Warning: Spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy #14
The the Nova Corps is no more, and tensions are escalating among all the sovereign empires and factions fighting for supremacy. Good thing the Guardians are there to keep the peace.
Peter Quill’s element gun has been remarkably powerful in the latest Guardians of the Galaxy series, even before his trans-dimensional resurrection and return to battle the Gods of New Olympus. In Quill's first clash with the reborn Greek gods, it trapped Artemis, goddess of the hunt, in a shell of solid carbon, but Star-Lord has shown even more varied control of the elements since then. After spending over a century in Mornius—a parallel dimension otherwise known as “The Land Beyond All Suns”—Quill learned that the gun is at its core a prism through which he can focus the elements which bind all of reality together. In his hands it acts as a kind of conduit through which he channels the power of a sun, giving a whole new meaning to his Star-Lord moniker. Not to mention making him one of King in Black's worst nightmares. Later still, in issue #13, during the battle against the Progenitors, Quill uses the element gun to channel the fundamental elements of growth into Groot, turning the Flora colossi into a celestial-sized tree-titan. Now, it turns out there's a magical explanation for the extent of Star-Lord's abilities.
In Al Ewing’s and Juan Frigeri’s Guardians of the Galaxy #14, the super-team must go toe-to-toe with none other than Doctor Doom. Bent on taking the Ekz’el-Zorr, better known as the Sword of Space, from Emperor Hulkling and wielding its power for himself, Doom uses the sword on his enemies. Among its other magical properties, the Sword of Space has the uncanny ability to disrupt magic. When used against the mutant sorcerer Wiccan, it completely depowers him, and, as Doom rightly calculated, it has a similar nullifying effect on Star-Lord’s element gun, with Doom remarking that “all reality warpers have a touch of magic in them.”
Star-Lord’s signature weapon is a strange piece of equipment indeed. Neither Quill nor the finest technical minds in the galaxy can figure out how it works, despite having taken it apart, modified it with augments like a voice-command chip, and even after building a second one. What’s more, the device can only be used by Star-Lord. In issue #9 of Al Ewing’s series, the new gods of Olympus described the element gun as a "thing of science and magic," an "astrological weapon." These gods weren’t exactly the kind of authority readers could trust, unlike Doctor Doom. As both a genius scientist and accomplished sorcerer, Doom is by far the best suited to determine the exact nature of Star-Lord’s powers and magical pistol.
Under Al Ewing’s creative hand, Star-Lord has transformed from gadget-totting adventurer to a mystically-powered superhero. The element gun really is ultimately the tip of an unfathomable power source. The timing couldn’t be better, considering the Marvel Comics universe is on the brink of a devastating cataclysm and the Guardians of the Galaxy have become the vanguard protecting all worlds.
