Ego is a living planet

Details of the origin of the Ego are unknown: in his own words, said in one of the early stories with his participation ( Thor # 228, October 1974), it is the result of a scientific experiment that some higher forces conducted when the star around which the planet, which became subsequently the Ego was reborn into a supernova.

Having gained intelligence and the ability to move through space, the Ego began to absorb other worlds. When he approached the planet of the Rigellians, they asked for help in the fight against him from the earthly god of thunder Thor ; Together, they managed to defeat the Ego ^[3] . Soon, however, Thor was already helping the Ego himself in the fight against the world-eater Galactus , who had decided to devour the Ego, as he usually did with the planets. In gratitude, the Ego agreed to become a home for the Vandera race, whose homeworld Galactus devoured billions of years ago.

After some time, the Rigellian scientist secretly landed on the Ego and took samples of its biological structure, which he hoped to use to create a new life. This act led to a clouding of the mind of the Ego: it swallowed the Wanderers and began to wander around the Universe with tremendous speed, absorbing the energy of the planets, its strength increased sharply during this time. This time he was defeated by the joint efforts of Thor, Hercules , Galactus and the Fire Lord (Herald of Galactus), who secretly attached powerful stellar engines to the Ego’s body that carried the living planet far from known galaxies ^[4] .

However, after a few years, the Ego managed to establish control over the engines and began to search the galactus throughout the universe to avenge it. Since, shortly before, Galactus was visiting Earth, the Ego went on his trail near this planet. Attacking the Earth, he ran into the Fantastic Four , who managed to destroy it with great difficulty, damaging one of the Galactus engines: due to the imbalance in the gravitational pull, the Ego dragged to the Sun, where it broke up into atoms. Subsequently, however, the Ego was reborn and more than once confronted Galactus and various superheroes of the Earth and space ^[5] , including the Silver Surfer and Professor X.

The ego has a powerful, superhuman intelligence and diverse powers. He is able to move through space at great speed, can telepathically control his own “body”, giving it any shape and property: so, if desired, the surface of the Ego can instantly become deserted or blooming, a variety of structures can appear on it, from tentacles to human-like creatures that the Ego uses to defend against enemies that might land on it. The ego can change the temperature inside and outside of itself, generate energy flows of colossal power that can destroy other planets, and absorb a huge amount of energy, as well as read the thoughts of other creatures ^[6] .

According to Jack Kirby, the image of the Ego was created by him shortly after the development of the image of Galactus to form his own "cosmic mythology" Marvel ^[7] . In the interview, he called the creation of the character an experiment: the very concept of a “living planet” at that time was not new, but Kirby wanted to present it not only as rational, but as an actively acting and truly scary character ^[8] .

Monster Magnet recorded a song called Ego, the Living Planet , included on the Dopes to Infinity album. This song by comiccritique.com was put on the first place in the list of eleven best songs related to comics, according to the authors of the site, but in the review it was noted that the content of the song itself has little to do with Ego ^[9] .

According to Roger Lewis, the image of the Ego reflects the fear of people in the first half of the 1960s before global disasters ^[10] .

In August 2009, Time magazine included the Ego in the list of ten most unusual characters in Marvel comics ^[11] . By io9.com, the ego was included in the list of the largest intelligent creatures from fictional universes ^[12] . By Gameinformer.com, the Ego was named among the 10 Marvel characters that, according to the author of the publication, could never have appeared on the worlds of Walt Disney ^[13] .

Marvel Cinematic Universe

• Kurt Russell played the ego in Guardians of the Galaxy. Part 2 ” ^{[14] [15]} . In this film, his character is one of the celestials , immortal primitive creatures that possess cosmic forces and have the ability to control matter and energy to the atomic level. He can also summon humanoid avatars , as well as appearing on his own and traveling through the universe. Throughout the film, he wears a humanoid appearance. The ego is the biological father of Peter Quill / Star Lord , as well as the one who accepted and raised Mantis . The ego traveled the galaxy for many years and planted alien seeds to spread itself throughout the universe and become the only life form. He hired Yonda Udont to steal and bring his children to him, and to check whether they possess Celestial forces. If the children did not have these forces, the Ego killed them, and the bones remained to lie in a distant cave. Peter is the only child to inherit his father’s abilities, and the Ego wanted to use his powers because he needed another Celestial so that those seeds on each planet would sprout and fill the entire universe. The ego admitted that he killed Peter’s mother, Meredith, by planting a tumor in her brain so that because of his affection, he could not return to her and thereby abandon his plans. Enraged, Peter used his Celestial powers and entered into a confrontation with his father, while Groot put a bomb on his brain in the core of the planet and activated it, thereby killing the Ego. After his death, Peter lost these powers.

Television

• Ego - a living planet first appeared in the animated series " Fantastic Four " in 1994 in the episode "Battle with a Living Planet". He was voiced by Kay E. Kuter .
• Roy Lewis voiced Ego in the animated series Silver Surfer .
• The ego makes an episodic appearance in the animated series Superhero Squad in the World War Witch series.
• Kevin Michael Richardson voiced Ego in the animated series “The Hulk and the Agents of U.D.A.P.A. ".
• Ego appeared in the Bad Moon Rising series of the Guardians of the Galaxy series.

Video Games

• The ego appears in the Lego Marvel Super Heroes game , but only as a cameo in the main menu.

Music

• Monster Magnet recorded the song “Ego - Living Planet” on the Dopes to Infinity album.

Mogo (DC Comics)

• Ego - A Living Planet on Marvel.com
• Ego - A Living Planet on the Marvel Comics Database Project