Ego (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Note: ''This article is about the incarnation of Ego from the Marvel Cinematic film series. The mainstream version can be found here: Ego the Living Planet.'' "Ego:After all these years, I found you. Peter: Who the hell are you? Ego: I figured that my rugged good looks will make that obvious. My name is Ego, and I'm your dad, Peter."

- Ego meets with his son Quill and the Guardians for the first time

Ego, also known as Ego the Living Planet, is the main antagonist of the 2017 Marvel movie Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, the sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy.

Ego is a Celestial and the father of Star-Lord. Despite being a seemingly good person who wants to re-connect with his son at first, he is truly a sociopathic and omnicidal mastermind who desires to expand himself over the entire universe, which would mean the destruction of all life in it.

He was portrayed by legendary actor Kurt Russell, who also portrayed Stuntman Mike.

Background
Millions of years ago, Ego was born as a member of a primordial, brain-like race known as the Celestials. He dwelled in loneliness for years, until he discovered his ability to manipulate matter and constructed a protective shell around himself. Over the course of many years, he kept building layers over the shell which evolved into a planet itself. The interstellar coordinates of this planet were G52 22C848T12F+E16UC22.

After this, he began to wonder about the purpose of his existence. To find purpose and meaning, Ego decided to create an humanoid avatar, which was an extension of his consciousness, to explore the galaxy and dwell among other galactic civilizations as well as learn about these civilizations.

1980
In the opening of the film, during the past, Ego is shown with Meredith Quill on Earth during the 1980s. Ego then takes Meredith behind a Dairy Queen and shows her a beautiful small blue flower, and pridefully claims that soon it will be grown all across the universe. Meredith states that she doesn't understand what he is saying, but loves the way he is saying it before continuing to make out with him.

Guardians of the Galaxy
"Kraglin: Yeah, Quill turned out okay. It's probably good we didn't deliver him to his dad like we was hired to do. Yondu: Yeah, that guy was a jack***."

- Yondu and Kraglin, foreshadowing Edo's true color.

Ego was mentioned by Yondu and Kraglin where they brought up the Celestial's request to pick up his son for him. The duo stated that not giving him to his father was noble choice, with Yondu referred Ego as a jack***. This foreshadowed Ego's true color in the sequel.

Meeting With the Guardians
In the present, Ego rescues the Guardians from Ayesha by obliterating all the drone ships chasing them, although only Rocket notices him. After the Guardians crash land on a nearby planet, Ego and his servant Mantis descend onto the planet and Ego introduces himself as Star-Lord's father. Star-Lord and his father then get to know each other and Ego offers to let his son and his friends come to his planet, and, while Star-Lord has doubt about his true intentions and that he may not be his true father, Gamora assures him that there is a good chance that Ego is his true father and that he shouldn't let this opportunity slide. With that, Star-Lord, Gamora and Drax depart with Ego and Mantis, while Rocket and Groot stay behind with the captured Nebula. On the ship, Mantis uses her powers to help Ego sleep.

Taking the Guardians on his World
On his world, Ego shows his son, Drax and Gamora the beauty of his planet. Ego then explains his origin; Millions of years ago, he was a small, speck like being that developed thought and learned to control matter, eventually building himself the planet. Ego then searched the cosmos for other forms of life, eventually finding life and falling in love with and impregnating Meredith Quill on Earth. After he heard about how Meredith had contracted brain cancer and was dying, he hired Yondu Udonta to retrieve his son from Earth and deliver him, although Yondu didn't follow his orders and instead kept Quill around because he could fit inside small spaces and Ego has been searching for him ever since.

Peter Quill then angrily asks to know why Ego abandoned his mother during her time of need and he states that, if his planet isn't under his constant attention, it will dissipate. Ego then tells his son that he does truly care for him and wants to be the father that he never got to be. Ego then shows Peter how to access his Celestial powers, teaching him how to create and playing catch with him, something Peter was upset over never having done. Meanwhile, Mantis, while bonding with Drax, attempts to tell him something about Ego's planet, but decides not to when Gamora unintentionally interrupts them. While exploring the planet, Mantis states that there are no other people on the planet because "a dog doesn't let fleas onto it's back". When questioned by Gamora over what she was about to say, Mantis hesitates and claims she wasn't going to say anything. Because of this, Gamora becomes concerned over what Ego's intentions are and ends up at an impasse with Star-Lord, who completely trusts his father and wants to bond with him.

True Intentions Revealed
"I call it "The Expansion". It is my purpose, and now it is yours as well. Over thousands of years I implanted thousands of extensions of myself on thousands of worlds. I need to fulfill life's one true purpose, to grow and spread, covering all that exists until everything is... me!"

- Ego reveals his intentions to Peter

After Gamora leaves and tries to contact Rocket (ending up in a fight with Nebula), Ego continues to teach Peter about his abilities, stating that, as long as the Planet's core is intact, the both of them are immortal. Ego then prepares to show Star-Lord the purpose of their existence and expands on his origin, giving his son the ability to see the entire universe at once, all of which is witnessed by Mantis, who heads off to warn Drax of what Ego has planned.

Ego explains that, when he found other life in the universe, he was disappointed at what he found and decided that the purpose of all life in the universe was to become him, and that the "flowers" he had planted were actually all extensions of himself that he planted in thousands of different worlds. Ego soon realized that even a single Celestial wouldn't have the power to activate all the extensions at once, however, two would, and then began breeding with thousands of different alien species in order to find the one who's genetics would line up with his own and create a new Celestial, and would then have Yondu retrieve the child he created for him, however, every single child conceived was a failure that Ego soon killed (the skeletal remains of which were all discovered by Gamora and Nebula). Ego then stated that the one thing he did not expect was actually falling in love with Meredith Quill, and knowing that his love would get in the way of his goals, he decided to get rid of her once Peter was born, stating that "It broke my heart when I had to put that tumor in her head." Realizing Ego's horrifying goals and the fact that he was responsible for his mother's death, Star-Lord angrily began shooting him and blowing his form to pieces, although he easily regenerated them. Knowing that his son would never go along with his plans, Ego uses his powers to posses his son and starts activating the extensions. Before his plans could go any further, Yondu and Rocket crash their ship directly on top of Ego, temporarily stunning him while the team freed Star-Lord and got away. After escaping, Yondu wished to leave the planet as soon as possible, however, Star-Lord stated that his father was too dangerous to be left alive and has Yondu fly down to the planet's core, as it is the source of all Ego's power and life. The team tries to burn a hole in the core's protective layer, however, Ayesha and her Sovereign drones arrive and try to kill the Guardians again, at the same time, Ego manages to find them and uses his energy tentacles to try and kill them. Drax then manages to convince Mantis to use her powers to make Ego fall asleep, temporarily putting him out of the fight, although Mantis eventually ends up being knocked out during the chaos, allowing Ego to continue trying to destroy the Guardians. Ego's physical form then surfaces underground and berates Star-Lord for trying to stop him, eventually managing to have all the Guardians at his mercy, starting to crush Rocket, Gamora, Groot, Nebula and Yondu to death, drowning Drax in the sand and possessing Star-Lord yet again and beginning to re-spread his extensions, telling his son that there is nothing worth fighting for except power.

Battle on Ego's Planet and Death
"Listen to me, you're a God. If you kill me, you will be like everybody else!"

- Ego's last words before he dies

After getting some inspirational words from Yondu, Star-Lord tells his father that he shouldn't have tried to hurt his friends or his mother, before harnessing his own Celestial powers, breaking free from his father's control. Star-Lord then begins to mercilessly pummel his father into submission whilst simultaneously saving his friends and stopping the spread of the extensions. As Star-Lord and his father fight, Groot delivers Rocket's bomb to the center of the planet and arms it, allowing the team five minutes to escape, with Rocket regretfully having to leave Star-Lord behind in order to not risk the lives of his other friends. Exhausted due to having fought each other at their full power, Star-Lord, too tired to use his powers, continues beating and holding down Ego in order to prevent him from getting to the core. Ego then shouts at Peter, telling him that, if he allows the core to be destroyed, he'll be normal, although Peter simply asks him what the problem with being normal is, causing Ego to scream in agony as the bomb goes off and destroys the core, turning him into dust.

Personality
Ego at first appears to be a kind man, loving father and lover, but as his true intentions are revealed, the monster inside him comes to the light. He is a very violent, selfish, cold, and horrifyingly ruthless and dangerous monster, being one of the most vicious and dangerous villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe thus far, and also the one with the most victims in one film that made Ronan (the worst enemy that Guardians of the Galaxy ever faced) look like an angel in comparison. He is shown to have a huge amount of power and doesn't care about killing his own children; he also believes his form and intelligence is the only one that should rule the galaxy. This stemmed from his disillusionment over life he encountered, which he considered inferior and not reached his standard of species perfection, which made him consider expanding his own power by transforming the galaxy into extensions of himself and his progeny as the only meaning of his eternal life. Ego also strongly believes that friends, family or emotional connections are worth little compared to his end goal of The Expansion as well as the fact that unlike the Celestials, they will die out eventually.

As a master manipulator, he usually presented himself as a charming person, and hides his true nature by acting welcoming, friendly, and even humble, such as calling his planet no smaller than Earth's moon and stating himself as a god "with a small g" and other friendly facades. When Ego met with the women he impregnated from different planets, such as Meredith Quill, he came off as an otherworldly traveler who only wishes to learn more about other species. However, he later describes himself as alternately "the sailor" and "the sea" from a song Peter's mother loved, demonstrating Ego's belief that he is the only thing that matters in the universe, at least from his perspective. Upon meeting with the Guardians of the Galaxy and his son, Peter Quill, he posed as a cocky albeit wise father, sharing Quill's sense of humor and love of pop culture references to lull him into a false sense of security and eventually unlock his Celestial abilities. Even with his manipulative and charismatic attitude, his belief of universal cleansing was too powerful to hide completely, as Yondu Udonta un-fondly remembers Ego as a "jackass" when he was hired by him. Though not fully aware with how apocalyptic Ego can be, Yondu knows that bad things will happen to Celestial had he reunited with Quill, prompting him to adopt him as his son instead of giving him to Ego.

Despite his egocentricity, insanity and ruthless belief of universal cleansing, Ego genuinely fell in love with Earthling Meredith Quill. He went to visit her three times until it got in the way of his plans to transform the universe, so he "reluctantly" put a tumor within her brain to kill her. Ego also had a degree of fondness for Quill because he was a Celestial like him. He wanted to rule the Galaxy with Quill by his side and later implored him to stop resisting him as he didn't wish to fight.

Family

 * Meredith Quill † - Former Lover and Victim
 * Peter Quill/Star-Lord - Son and Enemy
 * Thousands of unnamed Offspring † - Children and Victims

Enemies

 * Nebula
 * Ayesha
 * The Ravagers
 * Yondu Udonta † - Former Employee turned Enemy
 * Kraglin Obfonteri - Former Employee turned Enemy
 * The Guardians of the Galaxy
 * Peter Quill/Star-Lord
 * Gamora
 * Drax
 * Groot - Killer
 * Rocket Raccoon - Killer
 * Mantis - Former Ward turned Enemy

Quotes
"Soon, Peter, we will be all there is. So stop pissing me off!"

- Ego as his planetary form, attempting killing the Guardians

"Who in the hell do you think you are?!"

- Ego to Quill, after the latter shot him with his Quad Blasters "I finally found out THAT I'M NOT ALONE!"

- Ego's wrath about his loneliness "Ego: "It broke my heart when I had to put that tumor in her head."

Peter: "You what?"

Ego: "Now, alright alright. I know that sounds bad!" (Peter angrily starts shooting Ego and blowing his form pieces)

Peter: "YOU KILLED MY MOTHER!"

Ego: "I tried so hard... to find the form that fits in with you! And this is the thanks I get?!""

- Peter and Ego, as he reveals that he had killed Meredith as well as transforming David Hasselhof in the process "And now, if you'll excuse, I have to... take a whiz."

- Ego to the Guardians "Peter: I'd believe all of this, I really would. But you left the wonderful woman ever, to die alone!

Ego: I didn't want to leave your mother, Peter! If I don't return regularly to my planet, this form will wither and perish!

Peter: Then why didn't you come back? Why did you send Yondu, a criminal of all people, to come and fetch me?

Ego: I LOVED YOUR MOTHER PETER! I couldn't stand to set foot on an earth when she wasn't living! You can't imagine what's that like!

Peter: I know exactly what it feels like! I WATCHED HER DIE!"

- Ego and Peter having conflict

Trivia

 * In the comics, Ego is not a Celestial, but rather an Elder of the Universe, like the Collector and Grandmaster. He has been an enemy of Thor and the Nova Corps for a long time.
 * Unlike the film, Quill's father was J'son of Spartax and not Ego.
 * Ego was the first Celestial in the MCU to appear alive.
 * Ego is one of the vilest villains in all the Marvel Cinematic Universe, alongside Red Skull, John Garrett, Daniel Whitehall, Kilgrave and Ronan the Accuser. He is also one of the most powerful MCU villains (the other two being Thanos and Dormammu).
 * Ego's portrayer, Kurt Russell, also portrays Mr. Nobody in the Fast and Furious franchise. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and The Fate of the Furious came out in 2017.
 * Ego is the second villain played by Kurt Russell that is Pure Evil.
 * In the seduction model scene, one of the figures was child-like, implying that Ego is willing to commit statutory rape. This also explains some of Mantis' behaviors, which are consistent with victims of child sexual abuse.
 * Like Prince Hans, Ego was able to manipulate the main protagonist into going along with his plans without revealing his villainous nature, and even after he did, he remained affable and friendly.