What is the relationship between Yondu and Starlord?

Question

In the movie, Guardians of the Galaxy, Starlord is abducted from Earth just after his mother dies. Over the course of the movie, Yondu makes several statements that

would give the impression that Yondu is his father.

References include things like:

Yondu repeating phrases that Starlord's mother used of his father and Yondu laughing at the end of the movie, when he finds out that his son has tricked him out of the booty, despite threatening to kill him.

That said:

Yondu also has a side conversation with one of his crew, in which he says something to the effect of "Aren't you glad we didn't deliver him to his father?" This last conversation could go one of two ways. It could be genuine or it could simply be the lie that he told his crew in order to get them to help save his boy. Recently, a friend of mine was arguing that in fact Yondu was Starlord's guardian, not his father, and used that last conversation as proof.

Is there anything in this comics that explicitly defines the relationship between Yondu and Starlord?

Answer 1

I don’t think it’s parental.

First, it should be noted that the comics can’t be taken as definitive evidence of how things will play out in the MCU, because director James Gunn has confirmed one fairly important piece of information about Star Lord’s parentage that diverges from the comics:

The most important thing Gunn said seemed to be this:

“It’s definitely not the character who it is in the comics, I’ll say that much.”

— James Gunn talks Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and Who is Star-Lord’s Daddy (Aug 2014)

If he’s willing to change that, then he may also change other things, such as Yondu’s relationship with Quill.

At a session in Bangkok, he made more comments about when Starlord’s Father might appear in the MCU, which makes it sound to me like he hasn’t appeared yet:

He also was asked to clarify if Star-Lord’s father would be in Guardians Of The Galaxy 2? Gunn replied,

“He’ll… be showing up pretty soon”.

— Star Lord’s Father might show up sooner than Guardians of the Galaxy 2

From the first piece, we do learn that a lot of thought has been given to Yondu’s relationship with Quill, but it sounds distinctly like a guardian-like relationship, not a parental one:

There have been a lot of documents passed around about who Peter Quill’s father is, and things like that, between a select two or three of us. That’s been part of the plan since the beginning, that’s something I had to work out and I worked it out before we shot the screenplay. We wanted to make sure Yondu’s place in everything made sense and it does, so it’s all very specific stuff.

Personally, I don’t recall any comments that would suggest Yondu is Quill’s father. For me, it seemed consistent with what we saw: Yondu picked up Quill from Earth when he was still very young, and acted as his guardian until he was old enough to work on his own.

I think that’s it: Yondu is Quill’s guardian, not his father.

Now, is there a reason he picked up Quill? What’s his relationship with Quill’s father? That has yet to be established, but given the [fact revealed in the first spoiler block], I don’t know how much we can really infer from the comics.

Answer 2

Like alexwlchan already said in his answer, the cinematic universe can be very different from the comic book universes.

There certainly is a large difference in this case, because in the comic books Star-Lord and Yondu share no relation at all.
They are actually from two different continuities. Star-Lord hailing from Earth-616 (Mainstream Universe) and Yondu from Earth-691 (War of the Worlds Universe). The only thing they have in common is that they are both Guardians of the Galaxy.

So to answer your question, no there is nothing in the comics about their relationship.

In the Cinematic Universe (Earth-199999) Yondu leads the Ravagers. He basically kidnapped the young Peter from Earth after his mother's death and then decided to keep him and raise him to become a Ravager. So Yondu is basically Star-Lords adoptive father and Peter himself states in the movie, that Yondu is the closest thing to family he has.

They share no blood relation however, which is emphasized later in the movie when Nova Prime says that Star-Lord is half Human and the other half is from an unknown race.

Answer 3

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Yondu Udonta is a scavenger/pirate who is paid to acquire high value items for the right people. Peter Quill's abduction was just another asset Yondu was paid to acquire and return. He did not bring Peter Quill to his father and his reasons remain his own.

• In the case of Peter Quill, he was hired by Quill's alien father to acquire the boy. Judging from the timing, Quill's father had to know the boy's mother was not long for this world. Perhaps she had been exposed to radiation during the time Quill's father was on Earth.

• In the mainstream Earth-616 continuity, Quill's father is the ruler of the Spartoi empire. Said empire is not particularly loved or friendly with any of the known empires in the Guardians galaxy. Judging by the fact the Ravengers are not particularly concerned with being attacked by the Spartoi, it is possible, their sphere of influence does not extend into the territories held by the Kree or the Xandarians. In the MCU, it is referenced that Quill is part human and part "something else" at the end of the movie.

• For a reason as yet known (perhaps he held young Quill hoping for a score in the future in the form of a ransom demand) Yondu grew fond of the boy, who was strong, fast and bright, probably due to his partially alien heritage. Quill grew into a partnership with Yondu and established a degree of trust, as much trust as you can get among a group of cut-throats and thieves.

• When we first meet Quill, he is finally breaking away from Yondu and going into acquisitions for himself. Several times we see Yondu browbeat Quill as a hard father figure might using threats of physical or psychological violence against Quill. However, these are the same kinds of threats Yondu uses with the rest of his Scavengers so it may not be out of place in the kind of relationships Yondu employs. Yondu and Quill appear to have an antagonistic father-son relationship that Yondu is very willing to exploit to get his way in any interaction with Quill.

Yondu is a hard man in a hard universe. He does not appear to have any family besides his Ravengers and his ersatz son, Peter Quill. He smiles at the end after discovering the troll doll because he realizes he taught Quill well. Maybe too well.

UPDATE: In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, it is revealed that Ego is Quill's father and that Yondu did not return him to Ego because he suspected none of Ego's other children had fared too well. Having grown fond of Peter, he simply made him a Ravager instead.

Answer 4

In an interview with Empire, Gunn reveals that Peter Quill's lineage in Guardians Of The Galaxy 2 will deviate heavily from the source material.

There have been a lot of documents passed around about who Peter Quill’s father is between a select two or three of us. That’s been part of the plan since the beginning, that’s something I had to work out before we shot the screenplay. We wanted to make sure Yondu’s place in everything made sense and it does, so it’s all very specific stuff. It’s definitely not the character who it is in the comics, I’ll say that much.

--- James Gunn

He also says that Quill's father might not even appear in the second film if he doesn't serve the core story that's still in development, and surely Rooker's Yondu will return.

So, basically, it is still on hold but Yondu is on the list of the "maybies"

Answer 5

Peter's mother said "he was an angel made out of pure light" and Yondu said " I may be pretty as an angel but I'm not one " I think it's a hint by Gunn. The smile at the end seems one of an indulgent father.