Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 Director Had No Backup Plan If Fox Wouldn’t Trade Ego

It’s no secret 20th Century Fox (owner of X-Men and Fantastic Four film rights) and Marvel Studios […]

September 5, 2017, 11:44pm

It’s no secret 20th Century Fox (owner of X-Men and Fantastic Four film rights) and Marvel Studios haven’t gotten along over the years, but in the past few years, the icy relationship between them has shown signs of thawing. One of the best examples of this would be the news of the studios swapping characters.

In February, shortly after Deadpool was released, it was revealed that Fox and Marvel made a swap that allowed the former to alter Negasonic Teenage Warhead’s power set, going from a telepath/precog to a literal warhead. This past weekend, during a special Deadpool Q&A screening in L.A., co-screenwriter Paul Wernick finally revealed what Marvel got in exchange: Ego the Living Planet.

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As you should know by now, Ego will appear in the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel, is being played by Kurt Russell, and has been revealed to be Peter Quill’s biological father. However, what you may not know is that filmmaker James Gunn desperately needed that swap to happen.

“Yes, this is true! When I first pitched Ego as Quill’s father, I THOUGHT we owned the character,” Gunn shared on his official Facebook page. “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… 😅”

Set to the backdrop of ‘Awesome Mixtape #2,’ Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the team’s adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill’s true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favorite characters from the classic comics will come to our heroes’ aid as the Marvel cinematic universe continues to expand.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is written and directed by James Gunn (Slither). The film marks the return of the original Guardians, including Chris Pratt (Jurassic World) as Peter Quill/Star-Lord; Zoe Saldana (Star Trek Into Darkness) as Gamora; Dave Bautista (Spectre) as Drax; Vin Diesel (Furious 7) as the voice of Groot; Bradley Cooper (American Sniper) as the voice of Rocket; Michael Rooker (Jumper) as Yondu; Karen Gillan (The Big Short) as Nebula; and Sean Gunn (Gilmore Girls) as Kraglin. New cast members include Pom Klementieff (Oldboy), Elizabeth Debicki (The Great Gatsby, Everest), Chris Sullivan (The Knick, The Drop) and Kurt Russell (The Hateful Eight, The Thing).