Final 'Guardians of the Galaxy' Easter Egg May Have Been Found

James Gunn's work on Guardians of the Galaxy may be over, but the director extremely detail-oriented legacy remains in the form of Easter eggs he tucked into the films -- particularly Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1. For years, fans have scoured the film looking for the final piece of the puzzle and now one fan thinks they have finally solved it.

While many people have tried and failed to find the mysterious final Easter egg, Reddit user "ajniggles" has compiled a very compelling attempt by building upon what's been confirmed by Gunn, the fan theory that has previously been validated by Gunn at least partially correct, and some additional observations. The end results? Well, Gunn hasn't confirmed anything at this point, but it might just be that the answer was right in front of us the whole time.

"Short Version: The Easter egg is the identity and Celestial nature of Peter's father (and grandfather) well before GOGTGv2," the Redditor explained. You can check out their full explanation in the post located here.

If that post is a "too long, didn't read" scenario for you, here's the nuts and bolts. Back in June, YouTuber MasterTainment (that's the MT the Redditor is referring to) shared a theory that the coordinates for Knowhere could be decoded to read either "Meredith Quill BD" or Meredith Quill X" -- in either case, the decode refers to Peter Quill's father. With Knowhere being the head of a Celestial and the coordinates referring to Peter's dad, his father could be a Celestial. Add to that the decode of The Dark Aster's coordinates coming out to something like "this is mom's cancer". He also noted that the Celestial Eson the Searcher can be seen in the Collector's video destroying a planet with the Power stone staff. It's an action that seems out of character for the Searcher which is something that MasterTainment said must be significant.

If that is the partial solving, the Redditor has a few more details to add that might just fully solve things. They note that the "this is mom's cancer" decoding of The Dark Aster may be spot on because Aster is also a term in cellular biology -- a star-shaped structure formed during cell reproduction. When you add "dark" to that, it could be a reference to something sinister -- such as Peter's dad giving his mom cancer. Also, Eson the Searcher isn't the only Eson in Marvel. The other one is J'Son's father. In comics, J'Son is Peter Quill's father which would make Eson his grandfather. While it's Ego who is J'Son's father in Guardians of the Galaxy, we already know that of the five people who have handled the Power stone in the film there are only two who aren't destroyed by its power: Peter and Eson the Searcher.

The takeaway? The Easter egg in Guardians of the Galaxy is that it subtly revealed the big bad of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Ego was the son of Eson, a Celestial whose head is now Knowhere (hence the coordinates decoding the way they do). Ego is able to survive without his head -- which is why his head became nowhere -- because he's immortal so long as his brain isn't destroyed. And, as a bonus, if this breakdown is accurate then it may also give some clues to the big Easter egg of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 since Gunn has said that the two are similar in nature. That means if the big Easter eggs are connected to the big bad's of future movies, Gunn may have hidden clues about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in Vol. 2.

Now, it's important to note that Gunn hasn't confirmed that this is the solution to the Easter egg and it's possible we won't get a response -- either to confirm or debunk -- anytime soon. Gunn has been silent on social media since July 19, right after his old tweets surfaced and ultimately led to his firing by Disney. That firing also means that he's no longer directing Guardians of the Galaxy and while it's said that his script will still be used the film itself, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed yesterday that the film is still on hold so it's unclear when -- or if -- it will ever see the light of day.

What do you think? Do you think the big Guardians of the Galaxy Easter egg is the hiding of the villain for Vol. 2? Do you think there's still more to it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man and the Wasp are now available as digital downloads as well as on Blu-ray and DVD. Upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, Avengers 4 on May 3, 2019, and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5, 2019.