Guardians Of The Galaxy 2: spoilery questions answered

Big spoilers lie ahead for Guardians Of The Galaxy 2

Like many movies, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 might leave you with a few questions about what you just saw. Here, we’ll try and explain it for those who can sense that there was a little more to what they saw on screen…

What was Ego?

By his own admission, Ego was a celestial. In the first movie, the space station Knowhere is housed inside a celestial’s severed head, which the inhabitants are mining, so that’s the size of being we’re dealing with.

The film does diverge from the comics a little, because in those Ego isn’t actually a Celestial – he’s one of the Elders of the Universe, along with fellow MCU members the Collector (of Guardians Vol. 2 fame) and the Grandmaster (due to be seen in Thor: Ragnarok).

But in any case, in the comics Celestials are an ancient race of beings who created and control all life in the universe, attempting to advance evolution through their interventions and occasionally eliminating races they judge to have failed. A celestial, of the type seen in the comics, is visible in the first movie when The Collector explains what the Infinity Stones are.

Is Starlord immortal?

Well, he was, but now he isn’t. On one hand, that may explain (in part) how he managed to handle the Infinity Stone in volume one: he had the connection to Ego’s essence that allowed him enough control over his body to keep it together. But since Ego’s gone, well… he’s probably not anymore.

Who were the gold people?

They’re the Sovereign, a genetically-perfect race. Their leader is Ayesha, and in the post-credits scene she’s shown creating a character who is quite likely to be Adam Warlock. In the comics, Ayesha (aka Her, aka Kismet) was created by a group of Earth scientists known as the Enclave AFTER they had created Adam Warlock and lost control of him. By making them an alien race, the MCU is essentially giving Ayesha and Adam new origins, and, let’s face it, slightly less confusing ones.

How did they kill Ego?

Admittedly, blowing up an immortal being’s brain seems like an overly simplistic way to kill him off, given that by his own account he built himself a brain and body by learning to manipulate molecules. But I think even if it didn’t kill him forever, it’s going to take long enough for him to reconstitute himself that when he does, it’ll be someone else’s problem.

Who is Mantis?

In the film she’s presumably just a random alien Ego picked up because he knew she’d be useful to him. In the comics it’s a lot more complicated (she’s a super-powered human who it was revealed was the Celestial Madonna, some kind of messiah-like figure to the Kree). She was a member of the Avengers and later, the Guardians of the Galaxy. Will she appear in Guardians Vol. 3? It’s at least possible…

Why was Groot still a baby?

The film takes place just a few months after the last one (it’s explicitly set in 2014) so Baby Groot hadn’t had time to grow up yet. As the post-credits scene shows, he’ll be full-size again one day. Also, this isn’t necessarily a question asked by the movie, but director James Gunn has confirmed that this version of Groot doesn’t have the memories and experiences of the one from the first movie.

What did Ego leave on Earth?

That was an Ego seed. In the comics, that’s how Ego reproduces himself. Depending on the story it can either turns other planets into living versions, like Ego, or it can allow Ego to infect a new world with his own essence. In this movie, the idea appeared to be for Ego to expand himself across multiple worlds, eradicating life there and replacing it with himself.

Who was Stan Lee talking to in his cameo/post-credits scene?

Those were the Watchers! An ancient race (lot of that going around…) of aliens who seek to document the universe’s life, never interfering with it. They’re essentially living under Star Trek’s Prime Directive, dialled up to 11. Earth’s watcher, Uatu, lived on the moon and has intervened on occasion – most notably the first time Galactus showed up – but generally they do what their name suggests. If one shows up it’s usually bad news, because it means something big’s about to happen that needs recording.

Who was Sylvester Stallone playing?

There was Stakar Ogord, aka the superhero Starhawk. In the comics, Stakar formed the original Guardians of the Galaxy team. In the movie he’s the leader of the Ravagers, and the group he assembles at the end of the movie are actually versions of the original Guardians of the Galaxy team from the 1970s.

Confusingly, Starhawk is a human born to the superhero Quasar and Ayesha (of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 fame) who was left on an alien planet and raised there by Arcturans. He eventually gained superpowers by awakening the Hawk God of an ancient civilisation. There’s a lot more weirdness to the character (like how he used to swap places in the physical world with his adoptive sister) but I suspect not even all of what I’ve explained here will make it into the MCU…

Oh, and finally, if you want to know more about the team he assembles at the end of the movie, check out our guide to the post-credits scenes of Guardians Vol. 2, right over here.