Real Name: Ego
Occupation: Inapplicable
Identity: Ego's existence is unknown to the general public of Earth.
Other Aliases: The Living Planet
Place of Origin: The "Black Galaxy"
Marital Status: Inapplicable
Known Relatives: Inapplicable
Group Affiliation: None
Base of Operations: Mobile
First Appearance: THOR #132

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.

Diameter: 4165 miles

Strength Level: Ego can create humanoid beings from its own substance who share in its consciousness and who can possess "Class 100" strength and thus can lift over 100 tons.

Known Superhuman Powers: The living planet Ego has been called a "bioverse." Every part of its substance, including its atmosphere, is "alive" inasmuch as it is animated and controlled by the consciousness of Ego. The exact composition of Ego is unknown, but much of the planet's surface, at least, seems to be composed of organic molecules. The planet possesses various internal features which have analogues to parts of living Earth-based organisms. For example, its interior contains tunnels which have been compared to arteries, and the center of Ego's consciousness resides in a brain-like organ deep below its surface. Ego can absorb humanoid-sized living beings into itself and "digest" them in internal areas similar to an Earth beings stomach, using its own analogues to digestive fluids. Just as an Earth organism creates one-celled antibodies to attack foreign substances in its bloodstream, Ego creates humanoid sized anti-body like beings from itself to attack intruders on or beneath its surface. In its encounters with humanoids, Ego has caused the "antibodies" to take semi humanoid form.

Ego generates vast psionic energies which, at their peak, rival those of Galactus. If Ego depletes its energy below a level that it can replenish by itself, it can help renew its energy stories by tapping outside sources, like stars, or absorbing the life forces of large numbers of living beings. At full strength Ego can use its psionic energy to obliterate starships. Ego can also control its own substance psychically. Thus Ego can transform its own surface to resemble a gigantic face, to reach out into space with gigantic tendrils, or to become an idyllic world resembling the most beautiful areas of Earth. Ego can create humanoid beings with great powers out of its own surface and, it claims, command them across interstellar distances. Ego communicates with other beings telepathically.

Ego has used Its great psionic powers to command the immensely powerful sidereal propulsion unit installed at its south pole by Galactus. The unit can propel Ego in and out of hyperspace at vast speeds, and apparently has virtually inexhaustible power.

Limitations: For unknown reasons, Ego is apparently unable to remove the sidereal propulsion unit embedded in its south pole.

Ego's control over its own atmosphere is apparently no match for the power that the thunder god Thor can wield over it using the mystical powers of his enchanted hammer.