At Marvel Studios' panel presentation in Hall H for Comic-Con International: San Diego, it was confirmed that Kurt Russell will indeed play Star-Lord's father in the film, as previously speculated.

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However, unlike the comics, Star-Lord's dad in the film is revealed to be Ego -- the entity referred to in the comics as "The Living Planet."

Jack Kirby once said of creating Ego, "I began to experiment...and that's how Ego came about. A planet that was alive; a planet that was intelligent. That was nothing new either because there had been other stories [about] live planets but that's not acceptable. [Y]ou would say, 'Yeah, that's wild,' but how do you relate to it? Why is it alive? So I felt somewhere out in the universe, the universe...becomes denser and turns liquid -- and that in this liquid, there was a giant multiple virus, and if [it] remained isolated for millions and millions of years, it would...begin to evolve by itself and it would begin to think. By the time we reached it, it might be quite superior to us -- and that was Ego."

While that origin is awesome, it seems the "Guardians of the Galaxy" sequel will have a different take on the character's humble beginnings.

Gunn said of the character in a lengthy Facebook post:

Yeah, his dad is a planet. Sort of. It will all be explained in the film..

But to me, this is the absolute center of Vol. 2, and one of the reasons I've been so excited about it. When Marvel first approached me with the first movie, I thought, "Wait a second? A talking raccoon? Isn't that a rather ridiculous idea to base a movie around?"

It was then that I took a step back and asked myself: Okay, if a raccoon could talk, and shoot a machine gun, how could that be? And answering that question ended up being the entire foundation of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1. There was a sadness in the answer. Rocket was an animal experimented upon, torn apart and put back together, without compassion. He was the only being of his type, had never known any hint of kindness, and was utterly and completely alone until he met his fellow Guardians. And, one of them in particular - Groot - thought it was worth sacrificing his life for his sake. This melancholy and beautiful undercurrent helped to ground the character for me. He had far more in common with Frankenstein's monster than he did Bugs Bunny. And I related to him, greatly, and I hoped other folks who felt like outsiders would as well.

Ego seemed, in many ways, like an even more ridiculous character. But I asked myself, if a planet was alive, how could that be? And how could it father a child?

The answers to those questions took me to a far deeper place that I expected. I don't want to give away too many answers at this time. But what Nova Prime said about Peter's father at the end of Vol. 1 is certainly true - he is something ancient and unknown. And, as we will discover, being a cosmic being, alone for eons, is perhaps even more lonely than being the universe's sole talking raccoon.

I can't wait for you guys to see Kurt Russell bring this character to life onscreen. It has been a rapturous experience creating Ego with him. We have both pushed ourselves as far as we can go in making him real, and grounded, and emotionally centered.

Directed by James Gunn, "Guardians of the Galaxy" hits theaters on May 5, 2017.