Early concept art for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 shows a design for Ego (Kurt Russell) that… actually looks a lot like Liam Neeson.

Unused concept art from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 shows a design for Ego that looks a lot like Liam Neeson.

Marvel fans were excited to hear James Gunn’s Vol. 2 would follow up on a particular dangling plot thread from 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Who is Star-Lord’s (Chris Pratt) dad?

Guardians of the Galaxy hinted he was a very powerful being, but also one who wasn’t that nice (to put it lightly). Kurt Russell was soon cast as Ego, a Celestial and Star-Lord’s long-lost father.

Based on the tease from the end of the first Guardians, fans were quick to question his motives, something they were right to do as Ego ended up being the main villain of Vol. 2.

A vital turning point in Vol. 2 came when Star-Lord learned his dear old dad had fathered countless other children – and killed them all, as evidenced by a massive pile of skulls.

To make matters worse, Ego planted the tumor inside Star-Lord’s mother’s head, killing her as well. It’s not surprising that Star-Lord had an outburst and ended up taking out Ego. At the same time, he realized his true father was always Yondu (Michael Rooker), the Ravager who raised him.

Sadly, Star-Lord worked this out just before Yondu’s death, which seems to be sticking leading into Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Fans are now used to associating Russell with Ego, but this early design of the character looks a bit more like Liam Neeson circa Batman Begins.

Shared by Jerad S. Marantz, this Ego has the appearance of a warrior, which doesn’t really fall in line with the version seen in Vol. 2. However, he does look pretty menacing. Check out the design in the space below:

Ego might be long gone, but his son lives on now that he’s returned from the dead. Vol. 3 hasn’t scored an official release date, but Gunn said recently it’s proceeding on schedule. This would put Vol. 3 as arriving sometime in 2023, or perhaps late 2022 at the earliest.

Gunn has been focused on his DC film The Suicide Squad with Vol. 3 waiting in the wings, but with The Suicide Squad now in post-production, work on Vol. 3 is likely getting closer.

As far as Marvel villains go, Ego was one of the more interesting ones, and the twist that he was responsible for Meredith Quill’s death packed a genuine gut-punch.

It’ll be interesting to see if Vol. 3 digs into Star-Lord’s feelings about either of his father figures, especially since the film will likely have quite the time-jump from Vol. 2. We probably won’t know for sure for a while, but until then, it’ll be fun to speculate.