When Mantis joined the Guardians in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 she was introduced as Ego’s prisoner, condemned to live a lonely life on the Celestial’s planet in order to help him sleep. Her decision to inform the Guardian’s of Ego’s plan to take over the universe quickly earned her a spot among the ragtag group of heroes, and she’s played a crucial role in telling the Guardians’ stories ever since.
The release of the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special mainly followed Mantis on her quest to give Peter Quill the best Christmas ever and fans learned more about her than ever before. The special revealed she not only has the ability to detect and control emotions, but is inhumanly strong and is a skilled fighter. The final moments of the special also shared a very important piece of her backstory that will have a big influence on her relationship with Peter moving forward.
Peter Quill and Mantis Are Half-Siblings
Peter’s father, Ego, explained in the second Guardians of the Galaxy film that he spent years impregnating women from different planets to try and create a child that’s capable of harnessing Celestial power. Although Ego is a god, he needed another person to help him take over the universe, which is why he spent so much time trying to conceive a child of equal strength.
Ego spent a long time living on his planet without anyone but Mantis, and as she explained to the Guardians, Ego kept her around because she could use her powers to put him to sleep. While that may technically be true, it wasn’t until the holiday special came out that fans learned the full story. Mantis is actually Peter’s half-sister.
As it turns out, Mantis is one of the many children Ego created on his quest for power. But rather than killing her off like his other children, Ego decided to keep Mantis alive because her empathic abilities were useful to him. The news came as a surprise in the holiday special to not just the audience, but Peter as well, since Mantis had spent years with the Guardians and never told him the truth.
The GOTG Holiday Special Highlights Their Relationship
Throughout the entire holiday special, Mantis was very selfless in her decision to give Peter a Christmas to remember. Her only motivations were to cheer him up in light of losing Zoe Saldana's Gamora and to replace Peter’s memory of Yondu supposedly ruining his childhood Christmas with a better one.
Although kidnapping Kevin Bacon wasn’t really the right choice to make, Mantis went to great lengths to do what she believed would be a gesture of kindness. Traveling to Earth, searching all over California, fighting off the police and bringing Bacon to space required a lot of effort from her and Dave Bautista's Drax. Peter’s reaction to the surprise definitely wasn’t what Mantis was expecting, but her desire to give Peter an unforgettable Christmas proves just how much she cares about him.
Her reasoning behind keeping her relation to Peter a secret also emphasizes how much she values having Peter in her life, because she was afraid telling Peter the truth about her parentage would serve as a constant reminder of Ego. Yes, Mantis was afraid of losing Peter, and she thought keeping the secret would benefit her, but she was also trying to spare Peter from constantly reliving the pain he felt when he found out Ego killed his mother.
She believed she was protecting Peter’s feelings by not telling him about Ego, further emphasizing how desperately she wants him to be happy. Much to the relief of Mantis and the audience, Peter was far from upset when he learned who her real father was.
After going through so much to make Peter happy, Peter’s delight over learning that Mantis is part of his family shows that Mantis’s feelings are reciprocated with just as much enthusiasm. The emotional moment they shared at the end of the holiday special was a great way to set the stage for the characters moving forward.
Gamora was temporarily absent from the MCU, which made more room to focus on Peter’s relationships with the rest of the Guardians, and turned everyone’s attention completely toward the familial love shared between them all. This arguably was a smart choice on Marvel’s part for the holiday special, because the MCU hasn’t had the best track record when it comes to writing compelling, authentic romances.
The franchise is much better at creating complex family dynamics and the newfound sibling bond between Peter and Mantis will hopefully be explored in more depth when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits theaters this May. The decision to stray from the comics and change Mantis’s backstory was an unexpected one, but she and Peter are probably the most wholesome sibling duo the MCU has to offer.