Who Is Ego?

photo by Marvel

I have seen Guardians Of The Galaxy vol.2 twice now and I am still looking for excuses to go see it again. It is a good film. Is it as original in terms as plot and story as the first movie? Not at all. The first film was so different in many ways. Vol.1 was an experiment that succeeded to say the least. However, after watching vol.2 twice now I really think that the first movie was simply laying the foundation for the  heart and soul of what director and screen writer James Gunn was intending from the beginning. I believe the second film is getting to that core. So many characters from the second film reverberate the central theme and intent of the films. I wrote about one of those characters here. Look, I am going to be honest GOTG vol. 2 is a very non original tale. It has been told time and time again, but it is a tale that speaks to the human heart like milk with cookies to the stomach and it is one that we will never get tired of hearing. But in this recent retelling of the timeless story of finding purpose, family, and meaning I was drawn to one character due to the uniqueness of his crafting and execution on screen. That character is Ego. Long after I saw the film I had Ego still on my mind. Something about this character forced me to be introspective and I did not like it knowing what kind of "person" he was in the story. How can a character that is so diabolical be so familiar to my conscious mind? Is Ego someone that is so easy to hate? No, I do not think so. I think there are a lot of "Egos" out there. Sometimes I find an Ego when I click on a social media app and scroll my feed of "friends" or "followers". Often times I see Ego when I simply walk past a mirror and look at it.

So the question remains, "who is Ego?"

Ego is a celestial being that looked at all of creation and literally said to himself that existence would be way better if he was a part of it. Moreover, not just a part of it but IT itself. Ego basically was extremely full of himself and felt that everything was better if he could be the cause of it. At first I thought James Gunn was going for a typical anti-religious them with Ego in making him God, Himself and then depicting God as a supreme and preeminent jerk. In fact the film plays into this for a little bit until abruptly and appropriately giving the question to Drax to ask with, "Are you a G(g)od?" To where Ego cooly and with a snarky smile and magic of that which only a great actor like Kurt Russell could pull off responds, "god, little g." I confess this put my concerns to rest and it was well played by Gunn. It was also funny. No doubt if Gunn would have went down the road of God bashing with provocative and "new-age" ideas GOTG vol.2 would have gotten a 100% from Rotten Tomatoes and praises as a lock for the next Academy Award best...something. The formula is indeed that simple, but alas James Gunn decided to pass on it, thankfully.  Since Ego is apparently not God then I naturally thought he must have been Satan. When one reads Ezekiel 28:11-19, among other places, there is no being more self absorbed with his beauty than Satan, and as a result no being is more damned by God. So, I was pretty content with the conclusion that Ego was actually Satan and like the crafty and deceitful way of Satan Ego tricked me to think he was God by masquerading as an angel of light, see 2 Corinthians 11:14-15. An also well played intention by James Gunn and the charming good looks and good acting again by Kurt Russell in leading me down this path. But I know that Satan does not create anything like Ego does from reading the Bible. Satan does not have mastery over physical matter like Ego, so this conclusion still did not rest with me fully. Then finally the thought hit me, "is Ego a manifestation of existentialism?"

Existentialism is the belief that whatever reality you want to create from your own ego you can. The material world is relative. You are what you want to be and the world around you has meaning just as much as you give it meaning. To reference Shakespeare, life is "but a stage and we a mere player", no in the narcissistic mind riddled with existentialistic thoughts instead we are the central character and the stage and story changes to our random or purposeful actions. The spot light never leaves us, never. So this conclusion was the most disturbing because it hit the most home for me. So many times when I check my social media apps I am subconsciously or deliberately looking for how my world will respond to me that day. How many likes? How many follows? If the "world" is not to my liking then I can simply unfriend that "friend"or unfollow that "person". Is this not what Ego was like? Is this not what we can be like so many times with so many people in our lives? I try to contain my ego-centrism to social media but it often seeps out into the real world. The problem with this way of thinking about the world and our place in it is that commitments and loyalties to relationships such as work, family, community, church fellowship, etc. do not coincide well. Commitment to relationships is a downer to the ego plagued with existentialism. To the mind absorbed with self everything else is useful only as long as it promotes the self, and everything is expendable when it does not.  Ego was a perfect villain to the Guardians, who were not perfect people but ones that realized they were not the center of the universe and that they needed each other to make it from day to day. So to the question of who is Ego I have my answer and it was staring me right in the face. The best villains are the ones that we find a hard time hating, the ones that we uncomfortably relate to. It is easy to hate and blame God. It is easy to hate and blame Satan. It is hard to hate and blame the evil in ourselves. It is simply not good for the ego, or is it?  The Guardians were fighting me and I did not like it but in the same time I did. I wanted them to destroy the evil narcissism that lies within me, that keeps me away from the simple joys that God has provided in this life; family, friends, and community. James Gunn takes us on an amazing ride of self with Ego and one where we have to ask at the conclusion of the ride, "who is the Ego in me? Do I really want the Guardians to kill it?"

I like writing stuff about current issues, movies, sports and culture with a theological twist. Follow me at @howardlee58 or @ibleedtitanblue on Twitter for more content.