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"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 was a Celestial, a primordial and powerful being, and the biological father of Peter Quill and Mantis. A living planet with a humanoid extension of himself, Ego sought to find meaning in his life and, to achieve this end, planned to remake the entire universe via an omnicidal extinction-level event known as the Expansion, using "seeds" planted on various worlds to terraform them into new extensions of himself, thereby eradicating all other life in the universe but himself. This process required two Celestials, however, so Ego traveled across the universe, siring children on humanoid aliens everywhere he went in an attempt to produce a Celestial heir, eventually having thousands to millions of children. Ego hired the Yondu Ravager Clan to abduct and transport some of these offspring to his planet, though none of them proved to have inherited Celestial DNA, at which point Ego killed them.
When Ego heard of a tale involving a man from Earth who held an Infinity Stone in his hand without dying, he realized this man must have been the son he sired with Meredith Quill, whom Udonta failed to deliver. Ego and Quill reunited for the first time in Berhert after saving the Guardians from hundreds of Sovereign fleet drones. Ego proceeded to take Quill and half of the Guardians to his planet to uncover Quill's heritage and obtain the opportunity to be the father Meredith wanted him to be. When Quill happened to successfully inherit the Celestial gene, Ego bonded with his biological son where he did finally proceed of revealing his true colors, explaining his innate desire of remaking the universe by hypnotizing Quill into a trance to gain compliance. However, when Ego revealed he was responsible for his mother's death, Quill snapped out of his hypnosis and reunited with the Guardians, including his daughter Mantis, to kill Ego and thwart the Expansion from continuation, saving trillions of lives.
Ego belongs to a primordial race known as the Celestials. He came into existence millions of years ago as a flickering brain-like organism, parentless, and bodiless, floating adrift in the vacuum of space, alone. Over this vast period of isolation, Ego learned to manipulate the molecules around himself, creating a protective sheath. Over the course of untold eons, Ego continued to build planetary components layer by layer around this core, which eventually evolved into a life-like planet. The interstellar coordinates of Ego's planet were G52 22C848T12F+E16UC22.
Ego craved a deeper meaning and purpose in life. Having wondered about the existence of other lifeforms in the universe, Ego created a biological humanoid avatar, another extension of his true self, and set out on a voyage through the cosmos. Going from planet to planet aboard his own starship, he visited thousands of worlds and numerous alien races.[1]
Dividing and Conquering[]
"Out of all my labors, the most beguiling was attempting to graft my DNA with that of another species. I hoped the result of such a coupling would be enough to power the Expansion. I had Yondu deliver some of them to me. It broke the Ravager code, but I compensated him generously. And to ease his conscience, I said I'd never hurt them. I mean, that was true. They never felt a thing."
Ego was not impressed by the results of his journey, deeming the other lifeforms he had encountered "disappointing". He concluded that his true purpose in life was to remake the universe in his own image. Ego proceeded to plant seedlings of his own design on planets all throughout the universe, intending them to eventually terraform their worlds into new extensions of himself in an event he called the 'Expansion'.
Ego soon realized he had a problem, however; one Celestial was not enough to activate his seedlings. He'd need an ally. Believing himself to be the last of his kind, Ego began a new campaign, siring children on thousands of female humanoid aliens. He hired Yondu Udonta to track and deliver these children to him once born, though none of them proved to have inherited Celestial DNA, at which point Ego killed them, hiding their remains beneath the surface of his planet.[1]
Experiences on Earth[]
"My heart is yours, Meredith Quill." "I can't believe I fell in love with a spaceman."
In the late 1970s, Ego visited Earth to plant his seedling in the wooded areas of Missouri, United States. Later, he met humanMeredith Quill and awed her almost instantly, under his disguise as a "spaceman". During their romantic relationship, in 1980, Ego and Meredith conceived their first child named Peter Quill, who would successfully inherit Ego's Celestial DNA, becoming his first offspring to grant the power of the Celestials.
Ego realized that he was genuinely infatuated with Meredith and that his feelings for her could put him off-task to settle with her instead of forwarding his goals to conquer the universe. Because of the distraction Meredith posed, Ego deliberately (yet reluctantly) implanted a brain tumor into her head, leading to her death in 1988, before leaving Earth. In the hospital before her death, Meredith described Ego to her son as 'an angel' and 'a being composed of pure light', which her entire family regarded as a delusion.
Over the weeks leading to Meredith's death, Ego instructed Yondu Udonta to deliver his son to him. Udonta, however, realized that Ego had been recently killing all of the previous children that he had delivered to him. Horrified and guilt-ridden, Udonta decided not to deliver the boy. Instead, Udonta trained Quill to become a Ravager and his protégé, becoming a surrogate father to him in the process. Udonta never revealed the truth about Ego to Quill so as not to frighten him, and always told him that he kept him as part of his clan because he needed a small boy who seemed useful enough to sneak through tight places to steal items.[1] Over the following years, Udonta and his First Mate Kraglin Obfonteri admitted that it was probably good they didn't deliver Quill to the "jackass" of Ego as they were hired to do.[3]
In between Meredith's death and the Quest for the Orb, Ego took Mantis, his biological daughter from her home planet, and used her as a servant due to her empathic powers, and the two resided on Ego's planet.[4][1]
"After all these years I found you." "And who the hell are you?" "I figured my rugged good looks would make that obvious. My name is Ego, and I'm your dad, Peter."
While Peter Quill did not think much about his father even by his early adulthood, he became aware that Ego was alive and well after the Battle of Xandar. As the battle reached its end, along with his newfound allies, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Quill used the Orb to destroy Ronan the Accuser despite nearly being ripped off from existence. Following the battle, Irani Rael from the Nova Corps informed Quill that he was able to survive due his mysterious father, who was not human but from a strange and ancient race she didn't know about.[3]
Two months following the Battle of Xandar, when Ayesha dispatched hundreds of fleet drones on the Guardians because Rocket Raccoon stole a batch of their batteries after defeating the Abilisk, Ego appeared unseen and shot immense projectile blasts to hundreds of the Sovereign fleets before the Guardians crashed on the local planet, called Berhert. As the Guardians remained stranded on the planet, Ego's Ship arrived and landed on the surface of Berhert, where Ego, along with Mantis, encountered the Guardians and revealed himself as Quill's biological father.
When Ego, Mantis, and the Guardians spent time camping, Ego attempted to convince Quill to return to his home and show him his special heritage. While Ego used the bathroom, Gamora expressed her suspicions about Ego's true intentions. However, Quill boarded the ship with Ego and Mantis, accompanied by Gamora and Drax the Destroyer, while Rocket and Groot stayed to keep an eye on Nebula.
Ego showcases his true planetary form
Upon arrival, Ego gave Quill, Gamora, and Drax a tour of his planet. As Gamora questioned him, Ego explained that he was called a Celestial, and existed in the planetary form they were walking on. He assumed a humanoid disguise to explore the universe and interact with other sentient species, eventually meeting and falling in love with Quill's mother Meredith Quill. After Meredith's death, Ego compensated Yondu Udonta to collect the young Quill, although Undonta never delivered the boy, and instead, Ego had long been searching for his son ever since.[1]
"Over the millions and millions of years of my existence, I have made many mistakes, Peter. But you are not one of them. Please give me the chance to be the father that she would have wanted me to be. There is so much that I need to teach you about this planet and the light within."
While gazing at a statue of Meredith Quill and Ego conceiving Peter Quill built on his planet, Quill stated that his family back on Earth thought she was delusional because she thought Ego was from the stars, but they blamed the tumor for making her delusional. Quill and Ego both got into a heated argument about why Ego never returned to see Meredith, to which Ego explained that his humanoid form must return to his planet regularly otherwise his planet will decay if he did not return; most importantly, he could not stand Meredith's death, claiming Quill could not understand how this felt.
Quill angrily exclaimed that Ego never suffered as much as he did because he had actually watched her pass away. Ego grievously stated that, despite him making countless mistakes for eons, Quill was not one of them and he wished to be the father who bonded with his son, stating it was what Meredith wished for. He taught Quill to focus on Ego's essence within the planet to harness energy to conjure up an energy ball, which Ego and Quill used to play a game of catch, thus resulting in a bonding between father and son.
Meanwhile, Drax the Destroyer and Gamora met with Mantis, Ego's daughter and assistant, and began questioning her about Ego himself, as well as why she is with him. Nebula arrived on Ego's planet and attempted to kill Gamora, who survived and defeated her sister; however, the two sisters began to reach an uneasy alliance. Mantis overheard of what will happen if Ego and Quill would meet up together and show him his power, in which she warned Drax afterward in his sleep. Gamora and Nebula discovered thousands of skeletons hidden inside the caves of Ego's planet, and Gamora's feeling that Ego was hiding a secret from them appeared to be right.[1]
"Who... in the hell do you think you are?!" "You killed my mother!!!" "I tried so hard to find the form that best suited you and this is the thanks I get? You really need to grow up!"
Ego once again bonded with his son over their mutual love for earth music, especially those which were Meredith's favorites. Ego, after Quill had an argument with Gamora, then explained to his son that they both were immortal beings who would have a purpose to fulfill. Ego revealed his plans, during which he hypnotized Quill, unlocking a Celestial state inside Quill that was willing to help him take over the universe. He continued to reveal his plans to Quill and then shouted out he was not alone for the first time in years or in his life.
Ego noticed Quill starting to fight off his control, as Quill was still able to maintain control over his senses due to the bond he had with his friends. Ego tried to get Quill back under his control by telling him that having friends brought out his mortal side which was not part of his purpose, and it almost worked until Quill asked Ego about his mother. As Quill wondered, if Ego really did love Meredith, his father answered that he did, but because of this feeling, he almost abandoned his Expansion plans. Ego would have stayed on Earth forever if he had visited her one more time, so when he revealed that he deliberately caused Meredith's death by planting the tumor in her brain, although doing so broke his heart.
This admission snapped Quill out of the trance, and he blasted Ego's humanoid body apart by shooting him repeatedly with his Quad Blasters. Ego then reformed himself, briefly taking the form of Quill's role model David Hasselhoff just to mock him. Realizing that Quill remained firmly against him, he attacked Quill with tentacles of blue energy from the floor to restrain him, one of them phasing through Quill's torso. Ego began to draw power from Quill to activate the seedlings, which expanded and began to terraform planets across the galaxy.[1]
"Come now, Peter. I know this isn't what you want. What kind of father would I be to let you make this choice? Soon, Peter, we will be all there is. So stop pissing me off!"
The reunited Guardians reached the core of the planet, where Ego's brain was housed, and fought the Sovereign's arriving drones, having been alerted to the Guardians' location by the doomed Taserface, as well as Ego himself. Rocket made a bomb out of the stolen Anulax Batteries that Groot proceeded to plant in Ego's brain, while Mantis used her empathic power to cause Ego to sleep. The Guardians fought the Sovereign's drones until all of them were destroyed.
Ego awakens and reforms his body
They enjoyed a brief moment of victory before a piece of falling debris struck Mantis, reawakening the furious Ego. Ego easily subdued all of the Guardians with his power and restarted the Expansion while furiously demanding that Quill was on his side since because they were both gods, they were the only beings that matter. With Udonta's encouragement, Quill discovered his Celestial power and battled Ego to allow the other Guardians to escape and for Groot to finally plant the bomb on Ego's brain.[1]
Until this point, both Star-Lord and Ego were about equally matched; however, Quill gained the upper hand through Groot's help with the bomb. Ego sensed the bomb on his brain and pleaded with Quill, telling him that if he let Ego die, he would lose his godhood and be normal like everyone else.
Ego's avatar disintegrates
As Quill had already made his decision, he accepted to be normal as the bomb went off, much to Ego's horror. The bomb destroyed Ego's brain, while Quill watched his father's avatar disintegrate right in front of him. Without Ego's essence, his planet began to break down in a string of massive explosions, ending his reign to conquer the galaxy as his human form disintegrated and his planetary form exploded.
Ego's planet form explodes
Ego's death immediately left Peter, now a mortal, stranded on its core to die from suffocation. However, along with the rest of the Guardians, Yondu Udonta came to save Quill with his holographic space suit, saving Quill's life at the cost of his own, but not before telling him that Ego may have been his biological father, but he was not his "daddy". During Udonta's funeral, Quill gave a eulogy recognizing that Ego was never his dad: Udonta was.[1]
Legacy[]
Remembered by his Children[]
"I've been through a lot. My father killed my mother, then I had to kill my father. And that was hard. Probably even harder than having to kill a sister."
Four years later, following the attack on the Statesman, the Guardians of the Galaxy rescued Thor, from outer space after being left for dead by Thanos and the Black Order. Once aboard the Benatar, Thor told them about the deaths of Loki and Hela, respectively his adoptive brother who had been killed by the Mad Titan and half-sister who he had to kill. Star-Lord told him that by having been forced to kill Ego, he understood his pain and his patricide act was probably even harder than Thor's fratricide act.[5]
By 2025, while the Guardians settled themselves on Knowhere just for the Christmas season, Mantis had yet not told Quill about their shared parentage, fearing that if Quill became aware of her being Ego's child, too, he would reject her due to seeing her as an extension of their dreaded father despite Drax the Destroyer's insistence that Quill would still accept her. Because of that, and Quill's depression due to losingGamora to Thanos and not finding the variant that the Battle of Earth brought to their reality, Mantis and Drax decided to kidnap actor Kevin Bacon from Earth to cheer Quill up. After solving their misunderstanding with Bacon and Quill, everyone celebrated and Mantis opted to tell Peter the truth; to her surprise, Quill was happy at discovering that he had a sister.[4]
One year later, following the defeat of the High Evolutionary, as the Guardians of the Galaxy disbanded, Mantis announced that her intentions to quit the team were that she had spent all her life by that point doing everything others told her to do, including Ego, hence her wishes to explore the galaxy on her own and find out what she wants to do herself, a decision the heroic outlaws respected.[6]
Personality[]
"It doesn't need to be like this, Peter. Why are you destroying our chance? Stop pretending you aren't what you are! One in billions? Trillions, even more! What greater meaning can life possibly have to offer?"
When Ego met with the females he impregnated from all life-sustaining planets, including Meredith Quill, he appeared as an otherworldly explorer who wishes to learn more about other species. However, he later described himself as alternately "the sailor" and "the sea" from a song Meredith loved, demonstrating Ego's belief that he was the only thing that matters in the universe, at least from his perspective. Ego's initial desire was to find life, but when he found it, he considered it to be disappointing compared to himself and other Celestials. After this, he came to a realization that he was not to walk among that life but instead found a new purpose, which was using The Expansion to spread across the universe, thus becoming the only life-form in all of existence. Being a Celestial, Ego lived for longer than most other civilizations. This gave him a god complex; having witnessed countless species adapt and evolve, Ego didn't consider anyone to have reached his standard of species perfection except for his own race which he described as godlike and considered expanding his own power via transforming the galaxy into extensions of himself and his progeny as the only meaning of his eternal life.
To that end, Ego was an emotionally cold, ruthless and manipulative being. Upon meeting with the Guardians of the Galaxy and his son, Peter Quill, he presented himself 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. However, 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. He cares very little about his progeny, having abducted hundreds of his own children from their homes and families and murdering them when they failed to show any powers. Ego strongly believed 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. Those beliefs led him to underestimate how strong those feelings truly are, especially when Peter used the love he had for his mother and the bond of friendship with his fellow Guardians to break free from his control and when he used those same feelings along with his close bond for Udonta to unlock his full Celestials abilities. That said, he was charming and hid 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." The only time Ego expressed fear and horror was at his last moments of life when Quill accepted being mortal and left him to die, knowing that his death meant that everything he created would be destroyed.
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 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. Ego may have felt some grief for murdering all of his children as he needed Mantis to help him sleep through the only answer she gave was because of his progeny and not of any guilt or otherwise.
Mantis' role in the relationship between her and Ego acted as evidence towards his superior and somewhat abusive personality, not treating her as a daughter but as a servant. Although not obvious, Ego kept Mantis on his planet purely for his own benefit. Disregarding the importance for her to be exposed to other lifeforms, Ego did not care for Mantis and autonomy as a person, but only himself. In the seduction model, Ego showed Quill how he procreated with many species across the galaxy. Though it is entirely possible that he used his false charm to impregnate them, one seemed to be a child, implying Ego was not bound by the morality of age to create his progeny.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
"You own a planet and can destroy two dozen spaceships without a suit. What are you exactly?" "I'm what's called a Celestial, sweetheart." "A Celestial, like a god?" "Mmm, small 'g', son."
Celestial Physiology: Ego is a Celestial, a primordial race of entities with vast cosmic power, capable of manipulating matter and energy. Ego lacks a true body, his "core" being a glowing blue brain that houses his consciousness. Over the course of millions of years, Ego was able to gradually form a planet around himself to protect his core. Ego also desired a body to understand what it meant to be a mortal, and created an avatar of his own design.
Superhuman Strength: As a Celestial, Ego's physical strength is at immense superhuman levels. He was able to casually crush Star-Lord's Walkman in his hand, as well as smash through stones, propelling his son across the vast underground center of his planet during their fight.
In addition to his powerful strength, Ego also has incredible levels of superhuman durability which makes him almost impervious to physical attacks. His avatars are also extremely durable. He was able to withstand his son's Celestial powers and physical attacks, even crashing through rock at extreme speed without much harm. He was also able to stand outside of his ship in the vacuum of space unfazed. The easiest way to kill him was to get to his unguarded brain.
Immortality: As a Celestial, Ego was ancient and nigh-immortal. While giving Star-Lord, Gamora, and Drax a tour of his planet, he told them he was millions of years old. He can only be truly killed if his true form, his brain, is destroyed.
Nigh-Omnipotence: Ego's Celestial genes allowed him to do nearly anything. He could easily manipulate matter and energy to create himself a body of his liking. He could also manipulate the planet that is his own body.
Cosmic Energy Manipulation: Ego describes his powers as "light". In particular, a blue, fiery light that he could shape and transform into physical constructs. He taught his son, Peter Quill, how to manipulate light as he does. He once projected radiant beams from his fingers that are able to unlock handcuffs. His body that he created also had a cosmic energy base, with the matter forming around the energy.
Ego is able to create massive tentacles out of cosmic energy that he used in combat and to restrain Peter Quill and his allies. They could also phase through people to cause them pain, but also to incapacitate them without inflicting damage, as they did to Quill when they phased through his torso and head. He also used these tendrils to tether himself to his ship while standing outside of it, drawing energy from it to form into projectiles which he used to destroy the Sovereign fleet.
Ego used his light manipulation powers to forcibly draw on the Celestial powers from his son's essence, greatly amplifying his already godlike powers, activating his seedlings, and beginning his Expansion.
Energy Blast: Ego launched a few blasts powerful enough to instantly destroy the Sovereign fleet.
Molecular Manipulation:
Ego creating a giant duplicate of himself
As a Celestial, Ego is able to manipulate matter at a molecular level. While giving Star-Lord, Drax, and Gamora a tour of his planet, he told them that it took him millions of years to master this ability, and that it was thanks to it that he was able to form the planet they were walking on. Also when battling his son, Ego created various melee weapons out of matter, even creating a giant duplicate of himself.[7] While fighting Quill, he manipulated the ground to make Drax fall through the sand. He also simultaneously forced Gamora and Nebula down into his core by moving the pedestal that they stood on. He then squeezed Groot inside his brain. In addition, the body can reconstitute itself when damaged, and rebuild completely when completely destroyed. When Star-Lord repeatedly shot Ego after hearing his confession, the avatar began repairing itself almost immediately.
Ego has the ability to make people docile and susceptible to suggestion with a touch to the victim's forehead, sending a surge of energy into their minds. He used this power to compel Star-Lord into activating his seedlings. When under his father's influence, Quill's eyes turned black with small, star-like lights; he was able to see the seeds all across the universe. Quill was able to break free from this bond through passionate feeling, in particular for his imperiled friends and his mother, who he had just learned Ego had killed.
Biological Manipulation: Ego is also able to create and manipulate biological matter. In order to interact with the intelligent lifeforms that populate the universe, he created an humanoid avatar resembling a biological humanoid. His avatar is an extension of his own consciousness and is provided with a digestive system, pain receptors and a reproductive system, as Ego explained to Drax that he "does indeed have a penis". However, his avatar requires periodic returns to his "core" to regenerate. Ego's features can also be heavily altered from his appearance as Peter Quill's father, being able to transform himself into David Hasselhoff. Ego was also able to manipulate the biology of other individuals, such as implanting a tumor inside Meredith Quill's brain, sealing her fate. Moreover, Ego was able to create alien seedlings with the goal of terraforming worlds across the universe into extensions of himself. Activating these seedlings, however, required another Celestial.
Telekinesis: Ego was able to manipulate the position of his planetary structures while explaining his origin to the Guardians of the Galaxy. He was also able to telekinetically collapse giant rock formations around him while he reconstructed his humanoid avatar in a battle.
Abilities[]
"Over millions of years... I learned to control the molecules around me. I grew smarter and stronger. And I continued building from there... layer by layer... the very planet you walk on now."
Genius-Level intellect: Ego had an extremely sharp imagination, proven while he was able to construct a whole planet by himself and detailed humanoid avatar for himself when he didn't even know there was another planet and life besides him.
Master Tactician: Throughout the billions of years of his existence, Ego desired to find out what it was like to be mortal. Through this, he decided he wanted to expand himself to the whole universe. One by one he found a partner, and had a baby with almost every species. He was able to plant his seed in many planets. Once he found an offspring that carried his Celestial gene, he used that offspring as a battery to expand throughout the universe. But he was stopped by that offspring and his allies.
After Star-Lord turned on him, Ego furiously engaged him in a fight, and was able to force his son onto the defensive. He easily used his Celestial powers to fight.
Omnilingualism: Ego could speak any language, which he used to his advantage when mating with many species.
In the comics, Ego was originally a scientist named Egros. A cosmic being known as the Stranger caused Egros' home star to go supernova as part of an experiment to create living planets. In "death," Egros fused with his home planet and all life on it, and became Ego the Living Planet. Ego settled into conquering other worlds early during his existence, and came into conflict against Thor and the Nova Corps.
An alternate parallel of Ego did something similar to the Expansion in Exiles #52-53. He was seen using a Seed of Awareness to give Earth sentience, thus making it a living planet much like himself.
In the comics, Mantis' father was Gustav Brandt, a German mercenary and criminal also known as Libra, who was a member of Zodiac.
While Ego was on Earth, he drove a teal and orange 1979 Ford Mustang Cobra. The same colors would later be used by Quill for the Milano.[1] The car's license plate is the same of James Gunn's Buick Electra that he drove when he was in high school.[8]
Ego is the second main antagonist to have familial ties with the main protagonist of the movie he appears, being preceded by Loki in Thor.
Ego seems to be a fan of the band Looking Glass, calling them "one of Earth's best musicians."
According to James Gunn, Ego is located in a galaxy on the edge of the universe, "probably MACS0647-JD or something."[9]
Behind the Scenes[]
"J'Son" was used as a codename for Ego in the concept art and on the script of the movie
Following the release of the first Guardians of the Galaxy film, only four people knew the identity of Peter Quill's father: James Gunn, Kevin Feige, Michael Rooker and Sean Gunn. James Gunn also confirmed that Jason of Spartax was not intended to be Peter Quill's father as in the comics.[10] James Gunn himself, at the San Diego Comic Con on July 23, 2016, revealed that Ego was Peter Quill's father.[11] Several days after the film's release, Gunn explained in an interview why he made the change: "I just don't like the character [J'son] very much," he said. "I also thought it was too much like a Star Wars thing because of the royalty and all of that."[12]
Ego's youthful appearance in the prologue of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 resembles Kurt Russell's appearance in the 1980s, using Russell's appearance in Used Cars as the primary reference.[13] This was achieved by having Russell shoot the scene alongside Laura Haddock while wearing makeup and motion capture markers, with Aaron Schwartz studying Russell's performance and then mimicking it. Digital effects were then used to fuse part of Schwartz's skin onto Russell's body in post production. This process was very expensive and difficult, and took almost the entire post production period to perfect.[14] Ironically, Chris Pratt initially pitched the idea of having Star-Lord remark that Ego looked like Kurt Russell, but his idea was promptly rejected by James Gunn.[15]
As 20th Century Fox owned the cinematic rights to Ego the Living Planet, Marvel Studios traded rights with Fox in order to use him in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. In exchange for granting Fox the rights to change the powers of Negasonic Teenage Warhead and use her in Deadpool, Fox transferred Ego's cinematic rights to Marvel Studios.[16] Gunn was unaware that Marvel did not own the character, and was very lucky to have the deal work out, stating: "When I first pitched Ego as Quill's father, I THOUGHT we owned the character. After I had worked out a very elaborate story with Ego the Living Planet as a very important part of the Marvel cosmic universe, I learned that we actually didn't own the character. I had no back up plan, and it would be nearly impossible to just drop another character in. Thank God Fox came to us and wanted to make a trade."[17]
Coincidentally, both "Ego the Living Planet" and "Negasonic Teenage Warhead" are names of songs from the album Dopes to Infinity by the band Monster Magnet.
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