortal) alien named J'Son. There were a fair bit of story parallels other than that though.
Ego himself in the Comics is indeed a Celestial (although there are some alternate genealogies presented). He was once destroyed just as completely (he fell into a star after a similar attack by Thing), and managed to reform himself from particles. So I wouldn't expect Ego to stay dead in the MCU any longer than is convenient for story purposes.
I'd say the same goes for Star Lord's "powers" (whatever they may be). There is plenty of wiggle-room there should story purposes one day be helped out by having a Celetial-ish Guardian. After all, he should still have the DNA, and Ego did say that it took him a long while to learn what he could do. However, in the comics he is mostly a normal human who is really good at combat, strategy and languages, has good gadgets and powerful colleagues. So you can most likely expect his MCU portrayal to not fall too horribly far away from that tree.
Peter may still have the capability of accessing his powers, even without an external power source. In the movie, after Peter lights up Ego with his blasters when hearing about his mother, Ego gets super mad and mentions that Peter would just be a battery for the next 1000 years implying that Peter has power within him. If he already had the power, he wouldn't need something like one of the stones. The planet may just have made it easier for Peter to access his power, not the cause of his power.
Did Quill lose his powers or merely the means to access them after Ego's apparent death?
Peter Quill / Star-Lord lost his powers in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. James Gunn, the director of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, confirmed this in a tweet that he posted after the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), where Quill was not shown using the powers he inherited from Ego in Vol. 2.
Does peter still have some kind of power or something unnatural in his body that makes him Survive more than a normal human???
James Gunn: No.
So toward the beginning of the film, they show Ego showing Starlords mother a plant he planted. That plant is a piece of him that feeds off of the Earth. If it somehow manages to remain hidden from the Avengers and any other investigative groups, the Earth holds a small amount of the light. In order for Peter Quill to regain his power, he would obviously have to return to Earth. If in the final film, Thanos decides to invade Earth, this would summon Quill back to Earth to defend his homeworld. I feel like he might be able to use his powers in the fight against Thanos. If the plant continues to grow, Peter Quill would become stronger over time. Maybe he would be able to come and go from Earth to rejeuvinate his power. Similar to Ego leaving and being forced to return back home.
Quill always had the power in him there's one scene that kinda got overlooked, I think. There is one point right before Ego and Quill start flying around he says "you shouldn't have killed my mother". Ego looks confused as Quill explodes with power, I don't think Ego expected him to get the hang of his powers so fast. So I believe, that just like Yondu told him that he doesn't fly his arrow with his mind he flies it with his heart. I think going forward this is where we are going to see his power come from ...his heart :)
I think that Peter still possesses his powers. As others have previously stated, Ego needed Peter for his plan, stating that he is a battery. It only makes sense that Peter is his own source of power, if his powers truly disappeared with Ego gone, it makes me think that maybe Peter would have died too, but he didn't. It took Ego millions of years to hone his powers and be able to create things, getting stronger and stronger.
I believe that Peter's ability to use his powers are slim to none currently because he is not strong enough, but with a power source such as an infinity stone or Ego he is able to use them, just how Ego uses Peter as a battery for his plan.
Currently, I believe that Peter thinks he has lost his immortality and powers simply because Ego said he would. My guess is that in The Avengers: Infinity War there will be an event where Peter realizes Ego was wrong, maybe he goes back to Knowhere for the Reality stone or he does something that would require being part-celestial.
