Was watching favorite bits of Guardians 1 again, and it hits me…
Yondu goes down in the battle over Xandar, not because he’s a worse pilot than Quill… But because he’s hanging back and purposely covering the Milano. He takes out several pursuers, pulling up to shoot them down, before taking a hit because he’s not watching his own butt.
I personally love the headcanon that Yondu is a bad pilot, and is endlessly irritated that Peter was flying circles around him age 11, and it’s one of those things the Ravagers all know but don’t mention for fear of their lives, and only Peter dares get up in his face and say ‘buddy, you need flying glasses, accept it!’ But that’s just a headcanon. This is such a good point and now I have to watch this scene again to appreciate Yondu’s first attempt at being a self-sacrificing dad. :clutches heart:
I love that headcanon too! Which is probably why I missed this the first 75,000 times I saw it… Like, “oh, Yondu’s just a shit pilot…” But noooo… *cries* Peter probably thinks Yondu’s a shit pilot, though, because his shenanigans have always made Yondu’s job harder!
