WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy #2, by Al Ewing, Juann Cabal, Federico Blee and VC's Cory Petit, on sale now.

Even though he's been protecting the galaxy for years, Star-Lord has never really stopped being kind of an idiot. He might do his best to protect life wherever he finds it, but he's still short-sighted and impulsive at times. This has only gotten worse since the Marvel Cinematic Universe introduced the character to a wider audience as a charming goofball instead of the hardened soldier he was after the events of Annihilation. But his most obvious oversight ever may have just been revealed -- not realizing the full power and potential of one of his oldest weapons.

It turns out Star-Lord's element gun was able to make diamonds this whole time, which Rocket Raccoon points out could have made the Guardians of the Galaxy rich multiple times over.

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DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH

The resurrected Olympians have returned to the universe as fierce and destructive figures. But the mission into New Olympus hasn't been easy. Although Marvel Boy has found and released Hercules, Nova has been seriously injured, forcing Phyla-Vell to fly him away from the battle to receive medical attention. To make matters worse, Star-Lord ends up alone against Artemis. Backed into a corner, Star-Lord is shot in the leg by one of her arrows.

Using all the energy he has left in his element gun, he encases the goddess in a block of diamond. Although it won't permanently stop her thanks to her divinity, it gives Star-Lord time into make his way to Hephaestus' forge. Speaking to Rocket over a comm link, Quill admits that he hadn't realized the gun was capable of that power before now. Rocket points out that if they had known it could do that, Quill could have funded the team more consistently and made every member rich. Before they can joke more about it, things quickly take a darker turn. But it's still worth noting that Quill never thought to use his element gun in this manner because apparently he wasn't aware that diamonds are an element.

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Star-Lord, especially in recent years, has been established as something of a screw-up. This reached a fever pitch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Quill, who is much more clumsy and goofy. Quill even accidentally ruined the heroes' chance to strip Thanos of the Infinity Gauntlet during Avengers: Infinity War because he lets his emotions get the better of him.

However, the fact that the team has ever needed money when Quill could have just made them all a large number of diamonds at the drop of a hat is ridiculous. It would have simplified their lives a great deal, and would certainly have helped when he was briefly the King of Spartax. It also means that the element gun is technically a license to print money -- if one is smart enough to use it properly. But now the Guardians won't get the chance to use it, as the weapon was presumably destroyed in the explosion that also seemingly wiped out Olympus, the Olympians and Star-Lord himself. Now, on top of having lost one of his oldest friends, Rocket has to deal with the fact that they could have easily been some of the richest beings in the entire galaxy if Star-Lord had been a little more creative with his oldest tool.

Guardians of the Galaxy #3 goes on sale March 20 from Marvel Comics.

NEXT: Guardians of the Galaxy: Mother-Son Battle Reveals Galaxy-Changing Secrets