Yondu Udonta (Earth-21399)

Yondu Udonta was once an interstellar mercenary belonging to an infamous group known as the Guardians of the Galaxy. After the team's final mission went horribly wrong, Yondu went into hiding on a remote, uninhabited planet in neutral space.

Early Life
Yondu Udonta was born on Centauri-IV, a wild planet populated by a race of blue-skinned aliens with red skull crests called the Zatoans. Yondu's race lived as hunter-gatherers in fierce competition with the dangerous beasts of Centauri-IV, necessitating a strong warrior culture.

Yondu grew up to be one of the most gifted hunters in his entire tribe, but never completed his rite of passage to manhood - this because the ritual was interrupted by the invasion of the Kree, a race of imperialistic warmongers. Yondu fought bravely to save his tribe, but was ultimately overpowered and arrested.

Enslavement and Freedom
For daring to rebel against the Kree, Yondu was forced into slavery, working the Kree's numerous mining outposts all over Centauri-IV. Yondu proved a troublesome slave, however, and attempted a revolt that was brutally suppressed by Ronan the Accuser. Throughout the rest of Yondu's time in chains, he became Ronan's favorite punching bag.

Yondu's salvation ultimately came after five years in slavery, when soldiers of the Xandarian Federation's Nova Corps came to wrest control of Centauri-IV away from the Kree, whom Xandar was at war with. Yondu and his tribe were freed by Stakar and Aleta Ogord, a husband-and-wife team of mercenaries from the Xandarian colony planet Arcturus. Yondu was so grateful to the Ogords for saving his tribe that he offered to join their crew, mostly out of a desire to get payback against the Kree. The Ogords agreed, and their little mercenary group came to be one of the most dangerous in known space.

Since the group was primarily known for planetary liberation and trade ship escorts, as well as their mostly friendly relationship with the Nova Corps, the people of the Xandarian Federation came to call them the Guardians of the Galaxy.

The Guardians of the Galaxy
To be added...

The Guardians' Last Dance
Eventually, the Federation and the Kree began to tire of the war and signed a peace settlement (ironically enough, on Centauri-IV). Although the Guardians remained in business rounding up the resulting bands of Ravager pirates, Yondu was displeased by the fact that the Kree seemingly got off scott-free for their war crimes.

At some point during this period, while the Guardians were taking a pit stop on the neutral space station Knowhere, Yondu was approached by Korath, a member of the Kree's elite fugitive-hunting corps, with a job offering. At first, Yondu outright refused because of his discomfort with the Kree in general, but became interested when Korath explained that his job was a manhunt for Ronan the Accuser. Korath told Yondu that Ronan, a hardline Kree supremacist, disagreed violently with the terms of the armistice and went rogue. Korath promised to pay a handsome amount of money for Ronan's capture and safe passage back to the Kree homeworld of Hala to stand trial, to which Yondu accepted. It took him a while to convince the rest of the Guardians, but eventually the mission was agreed upon.

However, when the Guardians arrived at the location Korath had given, they didn't find anything. They ultimately realized too late that Korath had tricked them, and Ronan sprang his ambush on the Guardians. Yondu was the only member of the team to escape with his life, being forced to watch as Stakar and Aleta were dragged away by Ronan's men to be killed and dumped in a ditch alongside their teammates.

Wracked with guilt, Yondu blamed himself for getting his teammates - his friends - killed. He ultimately retired from mercenary work and went into hiding on a remote, wild planet in uncontested space, resolving to live the rest of his days as his ancestors did - living off the land.

A New Beginning
Yondu's two years of isolation were broken when he heard a suspicious noise while out hunting. Upon investigation, Yondu found a crashed Kree spaceship out on an open field, with a group of Kree soldiers roughhousing a young boy. Feeling sympathetic to the boy's plight, Yondu killed the Kree soldiers using his yaka arrow. At first, the boy was terrified of Yondu, but eventually the two came to an understanding - that Yondu would protect the boy and help him survive on this hostile world. When Yondu asked for the boy's name, the boy replied:"M-m-my name... my name is Peter Quill."