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 an anti-hero of the 2014 superhero film, Guardians of the Galaxy and the tritagonist in its 2017 sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. He is the adopted father of Peter Quill/Star-Lord, an exiled member of the Ravagers, and was the leader of his own Ravager Clan before loosing his postion in a mutiny.

He was portrayed by Michael Rooker, who also portrayed Merle Dixon in The Walking Dead, and Henry from Portrait of a Serial Killer.

Earth Mission
In 1988, Yondu went to Earth on a delivery mission to take Peter Quill to his father, but instead of doing that, he kept the boy and trained him to be a Ravager. Over the next 26 years Yondu developed a close fondness of Quill, despite never showing any of his affection.

Guardians of the Galaxy
Yondu discovered that a mysterious item called the Orb was located on Morag; he was offered a great fee if he retrieved the item for Broker. However when Yondu arrived on Morag, he discovered Peter Quill had taken the Orb for himself.

Yondu 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. Yondu issued a bounty for Quill's capture; when Yondu said he wanted Quill alive, this lead to an argument with one of his men and Yondu assured his men that once he had Quill, he would kill him himself.

Yondu and Kraglin Obfonteri traveled to Xandar to meet Broker. Yondu admired some of the strange artifacts that Broker had for sale. However, he made his true intentions known quickly when he drew his arrow and aimed it at Broker's head while mocking him. While Broker was scared for his life, Yondu forced him to reveal that the Collector was the person to whom he planned to sell the Orb.

Yondu and the Ravagers traveled to Knowhere and quickly found Quill, who was also being attacked by Ronan's Sakaaran soldiers. Quill was able to briefly get away from Yondu by piloting a mining ship.

When Quill gave his location away to save Gamora, Yondu quickly abducted the two on his ship. Yondu initially planned to kill Quill because of his many betrayals. He aimed his arrow at Quill's throat and prepare to execute him, but when Quill convinced him that it was possible to steal from Ronan with the insider knowledge provided by Gamora, they decided to work together to get the Orb from Ronan the Accuser, on the condition that Yondu would get the Orb once they had succeeded.

During the Battle of Xandar, Yondu commanded his Ravagers to attack Ronan's Sakaarans; he and Peter Quill planned to enter the Dark Aster together but Yondu's M-ship was quickly shot down. He survived the crash and got out of his wrecked ship, only to discover several Sakaarans telling him to order his men to attack the Nova Corps ships. Instead on obeying, Yondu whistled and used his arrow to single-handed to kill every Sakaaran in front of him. He made it back to the city and later witnessed Ronan's death. Yondu convinced Quill to hand over the Orb as agreed; Quill agreed but managed to switch the Orb for a fake without Yondu noticing. As he left Xandar with Kraglin, they discussed how they did not deliver Quill to his father like they were hired to do, Yondu noted that he thought Quill's father, Ego was a jackass (foreshadowing Ego's true color). As the Ravagers drank and celebrated the victory over Ronan, Yondu decided to open the fake Orb given to him by Quill. He was amused to discover that Quill had replaced the Infinity Stone with a Troll doll.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
In this movie, Yondu becomes an antagonist turned protagonist. At first, he is portrayed as a villainous criminal, Ego tries to make Star-Lord get a bad view of Yondu as a person, keeping Star-Lord instead of giving him back to Ego, and that he is a very evil criminal. He and his minions attack Rocket later in the movie, but instead leave him alone, making his minions turn on him, and he suddenly turns into a good guy. He helps Rocket get out of the jail in a comedic scene with Baby Groot. Udonta sees a younger himself in Rocket Raccoon, and starts rambling about that he needs to change. The two suspect that Ego is manipulating the other Guardians of the Galaxy members, and go to his planet to save them.

When they are at Ego's planet, Ego is starting to show his true nature, Yondu helps the Guardians kill off Ego when during the battle. But sadly, he sacrifices himself at the very end of the movie, killing himself, but ensuring Peter's life.

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 well being - 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 manipulative attitudes, Yondu is an extremely charming and compassionate person and proved to capable in act of heroism. Despite 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.

Powers and Abilities

 * 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, as 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 as he rammed the Laser Drill ship on Ego's face.

"Remember, boy. At the end of all this, I get the stone. You cross me, we kill you all"

- Yondu Udonta to Star-Lord

"Well, well, well. Quite the light show. Ain’t this sweet. But you got some business to attend to before all the nookie-nookie starts"

- Yondu Udonta to Star-Lord and Gamora

"When I picked you up on Terra... these boys of mine wanted to eat you. They ain't never tasted any Terran before. I stopped 'em. You're alive because of me!"

- Yondu to Quill

Trivia

 * 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.
 * The prototype fin Yondu keeps is based on his fin from the original comics.
 * Yondu serves as an opposite to Thanos, another villain int he Marvel Cinematic Universe. While both had abducted and adopted a hero from their homeworld (Gamora for Thanos and Star-Lord for Yondu) and kept them as children for their own purposes (Gamora trained to be a servant of Thanos and Star-Lord a Ravager under Yondu's command), unlike Thanos, Yondu was capable of feeling love and had genuine, fatherly love for Peter (shown when he sacrifices his life to save Peter) while Thanos never cared about Gamora and Nebula and only saw them as weapons.
 * He also is different from Ego, who is Peter's biological father. While both of them are Peter's father, Yondu truly cared about Peter and even risked his life to ensure his adopted son's survival.