Gamora/Peter Quill

[lynnenne]

Hello, and welcome to your weekly Sunday discussion post! This week's topic:

Gamora/Peter Quill. Do you ship it? If so, why? If not, why not? What is your favorite thing about their dynamic? What did you think of their arc in Avengers: Infinity War? How about elsewhere in the MCU, or even in the comics?

Discuss!

Comments

[lazaefair]

I ship it because JJ Abrams tripped and managed to spill a relatively healthy het pairing all over us in GotG 2. If he'd kept going in the same vein as GotG 1, it probably would've turned into a NOTP for me; but miracle of miracles, he actually listened to criticism and wrote Peter an arc that removed the random sci-fi fuckboi fantasy elements from him and turned him into a good dude actually worthy of Gamora's regard.

And he made GotG 2 pass the Bechdel Test with Gamora and Nebula, which meant Gamora had a storyline that was all her own, which made her storyline with Peter far more palatable. As it stands, they're actually one of my favorite couples in the MCU right now.

The scene between them in the Milano in Infinity War was the kind of tropey angst that's catnip for my fanfic writer's soul. "Promise to kill me, the love of your life, if [Unthinkable Scenario] happens." Ugh, I love it. And then when Thanos completely destroyed that promise in the most devastating way possible - ugh, that is some grade-A emotional whump and I am so here for it. The Russos may be responsible for Thanos's fuckery, but they sure do know their tropes.

[lynnenne]

an arc that removed the random sci-fi fuckboi fantasy elements from him and turned him into a good dude actually worthy of Gamora's regard

HA, yes! He was kind of a dick in GotG1... at least, I thought so.

And he made GotG 2 pass the Bechdel Test with Gamora and Nebula, which meant Gamora had a storyline that was all her own, which made her storyline with Peter far more palatable.

I love the Gamora & Nebula storyline so much. "I wanted a sister." WHY DON'T YOU JUST SHOOT ME IN THE HEART.

[sciatrix]

GOD I FUCKING KNOW

[sciatrix]

Gunn, surely, not Abrams?

But yes, I agree wholeheartedly with this. GOTGv1 Peter/Gamora mostly read as Peter wanting to crawl into Gamora's pants and Gamora being really conflicted about what she wanted to do; GOTGv2 Peter/Gamora reads as Peter having actually worked out who Gamora is as a person, where the relationship conflicts are largely Gamora working out her own feelings in a way that feels natural for the character. Honestly, GOTGv2 feels like it's as much Gamora processing her own family feelings and trust issues as it is about Peter and his relationship with his father (and, ha, his daddy), which is one reason it comes off so much better for me.

And then Infinity War built on that groundwork really really well. But I think without v2, people would have been much more likely to react the way people did to Wanda/Vision, which was very: "wait, this is happening? COOL MAYBE BILLY IS COMING--wait, you want me to care about their relationship and not their potential offspring? SNOOZE." At least in my circle of friends. You needed that groundwork for people to get invested.

[lazaefair]

Whoops, yes, James Gunn. Hard to keep all the young white male fanboys-turned-directors straight these days! But like I said, at least this particular one proved he was capable of learning. I wouldn’t mind if Marvel hired him back or that he lands on his feet somewhere, at least.

I didn’t super mind Wanda/Vision. I like both the actors a lot and they were doing their level best to sell it, and it wasn’t a non-negligible effort. (Contrast with Natasha/Bruce and how clearly neither of those actors believed in that romance, as well they shouldn’t have, since nobody else on the planet besides Joss Whedon did either.) That said, I heartily agree about the lack of groundwork. So while I don’t mind Wanda/Vision, I’m not at all invested in it.

[sciatrix]

Oh, yeah. I didn't mind Wanda/Vision at all, and I actively hated Natasha/Bruce, so... yeah. It was just very meh, but meh is not the worst place for a on-screen canon pairing to land, not by a long shot.

I think he is going to land on his feet--he's currently working for Warner on the second Suicide Squad movie. The gossip I've heard is that Disney is having one hell of a time finding a director for vol3, that vol1 and vol2 were so marked by Gunn that the directors available feel like it's a risk that everyone will write off as "really Gunn" if it succeeds or attribute to them if it fails. They're definitely using his script without apparently changing it.

I'm pretty pissed off at the firing if only because it was so long ago and he had, as you say, proved capable of learning. But also, his absence stalling vol3 has Disney kind of over a barrel: GOTG are really central to what they want to be doing right now, and that project ain't going anywhere until they can find someone to direct it. And that has me sad too, because I love the GOTG storylines.

[lazaefair]

Now would be a excellent opportunity to hire any of those female/PoC directors who win festival awards, or even Oscars, or make one incredibly successful blockbuster, but afterwards somehow never get any other job offers from a prejudiced industry, I'm just saying...

But yeah. I feel bad for Gunn and I don't like that his firing is 100% the result of the alt-right weaponizing the call-out culture that progressives engineered themselves. The whole thing was fucked up.