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.'' "After all these years, I found you. 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, he is truly a sociopathic and genocidal 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.

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.

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 and very 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. 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.

Family

 * Meredith Quill † - Former Lover and Victim
 * Peter Quill/Star-Lord - Son turned 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 possibly one of the vilest villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, alongside Red Skull, John Garrett, Daniel Whitehall, Kilgrave and Ronan the Accuser.
 * 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 similar to fellow Marvel villain Galactus, for obvious reasons.
 * He is also similar to the following villains:
 * Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII: They are godlike beings who seek to destroy the universe and remake it in their image; they are very immature; they also serve as Big Bads simultaneously because even though they're the main antagonist, other villainous factions are pursuing the hero as well.
 * Chester V from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2: They are deeply in love with themselves and even have clones of themselves; they manipulate others to get what they want while acting friendly at the same time. However, Ego is much worse, as he planned to wipe out the whole universe and replace it with himself.
 * Unicron from Transformers franchise, for obvious reasons.
 * Jiaying from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. They are parents of a main character, and after meeting their children, they spend time with them and help them to develop their powers, but eventually plan to kill them anyway. They also serve as the main antagonist.
 * Master Xehanort from Kingdom Hearts franchise: They serve as Big Bads and create avatars as extensions of themselves. They also seek to destroy the universe, and they even dress in a similar fashion.
 * Kai from Kung Fu Panda 3: They are immortal beings who have killed numerous people and plan to kill the protagonist as well, but ultimately get killed by them.
 * David Banner from Hulk: They are both beings who killed their own wives that are fathers of the hero that died at the end that had to fight against their sons. He shares these similarities with Darth Vader from Star Wars.
 * Zeus from God of War franchise: They are omnipotent and immortal beings who also happen to be the father of the protagonist, and attempt to kill them. They are also gray-haired, bearded and wear light-colored robes. They have even had affairs with living beings of different species and have had many children.
 * Goku Black from Dragon Ball Super: They are omnipotent, immortal and pure evil narcissists who seek to destroy all mortal life.
 * General Zod from Man of Steel: They seek to use terraforming to accomplish their goals. They also possess the same powers as the hero, and even get killed off by the hero.
 * Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter franchise: They are Pure Evil Big Bads who are obsessed with and determined to preserve their immortality, and have murdered countless numbers of people. They are also afraid of death.
 * CLU from Tron: Legacy; They seek to assimilate the universe and to kill the protagonist once they become a threat to them.
 * Drago Bludvist from How to Train Your Dragon 2: They killed a parent of the protagonist (Ego killed Meredith Quill, Drago killed Stoick) and seek to kill the hero as well, and they are Pure Evil. Ego is considerably worse, though; while Drago sought to conquer Berk, Ego wanted to destroy all life in the universe and replace them with extensions of himself.
 * Mother Gothel from Tangled: They manipulated the protagonist so that they could harness the hero's powers for their own gain, and are also childish and immature, but Ego is far worse.
 * Pharaoh Seti from The Prince of Egypt: They killed numerous children and attempted to rationalize their actions to their sons (Moses wasn't really Seti's son, but you get the idea).
 * Bill Cipher from Gravity Falls: They are omnipotent entities who seek to annihilate the universe, but they are also childish and possess a sense of humor while being Pure Evil at the same time. He shares these similarities with Dimentio from Super Paper Mario and Kefka from Final Fantasy VI.