James Gunn Says Ego the Living Planet Is So Important to GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 That There Was No Back Up Plan
Yesterday it was reported that Marvel and Fox worked together for a character trade. Fox wanted the rights to Negasonic Teenage Warhead for Deadpool, and Marvel wanted back the rights to Ego The Living Planet, who will appear in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. It's pretty cool that the two worked together to make this happen. It seems each of the studios was in a tight spot, but James Gunn must have been really sweating it.
In a recent Facebook post from the director, he confirmed this news was true. He also explained that when he wrote the Guardians sequel he thought Marvel already owned the rights to Ego. He went on to say that Ego was so important to the story that there was absolutely no back up plan, so getting the rights to Ego from Fox was vital to the movie. Gunn explained:
"Yes, this is true! 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... "
It's great that everything worked out in the end, but I imagine Gunn was probably sweating bullets until the trade was made. If there was no backup plan, I wonder what would have happened had Marvel not gotten the rights to Ego the Living Planet back. Would Gunn have started over again? Would he have not done the sequel at all!? Either way, I'm happy things played out the way they did.
As you all know by now, Kurt Russell plays Ego in the film, and it's cool to know that he plays such an important role not only in the story for Guardians 2, but to the whole Marvel cosmic universe. Now I'm more interested in Ego's part in this film more than ever!
