'Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2' Director James Gunn Explains Ego's Powers

In the Marvel comic book universe, Ego the Living Planet is exactly what his name suggests: he is a literal living planet, with a face and everything, who can travel throughout space and get involved in all kinds of shenanigans. The character will make his cinematic debut in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, where he will be played by actor Kurt Russell, a human being who is not a literal living planet with a face and everything who can travel throughout space and get involved in all kinds of shenanigans. And if you're wondering how that works, director James Gunn is here to explain the nature of Ego's powers in his upcoming sequel.

Speaking with Complex, Gunn spoke about Ego and how his version of the character is able to create different avatars of himself (presumably because being a giant sentient planet is probably a little boring), which led to his human avatar meeting an Earth lady he fancied:

Ego is a living planet who is able to manifest himself in different ways he's been alone for millions of years and he's learned how to control the molecules around him in such a way as to create avatars of themselves, such as Kurt Russell. I think Ego was a very lonely character out there by himself and went off in search of love and perhaps found it in Quill's mother.

Man, that's a real "Zeus turns into a magical bull so he can abduct a woman" kind of thing. In any case, I love the idea that an all-powerful living planet that can create any new form for itself chooses to transform into Kurt Russell, because it's clear that there is no other human form more worthy of standing in for a powerful space entity. C'mon: is there anyone out there who doesn't love Kurt Russell? And it makes perfect sense that the actor behind tough-as-nails characters in movies like Escape From New York and bumbling buffoons in movies like Big Trouble in Little China would be the father of Chris Pratt's Star-Lord, who is tough-as-nails and a bumbling buffoon.

Although we got our first proper look at Russell as Ego in the recent trailers, we'll probably have to wait until the actual movie hits theaters on May 5, 2017 before we see the Living Planet in his natural look. Hopefully, that beard remains intact in his final form. I don't know about you people, but I'm of the opinion that living planets need strong facial hair.