page_title: Yondu
section_title: Film
hierarchical_section_title: Yondu / In other media / Film
caption_attribution_description: English: Michael Rooker speaking at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con International in San Diego, California.
context_page_description: Yondu Udonta, or simply Yondu, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The original version of the character is depicted as the last survivor of his species in the 31st century, and is a founding member of the original Guardians of the Galaxy team from the Marvel Multiverse alternate reality known as Earth-691.
  Yondu in Earth-691 is depicted as a blue-skinned male with a large red fin protruding from the back of his head and his back; he is a spiritual warrior who can control his killing arrows via sound waves, most commonly by whistling. Yondu joined Vance Astro and other survivors of the Badoon attack on Earth's solar system in the 31st Century, who became known as the Guardians of the Galaxy. As part of the Guardians, Yondu traveled to present-day Earth and became an honorary member of the Avengers. The original Yondu never starred as a solo character in any Marvel Comic books, but was a core member of the team in the Guardians of the Galaxy comic that ran from 1990 to 1995.
context_section_description: Michael Rooker plays Yondu Udonta in the 2014 Marvel Studios film Guardians of the Galaxy. In this continuity, armed with a self-propelled arrow that he can control through whistling, Yondu is the leader of a clan of Ravagers, and kidnapped Peter Quill,  raising him to be a Ravager. Yondu initially chases after Quill after he takes an orb artifact for himself instead of turning it over to the Ravagers. After it is revealed that the orb holds the Power Stone, and Quill and Gamora are captured by Yondu, Yondu is persuaded to aid the Guardians in stopping Ronan from using the orb to destroy Xandar with the promise of claiming the orb for himself. However, after Yondu claims the orb from Quill and departs, he learns that Quill gave him a fake that holds a Troll doll to add to his collection of small figurines, much to his amusement. Yondu and his lieutenant, Kraglin, reveal in dialogue that it was Quill's father who hired Yondu to kidnap and deliver the young Peter Quill to him, but that they decided not to deliver the boy to him because Quill's father, according to Yondu, was a "jackass".
  Rooker reprised the role in the 2017 film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. It is revealed that Yondu and his Ravager clan were exiled from the greater Ravager community after kidnapping Peter and Ego's other children, which broke the Ravager Code. Yondu and his crew are tasked on Contraxia by Ayesha's representatives to track down and capture the Guardians. However, Yondu decides not to capture Quill and the others and instead wants the batteries that Rocket stole from the Sovereign, which infuriates most of the other Ravagers including Taserface who initiates a mutiny, and Yondu is incarcerated with Rocket Raccoon and Groot. He has his fin destroyed in the process by Nebula, which is revealed as the technology enabling him to control his arrow. Yondu subsequently uses a larger fin that more closely resembles his appearance from the comics—identified as the prototype for the fin he wore in the first film- which is retrieved by Groot. With help from this last loyalist Kraglin, Yondu, Rocket, and Groot escape and destroy his ship, killing all the mutineers. Yondu then helps the Guardians defeat Ego, with Rocket and Groot proclaiming him to be part of the team thanks to his actions, and sacrifices his life to save Peter's when they exit the planet's atmosphere, Yondu using the last jetpack but giving Peter the last spacesuit. It is revealed the reason he kept Quill was because he realized Ego had slain all the other children he had sired and summoned back to him and Yondu wanted to protect Peter from that end, thinking of Peter as his son. During Yondu's funeral, Peter declares Yondu his true father. Informed about Yondu's last deeds by Rocket Raccoon, Stakar and the other Ravagers salute Yondu as a hero for his self-sacrifice.
caption: Michael Rooker as Yondu at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con International
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