Marvel Studios' latest Disney Plus offering What If...? has been causing quite a stir among fans for its unique take on alternate universes and among writers for its unique take on punctuation. But while many have been enjoying the far more light-hearted versions of now-classic tales in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the recent Star-Lord episode inspired a few eyebrows to rise in reaction to what many consider to be a plot hole. However, things may not be as they seem.
Episode 2 of What If...? saw audiences follow the omniscient narrator known as The Watcher into a less familiar version of the Guardians of the Galaxy story. Rather than a young Peter Quill finding his way onto a universe-exploring ship of outlaws, this time that honor 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. But fans were quick to point out that they didn't think this made sense.
Originally, the name Star-Lord came from Peter's own mother, who gave him the nickname as a child. As such, fans argued that T'Challa wouldn't have just coincidentally taken the same name. Well, they're right about that. It wasn't a coincidence. In fact, it turns out there may be more behind the Star-Lord name than fans knew. Series head writer A.C. Bradley was ready for these claims to come up, and she was quickly able to address them.
"And before someone on Twitter tells me that Star-Lord was the nickname that Peter Quill’s mom gave to him," she fired off while speaking with Discussing Film, "the reason he’s called Star-Lord is that we were guessing that Yondu knew that Star-Lord was also the nickname of Ego. That [Meredith Quill] called Peter Star-Lord because she knew Ego was not human. And so that’s how the word was in the ether that Yondu was aware of it and he started calling Peter almost as a fun joke." So, it does explain things away rather well. 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...? was always going to elicit a reaction from fans, but the discourse regarding the Star-Lord name probably wasn't what many expected. 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.
So perhaps it's fitting that he got a little extra energy out of the audience one way or another. Even after everything, Boseman can still make his presence known. RIP Black Panther. Wakanda Forever.
What If...? premieres new episodes of Wednesday exclusively on Disney Plus.
Source: Discussing Film