Warning: SPOILERS for Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #3
The minds at Marvel Comics has finally revealed the true origin of Ego the Living Planet. One of Marvel's most powerful cosmic characters, Ego the Living Planet was created by the legendary Stan Lee and Jack Kirby back in 1966. The popularity of Galactus led to Marvel's founding fathers embracing the cosmic, and Kirby decided to experiment with the idea that an actual world could be alive.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 reinvented Ego as Star-Lord's father, the last of the ancient race known as the Celestials, and transformed him into a powerful menace that sought to absorb the entire universe into himself. But in the comics, Ego's true origin has never been revealed. He once claimed he was created when a scientist merged with a planet as a sun went nova, but that's always seemed somewhat difficult to believe. Finally, after all these years, Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #3 finally reveals the truth.
The comic opens with the Gardener, one of the Elders of the Universe, the last survivor of an ancient race. It reveals that the Gardener has the ability to seed worlds, transforming them into living creatures; he actually does this with the Moon, of all things, but observant readers will recognize that the young Moon shares many of the visual characteristics of Ego. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that the Gardener himself planted Ego the Living Planet; as Silver Surfer: Black recently revealed, Ego is one of the oldest beings in the cosmos. It could well be that he was seeded by another of the Gardener's race.
This does, of course, raise one intriguing question; why isn't the universe full of living planets? Silver Surfer: Black may have provided an answer. That comic saw the Silver Surfer travel back to the dawning days of creation, and he wound up allying with Ego against the power of Knull, God of the Symbiotes, who was attempting to extinguish all life and live across the cosmos. It's easy to imagine Knull leading his forces in a campaign against the living planets, killing them, and then even wiping out their creators for good measure. Indeed, that would explain what happened to the Gardener's own race; Life-Bringers would certainly not be welcome in Knull's empire.
Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #3 reveals that the Gardener wasn't in his right mind when he planted the Moon. That may suggest that this is seldom done, perhaps because the Gardener learned the hard way that it turned his people into targets. Still, the revelation nonetheless implies that there should be at least a few more living planets out there.
Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #1 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.