Guardians Of The Galaxy: A Timeline Of Gamora And Star-Lord's Relationship In The MCU Movies

Well... it’s almost the end of the line for the bunch of a-holes who unexpectedly became the superheroes known as the Guardians of the Galaxy and seriously warmed our hearts along the way. Ahead of the trilogy closer, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, hitting theaters, we need to reflect back on core relationship among the team who’s really been through it across nearly a decade of Marvel movies: Gamora and Star-Lord. Before we see how the upcoming Marvel movie leaves Zoe Saldana and Chris Pratt’s characters, it’s time to journey down memory lane with these two, because we're really rooting for them!

Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, is a Celestial-Human hybrid who is abducted as a child from Earth and spends his childhood among the Yondu Ravager Clan before building a reputation as an intergalactic outlaw. Gamora on the other hand is an adopted daughter of Thanos after the major MCU villain killed off half her race. When these two met in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, both their lives changed forever. Here’s the full timeline of Gamora and Star-Lord’s relationship.

Star-Lord And Gamora Meet On Xandar

Star-Lord and Gamora meet early on in Guardians of the Galaxy when Gamora is on a mission to steal the orb from him along with Bradley Cooper’s Rocket the Raccoon and Vin Diesel’s Groot pulling for it at the same time as well. When Peter meets Gamora, he’s clearly distracted enough by the daughter of Thanos for her to catch him off guard and take the powerful object (which we later learn is holding one of the Infinity Stones) before the pair get into a full-on fight in the middle of the bustling alien city. It’s not long before Star-Lord, Gamora, Rocket and Groot all find themselves imprisoned at the same time.

Star-Lord And Gamora Break Out Of Jail Together

But, no maximum security prison could hold the future Guardians of the Galaxy. When they find themselves in prison, they meet David Bautista’s Drax the Destroyer, who has a personal vendetta against Ronan the Accuser, who is forging an alliance with Thanos in the first Guardians movie. After Gamora convinces Drax that she is his only hope to get his revenge, he joins their plan to break out of the prison. It’s then when Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket and Groot board the Milano together for the first time and go on their first mission together.

The Romantic Walkman Moment

During the mission, Star-Lord attempts to romance Gamora by showing her the music on his precious walkman and shares a dance with her. He tells her about a man named “Kevin Bacon”, thus schooling her on human culture before taking her hand and attempting to kiss her. Gamora looks to be entranced by Peter Quill for a few minutes, but the moment doesn’t last long as she puts a stop to Star-Lord’s “pelvic sorcery,” as she puts it. It’s a cute moment in Gamora and Star-Lord’s relationship that provides a glint of their budding romance.

Star-Lord And Gamora Save The Galaxy And Officially Become A Team

At the end of Guardians of the Galaxy, it’s not only Star-Lord and Gamora that bond, but also Rocket, Groot and Drax. They become somewhat of a misfit family who successfully stop Ronan the Accuser from destroying the planet of Xandar and officially making them the Guardians of the Galaxy. Following their heroic acts, their criminal records are expunged and look like they are ready to stick together as a team as they fly off into the proverbial sunset at the end of the first movie.

Gamora Convinces Star-Lord To Get To Know His Father

Marvel fans may have caught up with the team three years later for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but the next story itself took place a few months after the events of the first movie. The sequel began with the Guardians getting themselves into new trouble while attempting to save Gamora’s adoptive sister, Karen Gillan’s Nebula, who we'd call a part of the team. But, the crux of the story really revolves around Quill’s father, Kurt Russell’s Ego getting back in touch with his son. Star-Lord is prone not to trust him, but it’s Gamora who suggests he should see his father through and if he “ends up being evil, she’ll kill him.”

It’s a sweet moment between the pair and shows that Gamora really truly cares about Peter being happy despite the immense dangers involved. And yes, Ego does end up being evil, but hey, they kill him and Star-Lord realizes that even though Ego was his biological dad, Yondu was his real dad all along.

Star-Lord Confronts His Feelings For Gamora Over A Dance

About halfway through Vol. 2, Star-Lord and Gamora find themselves in another sweet dance moment where Peter ends up confronting his growing feelings for Gamora to her. He calls it an “unspoken thing” between them. Gamora ignores the feelings conversation to instead talk about the shadiness of Ego’s home planet prior to them learning Ego's true intentions. At the time of the conversation, it angers Star-Lord. As the movie progresses and they find themselves in more life-threatening situations, they forget their little fight and Gamora affirms their “unspoken thing” at the end of Vol. 2. That plus they gain a new member in Pom Klementieff's Mantis.

Gamora Asks Peter To Kill Her If Thanos Gets To Her (He Doesn’t)

Here's where things take a super dark turn. Gamora and Star-Lord’s story picks up during Avengers: Infinity War when Thanos is carrying out his horrible plan to wipe out half of the universe by collecting the six Infinity Stones and his Infinity Gauntlet. Just ahead of the pair coming face-to-face with Thanos, Gamora asks if Thanos gets to her that Star-Lord can do her a favor and kill her -- in order to keep Thanos from getting information from her about one of the stones. Not long after, Thanos arrives and Peter is faced with keeping his promise, which he does, but when he pulls the trigger, Thanos ensures that only bubbles come out of the gun. In turn, Thanos takes Gamora to Vormir to help carry out his mission.

Thanos Kills Gamora On Vormir

We then learn that Gamora is a key part of Thanos’ evil plans, because in order to retrieve the Soul Stone, he has to sacrifice someone he loves, and his adopted daughter is just about the only person for whom he’s felt that emotion. In her final moments, Gamora didn't believe there was anyone her father loved, but tragically, she was wrong. Thanos sent Gamora over the cliff and secured the Soul stone in exchange.

Peter Quill Ruins A Big Mission Against Thanos Upon Learning Of Her Death

That brings us to perhaps the most controversial Star-Lord moment we’ve seen yet. After losing Gamora to Thanos, Star-Lord and the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy crew basically join the Avengers in an effort to stop the big purple baddie. During one important plan that involves Mantis, Spider-Man and Iron-Man, Star-Lord flubs the whole thing up when he learns that Gamora was killed by Thanos’ hand. Caught up in his intense emotions, he allows for Thanos to get away, and therein wipe the lives of half the universe. His love for Gamora was too strong for him to focus on a world-ending mission.

Gamora From The Past Is Brought Into The Current Timeline In Endgame

During the cliffhanger Avengers: Infinity War ending, Thanos is victorious and half of the universe turns to dust, including Star-Lord and the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy (with the exception of Nebula). In Avengers: Endgame the ultimate superhero team comes together to bring everyone back. To do so, the heroes use time travel to retrieve the Infinity Stones needed to reverse Thanos’ dark deed. During the time travel of it all, Gamora from 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy -- before she even met Peter Quill -- is brought into the current timeline with Thanos’ army. Nebula reunites with her sister and convinces her to betray Thanos ahead of the Avengers beating out her adoptive father and everyone coming back for that epic final battle sequence.

Peter (Briefly) Reunites With Gamora During The Final Thanos Battle

It’s during that final battle where Star-Lord comes across Gamora and his heart skips a beat seeing that she is no longer dead. He soon finds out that she has no memory of him when she greets him about the same way they met back on Vormir, with a kick in the balls. While Peter lay writhing in pain, Gamora asks Nebula is the one she was talking about, which she confirms. Apparently Nebula caught her up a bit about her life in the main timeline, but Gamora seems less than impressed with Star-Lord.

It wasn’t really explained what happened to Gamora after this scene, but in a deleted scene that was later released, it shows Gamora leaving the battlefield as the Avengers all take a knee for Iron Man, who dies in battle saving the universe. We’ve known for a while that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will continue to explore Gamora alternative timeline storyline with Zoe Saldana’s Gamora officially back in the main cast somehow, perhaps to stick with her sister Nebula at first.

As the latest trailer shows, Peter Quill will somewhat recap the situation in a scene where he calls the new Gamora “a total dick” along with the movie teasing some fight scenes between them. How will Star-Lord and Gamora’s story end? Hopefully they get a second chance love story! We’ll find out when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits theaters on May 5. In the meantime, check out what people who have seen it are saying about the trilogy capper.