Ego: Beginning and End!

Ego the Living Planet has gone mad and Galactus and his herald Firelord have recruited Thor and Hercules to stop Ego before he threatens all life in the universe. Venturing into the center of Ego, Thor, Hercules and Firelord find themselves before Ego’s massive brain. While Firelord and Hercules fight off Ego’s antibodies, Thor is sudden struck with a mental blast.

Suddenly, the thunder god finds himself reliving Ego’s memories of his past and learns his origins. Billions of years ago, Ego was once a scientist named Egros. Along with his colleague Chimu, Egros worked on Project Worldcore. They have predicted that their sun will go super-nova and in order to save his people, Project Worldcore will protect the entire population by keeping them in suspended animation deep below the surface of the planet. The intent is that their people will be preserved when it is safe to return to the surface and rebuild their society.

While everyone was locked away in suspended animation, both Egros and Chimu discovered, to their horror, that they miscalculated the time the sun was going to go nova and that it was about to explode in moments. While Chimu managed to get into the chamber below, Egros was caught mid-tunnel when the sun exploded. The bombardment of radiation caused Egros to become one with his homeworld, consuming all his people in the process. Snapping back to reality, Thor realizes that Ego lived with the guilt of consuming his entire race until Tana Nile removed a portion of his bio-matter and theorizes that this pushed him over the edge.[1] With that, Thor stuns Ego’s brain with a blow from Mjolnir, allowing the thunder god and his allies to retreat back to the ship where Galactus waits for them.

Thor explains that Ego is merely stunned and still a threat. That’s when Galactus reveals that while they were busy he brought a sidereal propulsion system and implanted it on Ego’s rear. Activating the thrusters, Ego is sent hurtling endlessly in space, in virtual exile. Hearing of Ego’s origins, Galactus realizes that he and the living planet have a lot in common and understands how lonely he could be and why Ego would go mad.[3] In the aftermath of the battle, Firelord uses their rare moment where Galactus is being open about his feelings to ask to be released from his role as his herald. Galactus agrees to release Firelord when they are able to find him a suitable replacement. Thor immediately offers a solution.

Watching from Asgard, Odin is pleased to see that his son was wise enough to resolve two major problems. Returning to Earth with Thor, Galactus is given the Destroyer armor as it will be the most suitable replacement herald. Infusing the Destroyer with his own energies, Galactus soon departs with his new herald. Firelord departs on his own as well, leaving Hercules to wonder where he will go next. Thor figures that sooner or later, either as friend or foe, they’ll see Firelord again.

Recurring Characters

Thor, Ego the Living Planet, Hercules, Odin, Sif, Firelord, Galactus, Destroyer

Continuity Notes

1. Tana Nile removed a portion of Ego in the hopes of terraforming the barren Blackworld into a hospitable world. Instead she created the menace of Ego-Prime. See Thor #195-203.

2. Galactus was the last survivor of the planet Taa which existed in the previous iteration of the cosmos. Flying into an exploding star, he was reborn in the current universe as Galactus. See Thor #169 and Super-Villain Classics #1.