Guardians of the Galaxy Fan Theory: Ego is the Missing Easter Egg

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 director James Gunn has kept Marvel fans in a frenzy ever since […]

November 9, 2017, 5:52pm

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 director James Gunn has kept Marvel fans in a frenzy ever since 2014 when the first film came out. When Gunn revealed last year that there was still an undiscovered Easter egg in the original Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel fans started digging, and digging, and digging, looking for what it could possibly be.

Videos by ComicBook.com

We’ve heard a lot of fan theory since then: that the Easter egg refers to everyone from cosmic entity Eternity to surly cosmic protector Pip the Troll – but they’ve been steadily knocked down since then.

However, now we’re getting another fan-based theory – one that dives deep into numerology and code and to make the claim that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 teased the secret behind Peter Quill’s parentage – details that became the the crucial story points of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

Ego Easter Egg Theory

Guardians Galaxy Easter Eggs Space Coordinates

YouTuber MasterTainment has been behind some of the previous Guardians of the Galaxy Easter egg theories – namely the one that Eternity was the Easter Egg in the film.

As an eager Marvel fan, Mastertainment breaks down a theory that the numerical Coordinates of key locations in GotGV1 (Earth in 1988, Ronan’s ship The Dark Aster, and Knowhere) aren’t messages about each location, but rather correlate to a longer message, meant for the audience: “SHH… THIS IS MOMS CANCER… MEREDITH QUILL X” – which is a Twitter-happy way of trying to say, “Shhhh, this is mom’s cancer: Meredith Quill’s Ex.”

For anyone who has seen Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, it should now be obvious that this could indeed be the Easter egg: James Gunn giving fans the secret to Peter Quill’s origin (his dad, Ego, infecting his mom with a cancerous tumor), well ahead of the big reveal in Vol. 2.

However, it’s not a theory that’s 100% airtight yet, as there are some dangling threads that need explanation.

The Ego of Knowhere

Guardians of the Galaxy Easter Egg Ego Knowhere

Screen Rant takes an extensive look into this theory of Ego and Peter Quill’s origin being the secretive Easter egg of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 – and a big part of that theory is that there is a very specific reason that Knowhere is included as part of the Easter egg message that references Ego in the MCU: Because Knowhere was part of Ego.

The SR theory goes that Knowhere – a location built inside the skull of a decapitated Celestial – used to be Ego’s form, the place where his massive brain/core used to be housed. In short: Knowhere itself is an Easter egg, as it is actually part of Ego.

But here’s where the Theory gets a little rocky:

It comes down to the details of Ego’s origin story: Ego (Kurt Russell) recounts in Vol. 2 how he became sentient and found himself floating in space as a formless consciousness, eventually pulling matter together to create the living planet where his core light resides – and later, the humanoid form he used to explore the universe and sire legions of children. The issue here, is that nowhere in that origin (see what I did there?) does Ego ever recount having the form or body of the giant Celestials we saw in Vol. 1’s flashback sequence at The Collector’s lair.

Right now, the fans supporting this theory are explaining their way around the issue by stating that Ego either doesn’t remember his entire origin (i.e., his time as an ancient Celestial, before sentience), or simply doesn’t tell Peter Quill the full story. Until James Gunn himself steps up to either confirm or deny this latest theory, it still holds water – and is plenty of fun to speculate about, as well.

Gunn also promised even more Easter eggs in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 when he spoke to Comicbook.com (“We have so many incredibly obscure Easter eggs in this movie that it’s ridiculous. Yeah, we’ve been working hard on the Easter eggs. I feel this need to do it now since people have been pouring over stuff so much.”) So even if this one from the original film is finally put away, there will be a fresh egg hunt for fans to embark on.