Didja Know... We're Yakkin' About Yondu

Didja Know digs into downright delightful details from across the merry Marvel Multiverse!

Didja Know digs into the fun facts, strange stories, and divine details that helped build the hallowed halls of the House of Ideas!

You know him, you love him—he’s Yondu!

Hey, didja know “Yondu” rhymes with “fondue”? Well, now you know…but there ain’t any cheese in this one, effendi! We’re gonna yak it up about him—starting right now!

Didja Know… Yondu comes from a race of kangaroos?

We’ve kidded you a lot in the past, pal, but we love this one ‘cause it’s one-hundred percent true! Yondu hit the scene in MARVEL SUPER-HEROES (1967) #18 as one of the Centaurans, an alien race from Centauri IV that just happened to correspond biologically to Earth’s marsupial species…which means kangaroos, koalas, that sort of thing, see?

Strangely enough, these Centaurans look a lot like us hunky, handsome humans, albeit sporting blue skin and a big red fin on top of their tress-less heads. No tail, or snouts, or big feet, or even pouches—of course, we’ve never exactly asked them about that last one. Would you? Anyway, Yondu hailed from the Zatoan tribe on his world and showed off a kind of “sixth-sense” thingy that not only warned him of danger, but also clued him into all kinds of creatures and what they’re feeling.

Weird? You bet! And don’t even get us started on the Centauran language!

Didja Know… Yondu once lost a hand?

Frantic followers of Yondu know he’s an expert archer, a bowman supreme, and a dead-eye with the delivery, but there came a day during his adventures when he lost one of the most important icons of his trade…and we’re not talkin’ digits, idjits; we’re harping about an entire hand!

In GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (1990) #16, Yondu and his crew encountered a bunch of nutty no-goods that included a dude designated “Interface.” Now, this guy could transmute one thing into another and when he became ballistic over something Blue Boy did to one of his comrades, he transformed his hand into water vapor. And just like that…it evaporated.

Yondu’s chum Martinex whipped him up a replacement—kind of a metal whatjamacallit that sported all kind of wacky weaponry—until, in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY ANNUAL (1991) #2, the amazing archer used a “matrix scanner” to give himself a hand. And a pat on the back. And a leg up. And we’re done with the jokes.

Didja Know… Yondu’s actually two different people?

Yep, you knew this fondue over Yondu just had to get complicated at some point, eh? Well, here’s the deal, McNeill: There are two Yondus, one from here and one from there.

The first Yondu—the one we met in 1969—stands as a denizen of a 30th century to come in a universe now noted as Earth-691. Who knew? Yondu! Well, maybe. The second Yondu—who premiered in 2016’s STAR-LORD #1—zips around right here and now in the Earth-616 universe, and while he blasts us with the blue and rakes us with the red, he’s a horse of another color from the previous person.