Kurt Russell Returning To Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Could Kurt Russell's Ego be making a return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Unlike Josh Brolin‘s Thanos or Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, Kurt Russell’s Ego — the primary antagonist of 2017’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 — doesn’t survive the events of his inaugural film. Introduced as the mystery half of Star-Lord’s (Chris Pratt) parentage, Ego ultimately proves to be much more evil than he appears. After a battle with the Guardians, Ego is destroyed by a bomb detonated in the core of his planetoid structure. But now some are speculating the villain could make a return in next month’s Eternals.
The theory comes from Screen Rant‘s Cooper Hood, who rightly points out there’s a fairly obvious connection between Ego and Eternals. After meeting Star-Lord and his friends in Guardians Vol. 2, Ego explains that he’s a Celestial, which is the same species of super beings who create the eponymous heroes of Eternals. Hood goes on to speculate that since the story of Eternals spans thousands of years, even though Ego is dead in the MCU’s present, Kurt Russell could make an appearance as the character in a flashback set long before his death. He might even be, Hood writes, one of the Celestials responsible for the creation of the Eternals.
While Hood is right that there’s no reason Ego couldn’t show up in an Eternals flashback, the notion that he had something to do with the heroes’ creation doesn’t match with what we know. When Kurt Russell’s character relates his story in Guardians Vol. 2, he describes waking to sentience completely alone and floating adrift in the cosmos for millions of years, not even sure if other life existed anywhere. According to him, it wasn’t until meeting Star-Lord that he encountered another of his kind. None of that matches up with the idea that he, along with other Celestials, would help to create the Eternals.
Of course, there’s always the chance that Kurt Russell’s Ego is lying when he tells Star-Lord his life story, but that isn’t how we see Ego operate. He omits, but never outright lies to his son or the other Guardians. After all, if he was prone to fabrication, why would he bother admitting to his son that he gave Star-Lord’s mother the disease that killed her?
Should Kurt Russell’s Ego appear in Eternals in a flashback, it would be more likely that the appearance would serve to answer some lingering mysteries about the character. For example, why was Ego alone when he awoke? Was he abandoned for some reason? Were his creators destroyed? Why was he never found by the other Celestials and why didn’t didn’t he look anything like them?
Another Guardians-related mystery fans would no doubt love to see solved in Eternals is the mystery of Knowhere. We’re introduced the lawless spaceport made from the severed head of a dead Celestial who looks nothing like Kurt Russell in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy. The heroes return to it again in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. But it remains to be seen exactly who or what was powerful enough to decapitate a Celestial.
Regardless of whether or not Kurt Russell appears in it, Eternals hits theaters Friday, November 5. Do the best you can to avoid spoilers. A post-credits scene was leaked recently and fans are not happy about it.
