Originally published May 6, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
Anghus Houvouras on Yondu and why he’s the best character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe…
(Lots of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 spoilers. You don’t want to read this column before you’ve seen the film.)
James Gunn had to fight to convince the Marvel brass to let Michael Rooker play Yondu in the original Guardians of the Galaxy. After seeing both Guardians of the Galaxy films, I can say anyone who put up that resistance deserves a nice flat handed slap to the face.
Yondu is the best character the Marvel Cinematic Universe has ever produced.
That’s not something I could have said after the original Guardians of the Galaxy, but James Gunn has done something brilliant in the second installment and fleshed out the character and crafted a story arc that makes him a wonderfully flawed, sympathetic, tragic, and ultimately heroic presence that has yet to be rivalled in a Marvel movie.
Yes, Yondu, who served as something of a foil to Peter Quill and the Guardians of the Galaxy. In the second film we learn more about Peter’s lineage and why Yondu made certain choices. Choices that saw him exiled from the ranks of his beloved Ravagers and ultimately placing him in the role of Starlord’s Daddy. The brilliance of the second installment is how much light it sheds on the original. The first film paints Yondu in an almost one-dimensional perspective. He’s a space pirate searching for shit to steal. He has a spot soft for Quill because of their relationship, but the first Guardians film portrayed Yondu as a crass opportunist.
Vol. 2 has so many interesting reveals, but the reason behind Yondu not delivering Peter to his real father, Ego the Living Planet, is a heart-wrenching moment of characterization that makes so much of what happened in Vol. 1 make sense. It makes you want to go back and re-watch the first film to see the moments between Peter and Yondu again. They take on new weight and meaning once you realize Yondu’s motivation.
One of my biggest gripes about the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the constant use of forced characterization; making a character act a certain way to fit the plot. Tony Stark is a ‘mad scientist’ anti-authoritarian in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but then suddenly he’s a Government shill in Captain America: Civil War. The characters tell us about why they’re making choices but it never feels entirely earned. Tony Stark has to be an anti-authoritarian in Age of Ultron because someone has to build Ultron. He has to be a government shill in Civil War because the core of that story involves an ideological conflict.
So many of the characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe make disparate choices based on whatever the particular plot of this movie is about. Yondu makes choices based on his relationship with Peter. And the reveals we learn throughout Vol. 2 feel motivated by character relationships, not plot points. It’s the most organic kind of storytelling and adds a layer to the movie that so many other Marvel movies lack.
Rooker is exceptional in the role. People are talking about the raw emotion of Logan, but I found myself much more connected and emotionally invested in the relationship between Peter and Yondu. Rooker’s gravelly, earnest space pirate brings so much to the movie. And unlike so many other characters in the MCU we get to see consequences, high stakes, and sacrifice. His presence in these films matter, therefore his ultimate sacrifice actually matters and delivers real drama to the film’s finale. If only they had given this kind of character development to Quicksilver before killing him off. Maybe we would have cared.
As a character, Yondu has made more progression in two movies than Iron Man, Thor or Captain America have in a half-dozen. In nine years of movies, not one character in the MCU has been so perfectly rendered.
Anghus Houvouras
