Upon the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, fans were surprised to learn that the antagonist of the movie was Ego The Living Planet, a giant sentient being in space. Needless to say, there are a lot of differences between the movie version and the comic book version.
There are a lot of things fans don’t know about Ego, many of which happen to be very, very strange, and it’s not surprising that several of his most well-known features were absent from Guardians 2. But there are other glaring exclusions that shouldn’t be overlooked too.
Ego’s Son
The big questions about Ego are who is he and what is his purpose in the grand scheme of Marvel. The big reveal in Guardians Vol. 2 is that Ego is actually Quill’s father, which couldn’t have been further from the truth.
Though it led to one of the best action sequences in the movie, Ego was never Quill’s father, which is one of the most interesting facts about the comics you never knew.
Not A Guardians Villain
In one of the biggest ways he is not comics accurate in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Ego isn’t originally a Guardians villain. The living planet originally appeared in a Thor comic, Where Gods May Fear To Tread, in 1966.
Not only that, but he has also been an enemy of the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and many others. The fact that Ego appeared in the second Guardians movie was a surprise to many fans of the comics.
Different Origin
Ego was actually inadvertently created by a scientist when he was trying to protect his planet from a supernova. Though like many superheroes and villains, Ego has more than one origin story.
The most common of them all is that Ego the Living Planet formed naturally, just as any other planet would, but then it grew into the sentient being that it is today, which was bestowed on him by Super-Ego
Reading Minds
With Ego having some insane abilities that aren’t just tied to him being a planet, many of his capabilities were removed for the movie version of the character.
The most interesting of these is his ability to read minds. However, if Ego had the ability to read minds in the movie, there’d be no need for Mantis, and then we’d never have seen her hilarious relationship with Drax and never have gotten these funny moments.
Laser Beam Eyes
When it comes to cliched superpowers that comic book heroes have, there’s super strength, flying, and of course, shooting laser beams from eyes. Unsurprisingly, the latter is on the long scroll of powers that the planet has.
However, though Kurt Russell’s Ego also has a long list of powers, the character’s laser beam eyes are absent. Still, it would hardly have made a difference in the grand scheme of his plan.
His Form
His human form is one of the things that makes no sense about Ego in the movie. Though the character is played incredibly by the endearing Kurt Russell, Ego has never taken a human form in the comics, but how else would the Guardians have been able to bond with the planet?
This is one of the biggest liberties that James Gunn took with the franchise, but it was all for good reason and it worked out incredibly well.
Ego’s Friends
Galactus also has a lot of strange facts himself, but one of the most interesting things about the world-destroyer is his relationship with Ego.
As Galactus is literally nicknamed Devourer of Worlds and Ego just happens to be a planet, there’s clearly going to be some friction. Not only that, but the world also has an alter-ego, literally named Alter Ego, who he often locks horns with. However, in Vol. 2, these foes are non-existent, leaving only the Guardians for him to battle.
Human Antibodies
It wasn’t until the final act of the movie in which audiences were able to see Ego completely let loose and finally unleash all of his powers, including controlling the world’s environment and sometimes to hilarious effect.
But it wasn’t just the mind-reading capabilities that Gunn skipped out on. One of Ego’s best powers is his ability create thousands of humanoid antibodies, which he uses to protect the surface of the planet.
Threat Level
In Guardians 2, Ego was more than just a threat, as he made Ronan The Accuser look like child’s play. Using his environment controlling capabilities and shape-shifting, he proved to be more than just a worthy adversary to the Guardians and it’s possible that fans will see him again.
However, in the comics, though he might be a planet, Ego isn’t quite as threatening, as he has been taken down by everyone from the Avengers to the Fantastic Four to other villains.
Relationship With Earth
Even though he seemed to enjoy the 60s, Ego has never been a fan of Earth, which goes for both the comic book and the movie version. In Guardians 2, Ego visited Earth, which is where he met Quill’s mother and is what became the catalyst for the entire series.
However, the comic book Ego never visited Earth, and it would have been impossible for him to do so, but he did try to destroy the planet on several occasions.
