Yondu Udonta (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

"I'M Mary POPPINS Y'ALL!!"

- Yondu Udonta's most famous quote when Peter Quill tells him that he resembles Mary Poppins. "He may have been your father, boy, but he wasn't your daddy. I'm sorry that I didn't do none of it right. I'm damn lucky you're my boy."

- Yondu's last words to Quill before he dies

Yondu Udonta is a supporting character and anti-hero of the 2014 superhero film, Guardians of the Galaxy and the tritagonist of its 2017 sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

He is a Centaurian, leader of the Ravagers and father figure to Peter Quill as well as his own personal mentor. When Quill betrayed the Ravagers and stole an Orb for himself, Udonta led the hunt for his former ally. Eventually Udonta caught up with Quill but was convinced to help in him the war against Ronan the Accuser, who was threatening to use the Orb's power to destroy the planet Xandar.

Though it appeared he had selfish reason to raise the young Quill as his own son instead of brought him to his biological father who sent him to retrieve him, Yondu is eventually revealed to have noble agenda to do so: Horrified upon learning the true identity of Quill's biological father as a megalomaniac cosmic entity called Ego the Living Planet who intended to use his son for his sinister purposes, Yondu choose to betrayed Ego by adopting Quill to halt Ego's evil plan.

He is portrayed by Michael Rooker, who also played Merle Dixon.

Guardians of the Galaxy
In 1988, Udonta went to Earth on a delivery mission to take Peter Quill to his father, Ego the Living Planet, but instead of doing as instructed, Udonta kept the boy and trained him to be a Ravager upon learning Ego's true intentions (although he had to keep some of his crew from killing and eating the boy). Over the next 26 years, Udonta developed a close fondness of Quill, despite never showing any of his affection.

Udonta discovered that a mysterious item called the Orb was located on Morag; he was offered a great fee if he retrieved the item for his buyer Broker. However, when Udonta arrived on Morag with his team of Ravagers, he discovered Peter Quill had betrayed him and found and taken the Orb for himself with the intention of selling it to the Broker before Udonta could. Udonta was furious and phoned Quill, who did not deny he had taken the Orb but refused to give his location before hanging up the call.

Furious at this betrayal, Udonta issued a bounty for Quill's capture for 40,000 units; when Udonta said he wanted Quill alive, this led to an argument with Horuz, who insisted that they should have handed Quill over to Ego the Living Planet like they were originally hired to do, noting Udonta had always been soft on Quill and never punished him when he disobeyed his own orders. Udonta turned the situation around and threatened Horuz with his Yaka Arrow and assured his men that once he had Quill, he would kill him himself.

Udonta and Kraglin Obfonteri then both traveled to Xandar to meet with Broker. Before revealing why they were really there, Udonta took some time to admire the various artifacts that Broker had for sale, commenting that he wished to buy some to decorate his M-ship. When Broker questioned if this was a joke or not, Obfonteri noted that Udonta was being completely serious, knowing already that this was something Udonta often did on his ship.

However, he made his true intentions known quickly when he then demanded to know who Broker intended to sell the Orb to. Although Broker tried to insist that he would be unable to reveal the names of his buyers, Udonta ignored his many excuses and spoke over him with gibberish, mocking and annoying Broker the more he did it while Obfonteri laughed. As Broker still refused to give up the information, Udonta drew his Yaka Arrow and aimed it at Broker who, scared for his life, finally revealed that the Collector was the buyer.

Quill was able to briefly get away from Udonta by piloting a mining ship; however, before long Quill was forced to give his location away to save himself and Gamora from suffocating in space, as Quill had given her his helmet to try and save her. Udonta came to Quill's aid and found him floating in space beside the already dying Gamora. Udonta abducted the pair onto the Eclector, sending Obfonteri and his men to then bring them to him for questioning.

Udonta initially planned to execute Peter Quill because of his many betrayals, first beating him half to death and explaining everything Quill had done to let him down. When Udonta began ranting about how he had saved Quill from being eaten by the Ravagers the day he had been taken away by him, Quill argued that this was not a good enough reason for him to feel grateful to Udonta before insisting that they needed to find the Orb, which was one of the Infinity Stones.

Despite Quill's attempts to explain everything and insist that the Orb could destroy all of Xandar if it was not recovered, Udonta aimed his Yaka Arrow at Quill's throat and prepared to execute him, but when Quill convinced him that it was possible to steal the Orb from Ronan the Accuser with insider knowledge provided by Gamora. Thinking for a moment, Udonta withdrew his arrow and they decided to work together, celebrating with laughs and cheers all round.

Before they could complete their arrangement, Udonta and Quill's reunion was interrupted by an explosion outside the ship. When Udonta went to investigate he discovered Rocket Raccoon had taken control of Quill's ship, the Milano, and was threatening to destroy Udonta's ship with Drax the Destroyer using the Hadron Enforcer if Udonta did not free Quill and Gamora. Udonta called Rocket's bluff, but Quill quickly appeared and assured Rocket that everything had been worked out and they were now fine.

Udonta allowed Quill to return to his ship to work out a plan with Rocket, Groot, Drax, and Gamora. Eventually Quill returned with his team and they discussed a plan which involved Quill and Udonta's ship boarding Ronan the Accuser's ship, the Dark Aster, and killing the Kree warrior once inside. While they prepared for battle, Udonta pulled Quill aside to remind him that once the battle was over, he would get the Orb, threatening to kill him if he failed to obey.

With their plan going into motion, Udonta and Star-Lord led their squad of ships into the Battle of Xandar; Udonta commanded his Ravagers to attack Ronan the Accuser's army of Sakaarans when Ronan sent in his soldiers as defense. While Kraglin Obfonteri and Rocket Raccoon shot a hole in the side of the Dark Aster, Udonta and Quill planned to enter the ship together. However Ronan's army soon overwhelmed them and Udonta's M-ship was quickly shot down in the chaos. As he fell, Udonta vowed to survive and promised to see Quill at the end of the battle while Quill continued to battle Ronan's army.

Udonta survived the crash and got out of his wrecked ship, picking up some of the items he had bought from Broker's shop. When he turned around Udonta discovered that he had been surrounded by several Sakaarans who aimed their Necroblasters at him and ordered that Udonta surrender himself before commanding his men to attack the various Nova Corps ships that were currently assisting Quill and the others in the aerial battle against Ronan's forces.

Instead of obeying, Udonta calmly opened his jacket without a word and whistled. As the Sakaarans stood momentarily confused at his actions, Udonta used his Yaka Arrow to single-handedly kill every Sakaaran in front of him as his arrow darted through all their bodies, even causing one of their Necrocraft to crash and explode. With all his would be captors dead, Udonta collected his arrow and made his way back towards Xandar where the battle was still raging on with his Ravagers protecting the innocent people from harm.

By the time Udonta made it back to the city, he arrived just in time to witness Ronan the Accuser's death. Udonta teased Peter Quill and Gamora as they shared an intimate moment and demanded Quill to hand over the Orb as agreed. Although Quill tried to argue, he eventually agreed, before reminding Udonta not to open the Orb for his own safety.

Youndu agreed and left Quill, unaware that he took wrong Orb. As he prepared to leave Xandar with Kraglin Obfonteri, they both discussed how Quill had turned out better than either of them had expected, with Obfonteri noting that the result of not delivering Quill to his father, Ego the Living Planet like they were originally hired to do worked out for the best. Udonta noted that he thought Ego was a jackass as they flew an M-ship back to the Eclector to make their escape before the Nova Corps could question them.

As the Ravagers traveled through space, they drank and celebrated the victory in the Battle of Xandar and how they had defeated the Kree warmonger Ronan. Udonta sat alone and decided to open the Orb given to him by Quill out of curiosity only to find a Troll doll. Yondu realized Quill had used a classic Ravager move and that the Infinity Stone was left with Irani Rael of the Nova Corps for safe-keeping. Instead of being angered however, Yondu simply bursted in laughter and kept the doll as a souvenir, apparently forgiving this deception.

Personality
As leader of the Ravagers, Yondu Udonta appears as a vindictive, calculating, and unscrupulous thief. He is willing to kill, threaten, and betray if his wellbeing is in danger or he desires something of value, sometimes reneging on his employers for a benefit such as turning Peter Quill into a Ravager when he was supposed to deliver him to his father. Though he claims that the Ravagers have a code of honor, as Quill states that code is virtually steal from everyone. It should be noted that Udonta may have some morality as he stopped the Ravagers from eating the young Quill - an act which he continued to throw in his face.

With Quill, Udonta has a complicated history. As numerous of his men state, he had always been soft on him and protected his wellbeing - at times costing his credibility amongst the Ravagers but he was willing to use Quill as an example to his men, if not apologetically. Despite being a thief he has a level of trust in Quill but due to being betrayed beforehand, an equal level of mistrust. For example, taking his word in defending Xandar from Ronan the Accuser for the Infinity Stone but vowed to kill Quill and the Guardians of the Galaxy if they double-crossed him. When granted the orb containing the Stone, he did not seem particularly angered to find out that Quill gave him a fake Orb. Quill does state that Udonta is the only family he has.

Udonta also has a habit in which he collects oddities and places them on the console of his chair. The most recent one being a Troll Doll which was given to him by Quill in the place of the Infinity Stone.

Even with his flaws and unscrupulous attitudes, Yondu is not a heartless person and proved to capable in act of heroism: In spite of being a notorious alien criminal, he has a level of humanity and a soft spot for Peter Quill. When he found a Troll Doll instead of the Infinity Stone inside the Orb, he laughed with joy and choose to forgive this deception instead of lashing out in anger. Also, while it appeared that he choose to adopt Peter as his own son rather than deliver him to Ego was driven by noble goal. Horrified with fate of Ego's other children and unwilling to led Quill had the same fate, Yondu choose to kept Peter away from his father to keep him safe. He also kept the Ravengers from attacking the Guardians when he was not given the Infinity Stone he was promised and cleverly kept his intentions hidden by saying the Nova Corps would be after them since their actions on Xandar had made the Guardians of the Galaxy allies to the Nova Corps. His most noble acts, which ultimately cemented his status as true father figure for Quill and hero, were sacrificed his own life to save Peter and even inspired him to stand up to his megalomaniac father. In his dying moments, he told Peter while Ego was his biological father, he was not Peter's dad since he did not raise him and that Yondu was his dad. This act shows how much he loved Peter, as he sacrificed himself to ensure his survival.

Abilites

 * Arrow Mastery: Yondu is able to control an arrow made of Yaka with a series of whistles. Depending on the tone and intensity of the whistle, the speed, strength and direction can be controlled. With his skill, Yondu is capable of either threatening an individual, or killing an entire squad of Sakaarans before they could have time to react.
 * Master Pilot: Yondu is a highly skilled pilot, he was selected to join Peter Quill in the assault inside the Dark Aster. He was able to shoot down many enemy ships before his M-ship was damaged and he was forced to make a crash landing.
 * Master Thief: Yondu is so skilled in the art of thievery and guile that he remains leader of the Ravagers. Yondu has the ability to see potential profit in any situation, choosing to keep Quill for himself instead of giving him to his father.

Equipment

 * Yaka Arrow: Yondu uses this whistle-controlled arrow made out of Yaka to attack his enemies.
 * M-ship: Yondu has a personal M-ship, which he used on the Battle of Xandar.

Allies

 * Ravagers
 * Kraglin Obfonteri - Associate
 * Horuz † - Associate
 * Guardians of the Galaxy
 * Star-Lord - Former Protégé
 * Gamora
 * Drax the Destroyer
 * Rocket Raccoon
 * Groot
 * Broker - Associate

Enemies

 * Ronan the Accuser †
 * Sakaaran Natives
 * Ego the Living Planet - Former Employer †

Quotes
"WELL, HEY THERE, JACKASS!!!"

- Yondu rammed Laser Drill ship on Ego's face.

Trivia

 * Yondu is similar to Wolverine from Logan:
 * Both are a protagonist but can be mistaken for an antagonist.
 * Both have similar voices.
 * Both have children (Star-Lord and X-23.)
 * Both protect their children from their enemies (Ego the Living Planet and Donald Pierce.)
 * Both die at the end of the movie.
 * In the comics, Yondu was a member of the 1980's Guardians of the Galaxy.
 * Yondu's character is changed drastically from his comic counterpart, as in MCU series, he is portrayed as one of leaders of Ravagersm interstellar crime syndicate comprising of thieves, smugglers, criminals, bandits, mercenaries, bounty-hunters and pirates. This also reasons why following his introduction in Marvel Cinematic Universe, a new version of the character was introduced in the Mainstream Comic Universe, as a criminal ancestor of the original Yondu Udonta, a version more similar to his movie counterpart.