James Gunn Explains Why He Chose to Use Ego as Star-Lord’s Dad and Why It's Not a Spoiler
Ever since Guardians of the Galaxy was released, fans have been wondering and speculating on who Star-Lord’s father would be. It’s been a long roadm but our patience paid off when director James Gunn revealed at Comic-Con that Ego the Living Planet is Peter Quill’s dad in the MCU.
This was a shocking reveal, and I saw a lot of confusion among fans. It was easy for me to accept because Gunn knows what he’s doing with these films and these characters. During an interview with io9, Gunn talked about why he chose Ego to be Quill’s dad and also about why he decided to make the big reveal at Comic-Con instead of holding off on it as a surprise for the movie.
First, Gunn explains his reasons as to why he opted to bring Ego into the mix and not follow what the comics had laid out:
“I didn’t like that in the comics J’Son is a king, and he also reeked very much of Star Wars, so I didn’t want that same sort of thing. I like the idea of Quill’s father being an ancient, cosmic, incredibly powerful being who, just like Rocket, has problems connecting to other people because [...] there’s nothing else like him. This character has a hard time connecting to other people because he’s a god who’s been alone for billions of years.”
He makes some great points there, and I understand a little more as to why he went with Ego. I initially thought it was just a cool completely unexpected choice, and I believe that Gunn is the only person that could get away with it. We got a brief look at Kurt Russell as Ego at Comic-Con, and you’ll get yours later on this year when the first trailer is released this fall. That's the costume he wears in the film above.
He went on to talk about why revealing who the character is so early isn't a spoiler, saying:
“It was going to come out sooner or later, And I think one of the things I impressed upon people early on is the identity of Quill’s father is not the big stunner in this movie. I’m not leading it all to Darth Vader being Luke’s father in the third act reveal. This is really about the relationship between [Star-Lord] and his father, who happens to be a living planet, and his other father, Yondu, who is an abusive jerk. It’s about the dysfunctional family triad that those three characters have. That’s the center of the movie.”
He expanded on that a bit in a recent Facebook post, which you can read below:
WHY THE IDENTITY OF STAR-LORD'S FATHER ISN'T A SPOILER.
Don't read any further if you don't want to know who he is.
Also you might want to stay off the internet until May and definitely unfollow me and don't watch our trailers or other ads...
Anyway, people have been particularly excited, confused, and supportive of keeping Marvel Cosmic truly cosmic with the reveal of Peter Quill's father's identity. However, there have been a minority of folks who have questioned, and even been angry, that I and Marvel would reveal something so major months before the film comes out.
I get it. If we lived in a perfect world, I wouldn't tell you ANYTHING before you walked in to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. I wouldn't tell you Groot was now Baby Groot, I wouldn't tell you Mantis was in the movie, I wouldn't say that Ayesha and Taserface are our antagonists, that Yondu and Nebula have incredibly important roles in the film, nor would I tell you that Quill's father is Ego the Living Planet.
However, the world is imperfect.
Firstly, we have to advertise our film. And it will be impossible to show you very much of Vol. 2 since Ego is very much a part of all of it. We just don't have a way around it.
Secondly, there are journalists online who love giving you scoops about characters and plot twists in upcoming films. Ego is such a big part of the movie, this was going to come out soon, as much as we've tried to hide it (when our online press day happened on set, Kurt Russell sat in a chair that read "J'son," and all of our script pages and artwork featuring him used the same name). Frankly, I would rather be in control of the announcement myself than have it come out on SpoilersRUs.com in a few weeks.
That said, knowing who Quill's father is will not diminish your enjoyment of the film in any way. The story is not built to be a shocking twist in the same way Luke's father was Darth, Soylent Green was people, Rosebud was a sled, or that that pretty woman from Crying Game had a penis (I guess I should have said spoilers before all that). Ego the emotional center of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 from the beginning to the end, and is not a twist.
And believe me - there are many, many more surprises we still have in store for you from Vol. 2 - hopefully the biggest of which is how much you'll love the movie itself. Because, to me, that's the only twist that matters.
james
Hopefully, that puts some people at ease because a handful of fans were pissed off that Gunn let the cat out of the bag so early. Like he said, it's not going to ruin our enjoyment of the film and there are a lot more surprises to come! What do you all think about what Gunn says here?