KITTY PRYDE

When Peter Quill was elected King of the Spartax Empire, he left the Guardians of the Galaxy and left the name Star-Lord behind with them. His fiancée Kitty Pryde stayed at his side on Spartax for eight months, growing lonelier as royal duties swallowed him, and found her real home back with the Guardians. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 4 #1 (2015) she took over his old identity outright — mask, element guns and all — as the team's new Star-Lord.

Peter did not take the promotion of his replacement well. He believed Kitty was wearing his name to make him look bad, the argument split them, and she left Spartax for good to fly with the Guardians under Rocket's leadership as Star-Lord full time. She spent the following eight months travelling with the team and protecting the galaxy in the role he had invented.

The road there had started with a rescue: during the Black Vortex affair Kitty had submitted to the Vortex's power to phase an entire planet out of an amber prison, then accepted Peter's marriage proposal on the wreckage. The engagement did not survive the Star-Lord dispute and a later return to Earth, where she confirmed her place was with the X-Men — but for one stretch of Marvel history, the legendary outlaw was a mutant from Deerfield, Illinois.