Ego's History
Ego the Living Planet originated like any other planet, coalescing over millions of years from cosmic gases and dust. But unlike any other known planets, Ego developed consciousness and intelligence. Ego's sentience is not the result of the fusion of the essence of a superhuman being with the planet, as the goddess Gaea fused her own essence with the biosphere of planet Earth. Nor is it true as Ego once caused the Asgardian god Thor to think, that Ego was created through the fusion of a planet with a humanoid being's consciousness. Rather, Ego's consciousness evolved naturally within the planet itself, apparently through a process similar to that which enables certain stars to achieve consciousness, Ego existed within the so-called 'Black Galaxy,' which is probably actually a dark nebula near or within the Milky Way Galaxy. Ego was nearly discovered many times over the course of centuries by exploratory starships sent by the Rigellian Colonizers, Ego destroyed each of these ships. Eventually Ego decided to conquer other areas of the universe by creating vastly powerful humanoid beings out of its own substance and sending them to take over other planets. This scheme was thwarted by Thor, who journeyed to Ego accompanied by a Rigellian Recorder. Thor used his mystical power over storms to create a planet-wide cataclysm within Ego's atmosphere that stunned Ego. Feeling humiliated, Ego renounced its plans of conquest. Months later Ego was attacked by the planet-destroying being known as Galactus. Believing Galactus to be the greater threat, Thor, drawing upon the power of his father Odin, helped Ego cause [[Galactus[[ to retreat. Feigning gratitude, Ego allowed the 'Wanderers,' survivors of a planet which Galactus had destroyed, to settle upon its surface. But soon after Thor left, Ego consumed all of the Wanderers within itself. Sometime later, upon orders from the Rigellian High Commissioner, the Colonizer named Tana Nile took a relatively tiny sample of Ego's substance, in the hope that it could be used to transform other planets into habitable worlds. Instead the sample of Ego became a being with its own consciousness, called Ego-Prime, which eventually came to Earth end began wreaking havoc. Ego Prime clashed with Thor, but, as Odin had planned, in the course of the battle Ego Prime released an unknown form of energy which irradiated three Earth humans whom Odin had arranged to have present. The energy released the latent genetic potential in these three humans, Carter Dyam, Chi Lo, and Jason Kimball, transforming them into superhuman beings who together with nine other similarly evolved human beings have become known as the Young Gods. Ego Prime, having expended all of its energy, disintegrated. Ego itself went insane perhaps as a result of the removal of the portion of itself that became Ego Prime. Thor, Galactus, Hercules, and Firelord together fought the mad living planet; Galactus attached an enormous, extraordinarily powerful sidereal propulsion unit to Ego's south pole. Once activated, the unit propelled Ego on a course through space intended to keep it far from any inhabited worlds. However, in time Ego learned how to control the sidereal propulsion unit psionically. Seeking vengeance on Galactus, Ego traveled towards Earth, which Galactus had visited in the past. As Ego approached, its gravitational forces wreaked great devastation on Earth, and the Fantastic Four journeyed to Ego in a spacecraft to try to deal with the danger it presented. A man named L.R. 'Skip' Collins completely depleted his tremendous psionic powers by undoing all of the devastation and causing the human race to forget that it had ever happened. The Fantastic Four's leader, Reed Richards, removed one of the power packs from Ego's sidereal propulsion unit. Hence, when Ego next triggered the unit, only half of its engine fired. Ego was unable to prevent being seized by the gravitational forces of Earth's sun, which caused the living planet to break apart. But Ego was able to tap the sun's own energy in order to generate enough psionic energy to re-form itself. Once more in complete control of the propulsion unit, Ego launched itself out of Earth's solar system. However, Ego had greatly depleted its psionic energies in re-forming itself and needed to renew them by consuming the life forces of other beings. Ego was slowly 'digesting' a large number of Dire Wraiths who had landed on its surface, as well as two Galadorian Spaceknights. Seeker and Scanner, who were pursuing them, when Rom, greatest of the Spaceknights, arrived. Rom freed his fellow Spaceknights and banished the Wraiths to a pocket dimension of limbo. When last seen Ego was continuing its wanderings through space, searching for more living beings to consume. Ego was inducted, under unrevealed circumstances, into the elite cosmic group calling themselves the Elders of the Universe. Ego was a part of their plan to destroy Galactus and thus our reality, but the Elders were soon stopped by the Silver Surfer and Mantis, and have yet to reveal their most current activities.
