Spoilers for all works set prior to the end of Avengers: Endgame are unmarked.
Yondu Udonta
"I may be as pretty as an angel, but I sure as hell ain't one."
Species: Centaurian
Affiliation(s): Ravagers, Ego (formerly), Guardians of the Galaxy
Portrayed By: Michael RookerForeign voice actors
Appearances: Guardians of the Galaxy | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Specialnote | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3note
"When I picked you up as a kid, these boys wanted to eat you. They ain't never tasted Terran before. I saved your life!"
A jovial and ruthless leader of a band of Space Pirates called the Ravagers. He abducted (and eventually adopted) Peter Quill when Peter was just a boy.
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- 11th-Hour Ranger: He joins the Guardians during the final battle of Vol. 2.
- Abusive Parents: His parents sold him into slavery for the Kree. He himself also embodies this trope for Quill, whom he raised harshly to survive as a Ravager. In the latter case, it's given an extra layer of tragedy by the fact that he was genuinely trying to be a good parent to Quill, he just screwed it up because he wasn't willing to open up and never had anyone model decent parenting for him, and he regretted it until the end of his life.
- Ace Pilot: Not too surprising, considering he's the one who taught Peter how to fly an M-ship. It took dozens of Ronan's fighters to bring him down and even then, Yondu somehow managed to crash-land his smoking ship with little more than scratches to show for it.
- Achilles' Heel: As powerful as his Trick Arrow is, Yondu needs the fin built into his head to control it. If the fin is damaged, the arrow is a useless bit of metal. Nebula shoots out his fin in Vol. 2, rendering him unconscious and weaponless.
- Action Dad: He's a One-Man Army with his Trick Arrow, leads the ruthless and amoral Ravagers, and is Peter Quill's adoptive father.
- Actually Pretty Funny: His reaction to finding out that Peter gave him a Troll doll instead of the Infinity Stone is a chuckle and a toothy grin, in spite of the fact that he told Peter he'd kill him if he tried to pull a stunt like that. According to
Word of God, that was his, "my boy's all grown up now, and he's gonna do just fine", reaction. - Adaptational Jerkass: In the comics, Yondu was one of the original Guardians of the Galaxy. Here, he's a Space Pirate, although he does end up helping the team against Ronan and saving Peter's life as a boy and then again against Ego, at the cost of his own life.
- Adaptation Deviation: He's dramatically different from the comics version of Yondu, who was a Native American stereotype IN SPACE, rather than a redneck cyborg space pirate father-figure (not to mention he lived a thousand years later than the other Marvel heroes). This version proved popular enough to become a Canon Immigrant, and Vol. 2 nods to his original counterpart by giving him former companions who resemble the comics Yondu's teammates.
- Adopt the Food: Yondu claims that young Peter was supposed to be dinner for his crew before he intervened and raised him like a son, as a way of guilt-tripping Quill into doing things for him. It later turns out that Yondu actually took the mission to take Peter in order to bring him to his father, but by then had figured out Ego was killing the children and so he decided to do all he could to keep Peter away from Ego. In his words the whole "crew wanted to eat you" thing was just a joke.
- Affably Evil: He raised Peter from childhood and has a fondness for cute little figurines, despite being a pirate and a mercenary. He also repeatedly pretends to be far eviler than he actually is, for the sake of keeping his crew loyal but often can't help but show an affable side.
- Age Lift: His actor Michael Rooker was around 60 when he was playing Yondu, while the character is 30-something in the comics.
- Aliens of London: Yondu speaks with Michael Rooker's distinct Southern drawl, despite being a blue alien.
- Always with You: Downplayed, but in Vol. 3 he appears in a quasi-hallucination during Kraglin's time of need to give him some final encouragement and a smile that indicates he's proud of the man Kraglin has become.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: As a Centaurian, Yondu is a blue-skinned alien.
- Archnemesis Dad: Subverted. At first, he seems this way, but it becomes obvious that Yondu's pirate act towards Peter is mostly for show and he carries quite a lot of love for him, as much as he is an unrepentant jerkass.
- Arrow Catch: He always catches his Trick Arrow like this backhanded. Unusually for this trope, the cool part happens before, due to the Attack Drone nature of the arrow.
- Attack Drone: His weapon of choice is a golden arrow with its own propulsion system that he remote controls with the cybernetics on his head. Not only can it move at high speeds, but it can also cut through just about anything, allowing him to take out dozens of enemies in a few seconds.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Instead of killing Taserface the same quick way he killed the other treacherous crew members, Yondu opts to blow up his ship, with the intent of catching Taserface in the explosion. This gives Taserface enough time to contact the Sovereign, which leads to Yondu's own death when the Sovereign fleet interrupts the heroes' first attempt to destroy Ego's brain.
- Badass Longcoat: The one he wears is a common uniform for a Ravager.
- Bald of Evil: The mechanical crest he uses to control his Trick Arrow is the closest thing this Ravager has to hair.
- Bash Siblings: With the other Guardians of the Galaxy, especially Rocket and Groot.
- Became Their Own Antithesis: Explicitly called out for this by the other Ravager clans: Stakar expels him from the Ravager leadership for kidnapping and trafficking children for Ego, despite the fact that Yondu was sold into slavery as a child himself. When Yondu protests that he didn't know, and just thought that he was getting them for their dad, Stakar retorts that he didn't know because he didn't want to know. It's later revealed that him taking Peter in was his act of atonement.
- Blue Is Heroic: Yondu has blue skin and he has proven from time to time that he has a heroic heart, even to the point of joining the Guardians of the Galaxy to defeat Ego and sacrificing himself to rescue his adoptive son Peter.
- Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting: Unfortunately downplayed. Yondu admits that he massively screwed up in parenting and was abusive towards Quill, apologizing for it at the end of Vol. 2. The sad thing is that he really was trying to be a decent parent but never had any parental role models himself. The key difference between Yondu and his own parents is that while Yondu's parents sold him into slavery as a baby, Yondu ultimately sacrifices himself to save Quill.
- Break Out the Museum Piece: He keeps his old, pointier, less compact cybernetic head fin in his quarters just in case anything should happen to his current implant. He has Baby Groot retrieve it for him after Taserface's mutiny.
- Butterfly of Doom: What If...? reveals that how he chooses to handle Peter's abduction in 1988 makes him a downplayed example of this, as while his decisions can have far reaching consequences there are other universes which show that others can make equally important decisions. In the Sacred Timeline he kidnapped him but chose to keep him instead of handing him over to Ego. The result is Peter creating the Guardians of the Galaxy and a series of events that lead to Yondu's death, with both Earth and the galaxy overall doing well despite figures like Thanos causing destruction. In another world however, he gets Kraglin and Taserface to abduct Quill but they mistakenly kidnap T'Challa of Wakanda. Yondu offers to show T'Challa the galaxy, and the result is T'Challa becoming Star-Lord, reforming the Ravagers into becoming Robin Hood like heroes, and redeeming Thanos. This makes the cosmic side of the MCU much better off, but it's implied that Earth suffered in some way. Meanwhile, in another universe he delivered Peter to Ego as promised, with the celestial immediately using his son for the Expansion. Many worlds are destroyed because of this, such as Asgard, but the result is the Avengers being created in 1988.
- Canon Immigrant: The MCU version of Yondu has been adapted into the mainstream comics universe, first appeared in Star-Lord comic. Just like MCU Yondu, that Yondu is a Space Pirate. He's also said to be the ancestor of the original Yondu.
- The Captain: Of his own Ravager ship, and thus of one of his own Ravager faction (for the curious, according to Stakar, there are about 100 fleets and Yondu is the leader of just one).
- Celebrity Paradox: Spider-Man: No Way Home confirms that the The Equalizer exists in the MCU. Michael Rooker guest-starred in one episode of the series.
- Cerebus Retcon: Inverted. While the first movie does state that he adopted Peter and favors him when he has the opportunity, it was depicted as opportunistic and harsh. Vol. 2 shows that he's always loved Peter as a son, with flashbacks showing that he did take some time to try and be a father.
- Character Development: Goes from being a villain to a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
- Child Soldier: Yondu was a Kree battle slave in his youth.
- Collector of the Strange: Cutthroat. Brigand. Ruthless Ravager. And collector of esoteric little figurines. So much so that he considers being robbed of the mother of all prizes to sell an acceptable loss since he got yet another esoteric figurine to add to his collection. It's revealed in the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special that this love of figurines comes from Peter gifting one of these for him as a Christmas present.Yondu: I like to stick 'em all in a row on ma' control console.
Broker: I can't tell if you're joking or not.
Kraglin: He's being fully serious. - Crazy-Prepared: Yondu has the rear section of the Eclector able to break off and fly on its own just in case something were to happen to the rest of the ship.
- Cultural Translation: While a beloved Disney Classic, Mary Poppins does not have widespread cultural recognition in Taiwan like most Disney oldies, but a Certain Giant Cat from the Post War Forests of Japan who also magically flies with an umbrella does. Hence in the Taiwanese Dub (and Subtitled) version of Guardians of the Galaxy 2 when Yondu floats down to the rescue holding his arrow in an umbrella-like fashion, he shouts "I'm Totoro, y'all!!"
- Curbstomp Battle: Ronan's ground forces are on the receiving end of this, in spite of catching Yondu fresh out of a fighter's wreckage. One Yaka Arrow later, they're all dead in seconds. His mutinous crew, about a hundred of them, fare even worse during his jailbreak.
- Cyborg: See that red-gray hunk of metal protruding from his skull like a mohawk? That's the control unit for his Trick Arrow, which means he guides it with his mind while whistling at it as though it were an attack dog.
- Dark and Troubled Past: His parents sold him into slavery, he grew up as a child soldier for the Kree, escaped to freedom and found his place with the Ravagers, sold his soul to Ego out of greed and screwed it all up, and was rightfully rewarded for this by losing his adoptive family.
- Deadpan Snarker: Yondu is more than prepared to have a Snark-to-Snark Combat with anyone who challenges him.
- Death Equals Redemption: The other Ravagers excommunicated his chapter for trafficking a child but they come to his funeral after Rocket messages them saying he died saving the universe from Ego.
- Death from Above: During Yondu's Roaring Rampage of Revenge, he uses his Yaka Arrow to cut loose one of the Ravagers' ships, crushing several of them.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of the Hidden Heart of Gold type. As Yondu eventually realizes, his need to act like the toughest, meanest guy in the room to keep leadership of the Ravagers wound up ruining his life. Not only did it lead Peter, his adopted son, being traumatized and growing up with a lot of issues, but it led to him alienating most of his friends. Worse, it wound up making it so that a good chunk of his men were loyal to him only if he acted like a ruthless monster at all times and turning on him when the mask starts to slip. It's telling that when Yondu starts recognizing his own flaws inside Rocket, he's quick to give him a stern "Not So Different" Remark to prevent the raccoon from going down a similar miserable path.
- Deus Exit Machina:
- In the first film, he planned on infiltrating the Dark Aster alongside the protagonists, but his ship is shot down before they could break inside. A few scenes later, we see the narrative reason for why he needed to be sidelined: he's a One-Man Army who can wipe out a squadron of Sakaaran soldiers by himself, and almost certainly could have singlehandedly dealt with any resistance the heroes faced on their way to confront Ronan.
- At the end of the second film, he is Killed Off for Real, preventing him from partaking in the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Dies in Peter's when they exit the atmosphere of Ego's collapsing planet and there's only one spacesuit left. Yondu doesn't hesitate to slap the suit onto Peter and eventually succumbs to the vacuum of space, all while wrapped in his sobbing son's arms.
- Dies Wide Open: His eyes remain open even after he suffocates to death in the vacuum of space.
- Difficult, but Awesome: His Yaka Arrow is definitely awesome, enough to wipe out entire squadrons of enemies, and definitely difficult to use, as exemplified in the credits for Vol. 2 where Kraglin is seen attempting to use it but only manages to hit Drax.
- Drax isn't actually hit by it - he catches it before it strikes his throat. This is a Brick Joke to the first movie; apparently, his reflexes are too fast.
- Don't Think, Feel: How he controls his arrow. He's long passed the need to direct it with his thoughts and instead relies more on instinct.
- The Dreaded: Yondu keeps a good portion of his crew in line through fear of his One-Man Army status. At the start of Vol. 2, Taserface says Yondu has gone soft only for Kraglin to call him on whispering that idea, instead of saying it to Yondu's face. After the mutiny, the Ravagers panic, rightfully, at hearing Yondu has escaped his imprisonment and that he is in possession of a replacement head fin to control his Yaka Arrow.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Yondu considers his constant jabs at Peter that the rest of the crew wanted to eat Peter as a boy to be just a little joke. Peter meanwhile has considered it a constant source of very real trauma.
- Enemy Mine: Captures Peter for betraying him, but they agree to work together against Ronan, though on condition that Yondu gets the Orb. Later, he tags with the Guardians out of survival because his crew betrayed him.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- In Vol. 2, when we first see Yondu, we learn he's on the receiving end of this: the Ravagers have a code that strictly forbids trafficking in children, and with the revelation that Yondu did just that when he abducted Peter all those years ago, he's become a Persona Non Grata amongst his former comrades, who give him a prolonged "The Reason You Suck" Speech during this early scene. It's particularly galling to them because Yondu was himself a child sold into slavery.
- By the end of Vol. 2, we find out that Yondu felt this way himself: Ego enlisted Yondu to find and bring his offspring from all across the galaxy. Once Yondu found out they were actually being killed by the Living Planet, he decided to keep Peter in his Ravager clan to spare him from the same fate.
- He's disturbed by Baby Groot bringing back a severed human toe when they need his head fin. We never do find out how he got it or who it belonged to.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Yondu's a ruthless pirate who'll gladly kill for a profit — or if you just annoy him — but he also cares about his men and doesn't hesitate to forgive Peter when the opportunity presents itself. A crew member even states that he's always had a soft spot for Peter. He ultimately goes on to make a Heroic Sacrifice to save Peter in Vol. 2.
- The Exile: His run-in with Starhawk in Vol. 2 reveals that he was exiled from the Ravagers for child trafficking, which was in actuality him being paid to find and bring Ego his other children.
- Expy: His usage of his dying moments to help Peter escape an exploding planet brings to mind Jor-El of Superman fame. It's understandably more gruesome and tragic as Quill is a grown man and gets to witness Yondu's demise firsthand.
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- The Fagin: He abducts the young Peter from Earth — first to eat him, but then to raise him as one of his band of Space Pirates. In a lighter take on this trope than most, it's revealed he was hired to bring Peter to his alien father and decided to spare the kid the experience of being raised by "a jackass". Or more likely, the experience of being killed by the said jackass. Also, the whole "eating him" part was just a joke.
- Family of Choice: He loves Peter as a son, but doesn’t admit it until his Heroic Sacrifice to save him.Yondu: He may have been your father, boy, but he wasn’t your daddy. I'm sorry I didn't do none of it right...I'm damn lucky you's my boy.
- A Father to His Men: He takes good care of his Ravagers unless they cross him, but even then he's quick to make amends (unfortunately a majority of his crew end up regarding this as a weakness). And he's literally this to Peter, whom he considers to be his adoptive son.
- Foil: He serves as a foil to Peter's biological father, Ego the Living Planet, in Vol. 2, as well. Sure, both of them weren't paragons of fatherhood, nor were they pleasant people, but Yondu had more conscience. While Yondu ultimately plays Even Evil Has Loved Ones and Love Redeems straight with Peter as a genuine Morality Pet, Ego cruelly subverts both tropes and is perfectly willing to turn Peter into a living battery to get what he wants. Ego dies hated by his biological son and begging for his life to be spared. Yondu willingly sacrifices himself and as a result, is forever respected by Peter as his true father.
- Freudian Excuse: Was sold into slavery as a small child by his own parents. Yondu even knows he's screwed up because of it and tells Rocket as much.
- Good Is Not Soft: While Yondu is truly a good person, he will not pass up the opportunity of using his Yaka Arrow to slaughter everyone who has wronged him.
- Graceful Loser: He laughs when he sees Peter faked him out with the Troll doll.
- The Grinch: Subverted in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. He initially voices his contempt for Christmas when Peter introduces it to him and forbids anyone from celebrating it, but after seeing Peter's present, he privately gifts Peter his signature dual blasters.
- Heroic BSoD: He's in a deep funk at the start of Vol. 2 and he becomes completely unresponsive after his crew mutinies and his loyalists are thrown out of an airlock individually. The only thing that can rouse him is hearing that his adoptive son is in danger. In the midst of rescuing said son, he says that nothing he's ever done has gone right and doesn't hesitate for a second to give his life for Peter.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Yondu stays behind when the others flee Ego, specifically to help Peter escape once Ego is dead. Rocket only had one spacesuit to leave him, so as they clear the atmosphere, Yondu puts the spacesuit on Peter to keep him alive and dies shortly after.
- Hidden Depths: Yondu constantly tells Peter that Yondu's crew had picked up Peter because they wanted to eat the boy, but that Yondu stopped them because he thought Peter had potential. Yondu was actually hired to take Peter to his dad but decided Peter would be better off with the Ravagers than Peter's Jerkass real father. One of the Ravagers even says that Yondu has always been soft for Peter, implying that Yondu cares for his adopted son far more than he lets on. These traits are expanded upon in Vol. 2.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: Much of his gruff demeanor is necessary to maintain control of the Ravagers, most of whom are ruthless space pirates. He's actually a lot nicer and more moral than he lets on. It's also implied that his Freudian Excuse has made it personally difficult for him to open up to Peter. It takes his banishment from the Ravager force and the death of all of his loyal crew (sans Kraglin) until he finally learns to drop the act.
- Hypocrite: In The Holiday Special, he chastises Quill for trying to celebrate Christmas, his logic being that Ravagers work for their gain. The Ravagers are thugs whose code is to steal everything from everyone.
- I Gave My Word: Yondu gives his word to the Sovereign to bring in the Guardians alive; however, he admits to Rocket that his word "ain't worth squat" and is willing to bargain. (His crew, however, not so much, being motivated mostly by greed.)
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Does this to whoever he wants to kill with his Yaka Arrow.
- Impossibly Cool Weapon: His Yaka Arrow can wipe out an entire squadron of Sakaaran soldiers in seconds without him physically lifting a finger. Taken even further in Vol. 2 where he uses it to pull off an Offhand Backhand on his entire mutinous crew.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Yondu's use of the Yaka Arrow in Vol. 1 was impressive, but it particularly shines in Vol. 2 during his escape from the Eclector, even before he reaches the room with the video monitors.
- Incoming Ham: Pulls one before crashing his ship onto Ego.Yondu: HEY THERE, JACKASS!!!!!
- Jerkass Has a Point: As revealed in Vol. 2, he really is right about Peter's father being a jackass.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: After some character development in Vol. 2, sees himself as a father figure to Peter, if a somewhat gruff one who puts up a tough facade.
- "Just Joking" Justification: In Vol. 2, when he and Peter see each other again, Peter brings up the whole "eating him thing" and Yondu defends himself by saying he was just kidding and thought Peter knew that. Peter replies that he wishes Yondu had confirmed that before.
- Kavorka Man: Peter claims he was this, though we only ever see him with android prostitutes.
- Killed Off for Real: He performs a Heroic Sacrifice to save Peter by giving him the remaining space suit while he himself dies in the vacuum of space. James Gunn had firmly stated he will never bring Yondu Back from the Dead as that would ruin the emotional significance of his sacrifice.
- Large Ham: Notable examples of this is when he gleefully massacres his mutinous crew and when he confesses to Rocket that their respective pasts are similar. Michael Rooker definitely gave it all when playing the role of Yondu.
- Lightning Bruiser: That weapon of his makes him perhaps the most deadly (mortal) individual of the cast. It moves so fast that even Rocket couldn't dodge it, and it strikes with enough force to penetrate combat armor, walls, and even Drax's skin (though it did get stuck there).
- Like a Son to Me: It becomes apparent in Vol. 2 that he really considered Peter to be his son. He even tells Peter that he was more his father than his biological one was.Yondu: He may have been your father, boy, but he wasn't your daddy.
- Lima Syndrome: He abducts Peter Quill as a boy in order to deliver him to Ego for a reward, but backs out from the deal, because he starts to treat Peter as a son, in the process sparing Peter from being murdered by Ego.
- Love Redeems: Yondu's Heroic Sacrifice for Peter redeems him in the eyes of his fellow Ravagers, and also allows Peter to realize that Yondu truly loved him as a son.
- Meaningful Funeral: His funeral makes all the Guardians reflect on their circumstances, especially Peter Quill, Gamora, and Rocket.
- Mirror Character: To Thanos. Both of them are Papa Wolves who care deeply about their adoptive children of a different race following their biological mothers' deaths, and tend to favor them over their subordinates. However, Thanos chooses to sacrifice his child so he can fulfill his mission before he dies, while Yondu chooses to sacrifice himself so that he can save his child.
- Mook Horror Show: Yondu pulls this with his Yaka Arrow in Vol. 1 against a squadron of Sakaarans and in Vol. 2 against Taserface's Ravagers. They are mowed down before they can even react, and in Vol. 2, some of mutinous Ravagers are in complete darkness, with just the light of the Yaka Arrow's red trail illuminating their demise.
- My God, What Have I Done?: How he felt when he realized what Ego did to his children, and what breaking the Ravager code meant in the eyes of his first family. He raised Peter to more or less make amends for the terrible things he did.
- My Greatest Failure: Retrieving Ego's children and delivering them to him. Partly because dealing in kids was against the Ravager code, which got him kicked out, but mostly because, much to his distress, every single one he handed over was never heard from again.
- Mythology Gag: In Vol. 2, when he has to reattach his old arrow-controlling crest, it gives him the same mohawk-fin appearance as his comic book incarnation.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Yondu not killing Taserface quickly in Vol. 2 leads to Taserface contacting the Sovereign and seriously complicating the Guardians' efforts to destroy Ego.
- Noble Demon: He makes no bones about it, he's a thief and a thug. He also genuinely cares for Peter and his men.
- "Not So Different" Remark: By Vol. 2, he realizes that he and Rocket are this. He gets the latter to realize it in the process.Yondu: You can fool yourself and everyone else, but you can't fool me. I know who you are.[...]I know everything about you![...]I know you play like you're the meanest and the hardest, but actually you're the most scared of all![...]I know you steal batteries you don't need and you push away anyone who's willing to put up with you because just a little bit of love reminds you of how big and empty that hole inside you actually is![...]I know them scientist what made you never gave a rat's ass about you![...]Just like my own damn parents who sold ME, their own little baby, into slavery! I know who you are, boy, because you're me!
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- One-Hit Kill: Thanks to his precise control over his arrow, he can target an enemy's vitals and finish them in one clean shot, which is how he wins every fight he has. The arrow's strong enough that he can pierce through armor and spaceships too.
- One-Man Army: In the first film, he takes down an entire squadron and a Sakaaran spaceship in seconds with just his controllable arrow. In Vol. 2, he single-handedly wipes out an entire control ship filled with his mutinous crew.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: He has the bounty explicitly state that Peter is to be taken alive, saying he wants to kill Peter himself. It's implied that this is because he doesn't want anyone to kill his adopted son.
- Papa Wolf: While he likes to rant and rave about how much Peter is a thorn in his side, there is nothing he wouldn't do to protect his adopted son. It comes to the forefront when he realizes that Peter is with Ego, travels halfway across the universe to rescue him, and gives up his life to save Peter. After being overthrown in a violent mutiny, Yondu's clearly on the verge of just giving up and accepting his fate as a Kree battle slave. He's despondent, beaten down, and in a whole lot of pain... until Rocket mentions that Ego has finally gotten his hands on Peter. After that, all bets are off and the Roaring Rampage of Revenge begins.
- Parental Abandonment: His parents sold him into slavery under the Kree when he was only a baby.
- Parental Substitute: He adopted Peter instead of handing him over to his biological father, who Yondu calls a jackass. Despite his trollish behavior, Yondu admits that he's glad he adopted Peter and does genuinely care for him... in his own bizarre way. Expanded upon in Vol. 2, where it's shown that Yondu genuinely loves and views Peter as his adopted son.Michael Rooker: Yondu's a very paternal figure for Peter Quill. He's his kid pretty much and he taught him how to get along with alien creatures in space that will eat you.
- Parents as People: Yondu admits that he wasn't the best parent and screwed up far more things than he got right, but it's also made clear that he loved Peter and was willing to sacrifice his own life to save his son's.
- Perma-Stubble: It adds to his grizzled countenance.
- Persona Non Grata: After his fellow Ravager clan leaders discover what Yondu's deal with Ego was, they immediately expel him from the group in disgust and disappointment. Stakar in particular goes out of his way to ignore Yondu when the two encounter each other again in Vol. 2 until Yondu starts screaming at him. He only manages to shed this posthumously, after Rocket tells his old friends about his role in destroying Ego.Stakar: If you think I take pleasure in exiling you, you're wrong. You broke all our hearts.
- Person of Mass Destruction: When Yondu goes all out, he can kill a ship full of several hundred people in a few short minutes. Best of all, he can do all this without damaging infrastructure if he wants, essentially making him a perfect weapon of mass destruction from a military perspective.
- Pet the Dog: He doesn't really mind that Peter tricked him into taking the wrong orb and it's shown that not handing the boy over to the father that commissioned his abduction in the first place was actually a very good thing.
- Plot Armor: Minor case, but more than once Yondu takes out a large group of enemies despite only being able to kill one person at a time with his arrow because they stopped and stared at his arrow carving through their comrades instead of just shooting Yondu.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Attempts this (likely as an excuse) in Vol. 2, after being hired by High Priestess Ayesha to retrieve the Guardians so she can kill them for stealing some of her people's batteries. When he catches Rocket, he's willing to backstab the Sovereign in exchange for taking and selling the batteries himself. True, they'll only fetch a quarter-million instead of the million they were promised for the Guardians, but as he points out, a million is nowhere near enough money to make up for the reputation they'd get for being involved in the death of the Guardians: the Nova Corps would hunt them relentlessly for that kind of crime. Unfortunately, his crew instead accuses him of displaying Parental Favoritism, insisting he's only doing this because he just doesn't want to hurt Peter. This leads to the mutiny against him.
- Primary-Color Champion: Yondu qualifies as this since the color of his skin is blue, the color of his eyes, long coat, head fin, and Yaka Arrow are red, while the Ravager symbol on his long coat is gold/yellow.
- Purple Is Powerful: His outfit in Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is primarily purple.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Childish, irritable, and has a fondness for collecting cute, little figurines. Also a thief-for-hire, a mercenary, a very effective killer, and totally ruthless. It's somewhat justified once we learn he was sold into slavery as a child soldier when he was very young, and thus apparently never had a childhood.
- Race Lift: Of a sort. The original Yondu was Space Native American, while the MCU Yondu is portrayed by Michael Rooker, who is white and portrays him with his natural Alabama accent.
- Evil Sounds Raspy: A downplayed version, as he has done things despicable enough that the other Ravagers look down on him, but later does a Heroic Sacrifice to save Star-Lord. He has a very high-pitched, raspy voice to accentuate the tough image he presents, which becomes more prominent when he yells.
- Real Men Wear Pink: He loves collecting cute little figurines. It's probably part of the reason why he took the switcheroo of the Orb in good stride since he got a cute Troll doll out of the deal. When he dies, at least part of his collection is added to his funeral pyre. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special shows that this comes from Peter gifting one of these for him for Christmas.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Red eyes and an incredibly dangerous space pirate.
- Red Is Heroic: Yondu's eyes, long coat, and Yaka Arrow are red in color, and he has proven himself to be one of the good guys.
- Red Is Violent: Yondu's eyes, long coat, and Yaka Arrow are red in color, and he can be incredibly dangerous in dispatching his enemies.
- Redemption Equals Death: Vol. 2 has Yondu showing all his regrets, saying he never did anything worthy in his life... and ultimately performing a Heroic Sacrifice to save his adoptive son Peter. This is even seen as a redeeming moment for the Ravagers who, after hearing of Yondu's sacrifice after he helped defeat Ego, arrive to honor him at his funeral which Stakar said earlier in the film they would never do after his involvement in child trafficking.
- Reimagining the Artifact: The original version of Yondu in the comics was a fin-headed alien archer who could control the flight path of his arrows by whistling. In this incarnation, Yondu's arrow is self-propelled and capable of lethal and precise flight with his whistling, making it a very real and very dangerous weapon, and his head fin is a cybernetic implant that acts as the arrow's control system. The original design is referenced in Vol 2 when Yondu's blunted fin is shot off and he replaces it with a prototype that resembles the fin of the Yondu of the comics.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: With all but one of the Ravagers loyal to him long since executed, Yondu cuts a bloodily cheerful swath through the mutineers in Vol. 2.
- Robosexual: He has a particular appetite for android prostitutes. When he first appears in Vol. 2, he's just finished enjoying the services of some.
- Sarcasm Mode: His wry and condescending mode of speech makes it really hard to tell if he's being genuine or just facetious.The Broker: I can't tell if you're joking or not.
Kraglin: He's bein' fully serious. - Scars Are Forever: He has numerous old and faded scars on the side of his head. It's never explained where he got them from, though given that he was a Kree battle slave for 20 years and then became a ruthless space pirate, one can draw some conclusions.
- Scary Teeth: He needs some serious dental work. Vol. 2 has Rocket point this out.
- The Sixth Ranger: Yondu is the latest in joining the Guardians for their final encounter with Ronan, and later on, with Ego.
- Slave Mooks: He spent 20 years as a Kree battle slave before Stakar freed him.
- Slave to PR: As Captain of his Ravager faction, he has had to spend all his life being a tough guy and putting on an act. This leads him to exchange death threats with Peter every now and again just when his crew wonders if Yondu's grown too soft on the boy and this finally bites him in the sequel with the Ravager mutiny, leading him to lament to Rocket how he ruined his life trying to prove he was bigger and badder than everyone else, and also provide Rocket a cautionary tale because he sees him making the same mistakes he did.
- Slasher Smile: He sports one of these when mercilessly cutting down his mutinous crew during his Roaring Rampage of Revenge. Hell, towards the end of it he's laughing like a kid at an amusement park.
- So Proud of You:
- According to Michael Rooker, this is why Yondu grins at Peter giving him a Troll doll because he expected Peter to outsmart him and the Ravagers even at the last moment since that's how he's been teaching Peter to survive in the galaxy throughout the years.
Michael Rooker: The thought in my head was "That's my boy. I taught him well. He knows how to do it. He can survive now, you know." All that went through my head.- Becomes even more apparent in Vol. 2 where Yondu says Peter has always been his son, blood be damned, and is nothing like his manipulative, Omnicidal Maniac birth father.
- Spirit Advisor: Kraglin sees a vision of him before finally understanding how to operate the Yaka Arrow as effectively as he did.
- Stealth Mentor: His sometimes abusive, harsh, and abrasive treatment of Peter makes sense when you take into account that he was training him to more or less hide and survive in enough harsh environments and conditions to evade Ego the Living Planet and his clutches.
- Summon to Hand: Yondu can summon his Yaka Arrow into his hands with a simple whistle.
- Team Power Walk: Yondu, Rocket, and Groot do this when leaving their prison cell after Yondu reacquires control of his Yaka Arrow. Thanks to Yondu's Yaka Arrow slaughtering mutinous Ravagers left and right without him sparing them so much as a look, the group can walk up to the surveillance room without a hitch to finish off the rest of the crew.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Yondu's reaction when he realizes Rocket has set them on a direct course for Ego's planet.Yondu: It ain't healthy for a mammalian body to hop more than fifty jumps at a time!
Rocket: I know that!
Yondu: We're about to do seven hundred! - Token Evil Teammate: The only reason he fought against Ronan's forces and saved Xandar was so he could get his hands on the Orb. To Yondu, payment comes first, heroics and everything else second. Or at least that's what he needs to put across in public in front of his Ravager crew.
- Too Powerful to Live: Vol. 2 makes it clear that even with downgraded equipment, Yondu can match or exceed the entire rest of the Guardians combined in physical combat ability while putting his feet up half a city block away. Unsurprisingly, he doesn't survive the movie, leaving Peter and the gang to do their own fighting from now on.note
- Tough Love: This was Yondu's parenting style when it came to Peter because it was necessary to prevent his crew from thinking he was going soft (and he's a Jerk with a Heart of Gold anyway). It explains a lot.
- Trick Arrow: His primary weapon is a self-propelled, mentally-controlled, armor-piercing arrow. It can take down an entire squad of soldiers in under ten seconds, and pierce through the hull of a Sakaaran Necrocraft without slowing down. But what makes it truly dangerous is the sheer skill and accuracy with which Yondu wields it, every time he directs it to hit someone he manages to hit them so they are either killed outright or disabled long enough to deliver a killing blow. The one time he seems to miss (Taserface) is indicated to have been a case of him actually aiming at something else. If Kraglin's attempts are any indication, using the arrow well is not an easy thing, but Yondu makes it look effortless.
- Troll: He mocks the Broker's attempts to bullshit him by immaturely interrupting him with a babble of nonsense. Fittingly, Peter gives him a Troll doll instead of the Infinity Stone at the end of the film, which he doesn't mind so much.
- Tyke Bomb: As a child, Yondu's parents sold him off to the warmongering Kree, who raised and trained him to become their battle slave until he was rescued and recruited by the Ravagers.
- Unflinching Walk: In Vol. 2, Yondu calmly walks through the Eclector alongside Rocket and Groot, killing all the mutineers with his Yaka Arrow, without breaking stride.
- Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: He considers not letting his men eat Peter after he kidnapped him to be a sufficient act of integrity to earn Star-Lord's loyalty forever, and he has been constantly reminding him of this notion for almost 20 years. However, by the end of the film, Peter makes it known that he never actually took the threat seriously and, seeing the joke for what it was, had just been playing along with it. Come Vol. 2, this is pretty clearly subverted given that that wasn't the real reason he reneged on the deal — his actual motive was far nobler, or tragic, and more or less all his talk about the crew eating Peter is simply macho-captain talk.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: He only accepted the child trafficking job under the notion that Ego merely wanted his children back and upon realizing that he was killing them, he resolved to protect Peter Quill and rear him as his surrogate son out of his own guilt for breaking the Ravager code, for being culpable in Ego's filicide, and out of hope that looking after Peter would make amends. Indeed, in the end, the other Ravager factions give him his due after he dies.
- Wrecked Weapon: Just to show how powerful Ego is, he destroys his Yaka Arrow in the final battle.
- You Are What You Hate: He's always resented his parents for selling him to the Kree as an infant. Decades later, he was kicked out of the main Ravager fleet for kidnapping Ego's kids and delivering them to his world in exchange for exorbitant amounts of money. It took his exile and the sobering realization that Ego was murdering his own children to make him admit to the error of his ways.
Variants
Ravager T'Challa's Yondu Udonta
Yondu Udonta
"Sounds fun. But why stop at one world, huh? When we can show you all of them?"
Species: Centaurian
Affiliation(s): Ravagers
Voiced By: Michael Rooker
Appearances: What If...?
On Earth-21818, Yondu outsourced the kidnapping of Peter Quill, leading to the Ravagers accidentally kidnapping T'Challa instead.
- Adaptational Heroism: Yondu and his Ravager clan were unrepentant thieves. Here, T'Challa's influence has spurred them to be a force for good, helping the disenfranchised and converting villains like Korath and Thanos to their cause. That said, he did still effectively kidnap T'Challa by lying about Wakanda being destroyed.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Though he still has his moments, this Yondu is a much better father figure to T'Challa than his Sacred Timeline self was to Peter, as he actively praises his surrogate son, doesn't force him into precarious situations to toughen him up, and is much more willing to plan out heists with him.
- The Captain: While T'Challa is the charismatic face of the Ravagers, Yondu is still the leader and self-styled captain.
- Easily Forgiven: While he's initially upset, T'Challa quickly gets over the revelation that Yondu lied about Wakanda being destroyed.
- The Lancer: To T'Challa in the Ravagers.
- Motivational Lie: Yondu told T'Challa that Wakanda had been destroyed by war years ago, so he wouldn't be tempted to give up his life as a galactic hero and return to Earth.
- Papa Wolf: Beats the crap out of the Collector for imprisoning T'Challa.Yondu: Ain't no way in hell I was gonna leave here without my kid!
- Parental Substitute: Like in the Sacred Timeline, Yondu has this relationship with Star-Lord. However, as T'Challa wasn't kidnapped and willingly went with Yondu in this reality, Yondu and his charge have a much more positive relationship.
- Parents as People: On the whole, he is much less abusive to T'Challa than he was to Peter, but he did lie to T'Challa about Wakanda's destruction to keep him from going home.
- Point of Divergence: Yondu deciding to send Taserface and Kraglin to locate Peter Quill rather than get the boy himself results in the two screwing up and picking up a young T'Challa instead, thus altering the boy's timeline greatly.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Unlike his Sacred Timeline self, this Yondu doesn't have to perform a Heroic Sacrifice to save his surrogate son, and so he gets to live happily with the rest of his fellow Ravagers.
- Spit Take: When T'Challa's father asks how his son wound up on Yondu's spaceship. T'Challa is quick to smooth things over before more uncomfortable questions are asked.
- Surrounded by Idiots: In this timeline, Yondu sent Kraglin and Taserface to pick up Quill instead of doing it himself. Much to Yondu's annoyance, they not only failed to find the right kid, but they also didn't even find the right continent.
Party Thor's Yondu Udonta
Yondu Udonta
Species: Centaurian
Voiced By: N/A
Appearances: What If...?
On Earth-72124, Yondu comes to Midgard to participate in Thor's planet-wide party.
- The Voiceless: He doesn't have any lines.
Corpsman Nebula's Yondu Udonta
Yondu Udonta
"You and I, Nebby, we make quite the team!"
Species: Centaurian
Voiced By: Michael Rooker
Appearances: What If...?
A variant of Yondu who was murdered on Xandar.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: While they did meet, Nebula and Yondu never had the chance to get closer prior to his death in the Sacred Timeline. Here it's shown they became friends at some point.
- Dead Alternate Counterpart: To the other Yondu variants.
- Dies Differently In The Adaptation: Instead of pulling a Heroic Sacrifice to save Quill, he's murdered by the Nova Corps.
- Posthumous Character: The story begins with Nebula investigating his death.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He's dead, but his Yakka arrow ends up playing a key part in Nebula derailing Irani Rael's plot to open the domes protecting Xander from Ronan.
Celestial Peter's Yondu Udonta
Yondu Udonta
Species: Centaurian
Voiced By: N/A
Appearances: What If...?
A variant of Yondu who never had a change of heart and instead delivered Peter to Ego.
- Adaptational Origin Connection: An indirect example, but in this version by delivering Peter to Ego he indirectly plays a part in causing the events that lead to the creation of the Avengers in his reality.
- Adaptational Villainy: Unlike any other Yondu variants, this one chose not to keep Peter and instead gave him to Ego as agreed, missing out on all the Character Development he would have that would make him a better person.
- Hate Sink: Yondu remained evil to the core in this timeline, willingly sending thousands (if not millions) of children to their deaths at the hands of a Celestial psychopath, and gets away with his devious deeds.
- Karma Houdini: He gets away scot-free with kidnapping Peter (and before that, many of Ego's other kids) and handing him over to Ego. Of-course, he still would've been exiled from the Ravagers by Stakar Ogord but he probably wouldn't care now because of how handsomely Ego has paid him.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Yondu doesn't appear for onscreen for more than five seconds, and he doesn't even say anything. But his decision to give Peter to Ego changed the lives of billions of people, including those of the Avengers themselves, causing them to form earlier than in the Sacred Timeline.
- The Voiceless: Has no lines.
- Would Hurt a Child: Unlike his Sacred Timeline counterpart, he was completely fine with kidnapping Peter and handing him over to Ego knowing that Ego would kill him if he didn't have Celestial powers.
"I'm sorry I didn't do none of it right. I'm damn lucky you was my boy."
