The following contains spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise has come to an end. As somebody who has loved these films, and considered them the best of the MCU, it’s a somewhat bittersweet feeling. If these movies went on forever, I would be there to watch them all. At the same time, the story has found such a satisfying concussion that I can’t help but feel good about its ending. The franchise gave me everything I could have wanted, especially what it didn’t give us.
If we look at the complete Guardians of the Galaxy story, there is an element that is noticeable by its absence. A great deal of screen time over the course of the franchise is focused on the romantic relationship between Peter Quill and Gamora, which is interesting because, it’s actually not a relationship that we ever really see, but then, that’s what’s so perfect about it.
The Love Story Between Peter Quill And Gamora Happens Almost Entirely Off Screen
It’s clear early in the first Guardians of the Galaxy that Peter Quill and Gamora are attracted to each other. They very nearly kiss in that movie, but the moment is broken up by a very drunk Rocket. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 the relationship continues to grow. Gamora eventually admits to “some unspoken thing” between them. But it remains unspoken.
When we see our characters again, the unspoken thing has become spoken. Years have passed between Guardians Vol. 2 and Avengers: Infinity War and in that time, Quill and Gamora have fallen in love. However, we only see this relationship briefly before Gamora is ripped away by Thanos. The Gamora that Star-Lord is in love with dies, and while the character does return, it’s a version of her that has no memory of the years they spent together.
If anybody was hoping that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 would find some way to “fix” this, it does not. While Gamora does change over the course of the film, her feelings for Star-Lord do not.
Gamora Is More Than A Love Interest
While there’s an argument, especially after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, that Rocket is actually the protagonist of the franchise, the first two movies do obviously focus a great deal on Star-Lord. The first movie opens with the loss of his mother and his abduction. The primary antagonist of Vol. 2 is his father. With that, it’s easy to see Star-Lord and Gamora getting together as part of Peter Quill’s story.
But Gamora is not part of anybody else’s story. She very much has her own story to tell, her own character arc to complete. To see her as nothing more than a goal to be obtained by Star-Lord is selling her far too short. And Guardians of the Galaxy does a great job of letting all its characters have their own stories.
That’s not to say Gamora can’t want or achieve love, but if the movies set that as a goal, then achieving that on-screen becomes an end to itself, and it’s not where either of their stories was ever going to end. Beyond that, I’d argued that Gamora’s “unspoken thing” at the end of Vol. 2 is one of the most romantic moments in the MCU. There’s little question about where this relationship is going at that moment, even if it's not quite there yet. We don’t need more than that.
It Serves Peter Quill's Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Arc
For Peter Quill, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is, on the surface, all about his relationship with Gamora, and the fact that it is over. The fact Gamora still exists makes the whole situation that much for difficult for him to deal with. He’s having significant trouble moving on.
At one point Gamora, sick of dealing with Quill’s inability to move on, and how it is impacting her, says the quiet part out loud. Quill had defined himself through the relationship, and thus, without his Gamora, he was having trouble standing on his own. It’s when he understands that she’s right that Quill realizes that he needs to figure out who he truly is, and that starts by going home.
This isn't just Peter Quill's arc in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but the entire trilogy. Peter is a stunted adolescent, stuck as the 12-year-old boy that he was when he left Earth. The entire franchise has traced Quill's path to actual maturity. And while finding love can be part of that journey, for Peter Quill it was just another part of avoiding coming to terms with himself.
While this arc still could have worked had we seen more of the Gamora Quill relationship, it actually works better since we didn’t. Watching Gamora and Quill fall in love would have felt like a moment of character growth for Quill, but this arc indicates that maybe it wasn’t.
Guardians of The Galaxy Is About Love, But Not Romance
Peter doesn't need to find love. He has a loving family in the very first scene of the very first movie. His journey was something else. Gamora also doesn't need to find romantic love. Her love story is with her sister Nebula.
If Gamora and Peter Quill had rekindled their romance in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 it would have overshadowed everything else the movie did as well as the stories up to that point. James Gunn did such a remarkable job telling complete stories with so many characters it would have been unfortunate to overshadow any of them.
The love story of Peter and Gamora is there. The film makes it clear that it happened, but it was never what this story was about. In the end, skipping over the bulk of the Peter/Gamora love story helps Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and the franchise as a whole. It makes for stronger characters for both Peter and Gamora without taking anything away from them or anybody else.
