MCU: 25 most heartbreaking Marvel Cinematic Universe character deaths
Credit: Marvel Studios for Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) — Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt)
23. Meredith Quill
Movie it happened in: Guardians of the Galaxy
Why it was so heartbreaking: We first met Peter Quill as a young boy at his mother’s deathbed. She’d died of a brain tumor and shortly after that death, he was taken away by a space ship. He never forgot about his mother or his time on Earth, but his life went on a mysterious and crazy journey.
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And the death was hard for Quill. He tried to keep her in his memory and he missed her deeply. However, we never really got to know her. It’s hard to feel for a character without really getting to meet them first. We can just put ourselves in the shoes of the child. How would we have felt at the time?
It was actually in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 that the death hit us more. That brain tumor she had wasn’t just something that happened naturally. It wasn’t the universe playing a cruel joke on Quill. The brain tumor was all thanks to Quill’s biological father.
Ego had given Meredith the brain tumor. After seeing how attached Quill was becoming to Meredith, Ego decided to kill her. He needed Quill for his Expansion plan. Little did Ego know that Yondu wasn’t a fan of the plan and would decide to raise Quill himself.
Finding out the truth was hard to take. Knowing your mom died of a brain tumor was always going to be difficult, but learning your father gave her that brain tumor broke Quill’s heart — and ours.