There’ve been many fan theories about Ego the Living Planet’s upcoming role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but until the last few weeks, we knew next to nothing about him. Intentionally excluded from trailers and marketing materials, the character is rumored to be both the primary villain of the film and the long-lost father of Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord.
Now, courtesy of a snatched camera phone shot of the film’s marketing materials, we have our first look at Russell in costume:
Ego the Living Planet is a fascinatingly bizarre cosmic presence in the Marvel Universe, typical of the enormous imagination of Jack Kirby. First of all, the name is quite literal: Ego is a planet. He differs from other planets though in that he has a singular consciousness, his environmental and tectonic cycles roughly mapping onto a human being. When he communicates in the comics, his continents take the form of a human face (though why that face has a moustache and beard remains a mystery).
Of course, that description doesn’t quite tally with the above picture of Russell in a silver superhero suit, but Ego can’t be a planet all the time – after all, he successfully got it on with Star-Lord’s mom. Though Ego will clearly be taking a humanoid form for at least for a part of the film, I hope we get to see at least one scene featuring a humongous talking planet with the face of Kurt Russell. Given how much I enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy, I’m sure James Gunn will capture some of the cosmic craziness that makes the outer reaches of the Marvel Universe such a trippy place.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 zaps onto screens on May 5th.