2017 marks Marvel's biggest year to date. Not only is Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. still going strong on ABC, but The Inhumans will be joining the show in the fall after a brief stop in IMAX theaters. Over on Netflix, Iron Fist will launch next month, followed by The Defenders and The Punisher later this year. And in cinemas, Marvel will release three movies in one year for the first time ever. Before we get to Spider-Man: Homecoming and Thor: Ragnarok, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will kick the summer blockbuster season off. Hopefully, they'll be able to capture the magic from the first film, and if the Super Bowl spot for the movie is any indication, that won't be an issue.
Meanwhile, with the film just a few months away, we've been learning quite a lot about what to expect. Thanks to our set visit, we know what state the team will be in, when the film picks up following its predecessor, and that we'll be getting a lot more Nebula and Gamora toys. It's also shone a light on other corners of the MCU, as we learned that Thanos would be the main character of Avengers: Infinity War. One of the biggest mysteries, however, is how exactly Kurt Russell will portray Ego the Living Planet. We know from a recent Funko figure that he'll look like a standard human, but how that will reconcile with his planetray stature in the comics we still don't know.
Despite his identity being revealed at Comic-Con last year, there's still a lot we don't know about Ego. That fact is unlikely to change, as James Gunn, Kevin Feige, and everyone else involved with the film are doing their best to keep things a secret. Even though we know Russell will be Ego, the set of Guardians 2 was littered with indications that he'd be portraying Peter Quill's comic book father, J'Son of Spartax. When we pointed this out to Gunn, he let us know it was all part of the plan.
"Think we aren't prepared for you guys? Think anything we did today is real?!"
Once the laughter subsided, Gunn made it clear that "There is no J-Son in the MCU." Still, that didn't stop everything from concept art to Russell's chair from being adorned with the name. Even the crew referred to Russell as J'Son, either to obscure his identity or as a joke given Gunn's well-known distaste for the sleazy character.
"Oh yeah, I call him J-Son all the time. That's what we do."
All kidding aside, Gunn didn't seem too worried about the reveal that Russell was Ego getting leaked. Despite posters covering the walls stating "Loose lips sink starships" and asking any infractions to be reported to Marvel security, Gunn assured us that Russell's identity wouldn't ruin the story or the film.
"But I also want to make clear, here's the thing you get stuck with, he isn't J-Son. He isn't named J-Son in the movie. That's just flat out the case. But here's the thing, we'll probably all know who the father is by the time this movie comes out. 'We' meaning you guys, because the movie really isn't about that. It's not about this big reveal of who the father is. It really is about the story between the different characters, and so it's not about that reveal. It's not about there's this big shock moment. We're probably all going to know by the time the movie comes out. It happens pretty close to the beginning of the film. It's not something we reveal at the end of the film. So it's something that'll come out eventually. I think it's just we want to choose the time when that comes out. And hopefully we'll be able to do that."
While Gunn and company clearly weren't bothered by us knowing that Ego would be Quill's father, it looks like we won't be learning much more about the character until the film comes out in May. Given that we know Quill's father is a living planet, it's safe to assume that whatever they're actually holding close to their vest is even more spectacular. Luckily, we'll be able to see it all play out soon enough.
NEXT: Guardians of the Galaxy 2 Super Bowl Trailer Breakdown
Source: James Gunn
