Rumour: Is this the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 villain?

In late November last year, James Gunn took to his Facebook page to announce that he was no longer going to comment on any rumours concerning Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, of which there have been many. The latest hearsay concerns the identity of the film's villain, and it's a name only hardcore Marvelites will know.

According to Geek.com, next summer the Guardians will be going up against Ego the Living Planet, a villain who is exactly as weird as his title suggests. For the uninitiated, Ego was formed in the Black Galaxy and then developed sentient attributes including organs and a brain. In the comics, the creature has frequently tangled with Thor but has crossed paths with many other figures across the cosmos including the Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, and Galactus.

With an official answer from Gunn or Marvel unlikely to come, it's best to take this news with a grain of salt for now. If it does turn out to be true, it would be a strange and unique choice for a villain - even for a movie which features a sentient tree. With that said, it wouldn't be the first time Marvel have dove deep into their catalogue with amazing results.

Directed by James Gunn and starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, and Vin Diesel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 arrives in UK cinemas on April 28, 2017 before opening in US theatres on May 5, 2017.

Images: Marvel

Amon Warmann

Amon is a contributing editor and columnist for Empire magazine, but is also a Film and TV writer for GamesRadar+, Total Film, and others. He has also written for NME, Composer Mag, and more, along with being a film critic for TalkSport. He is also the co-host of the Fade to Black Podcast, and a video mashup creator. Can also do a pretty good Bane impersonation.