Now that the Guardians of the Galaxy is just a few weeks away, one of their big foes has been revealed. Lady Hellbender made an appearance in one of the most recent Guardians of the Galaxy trailers, and it's no surprise that some fans of the heroes responded with, "who?" On the one hand, the character seems like a perfect fit for Guardians Of The Galaxy. On the other hand, it appears that Square Enix is going in a different direction when it comes to who the heroes will face off against in this game. Those are a bit confused about the choice and don't know enough about the character aren't alone. Perhaps that was the point of the choice.
First and foremost, when Square decided to include Lady Hellbender in the game, it went very off-script from either the MCU or the Marvel Comics. There's also a chance that the introduction of the character could mean that there are going to be some tie-ins with other games in Square's superhero universe. If the character does eventually stick to the script a bit more, Square Enix could even be forging a kind of MCU of its own. Only this time it would actually be a Marvel Game Universe or MGU.
Marquerite Hellbender Joins The Guardians of the Galaxy Game
The woman known as Lady Hellbender started off as just another alien girl living on an alien world with her favorite pet, Beez. However, the young lady's father had a bit of a problem. It turned out he was quite the gambler and at one point, he decided that his young daughter's animal friend could help him win a particularly difficult bet when Beez was sent into the ring in some kind of gladiatorial combat. Beez ended up losing his battle and was killed right in front of Marguerite. When she found out that her father had actually bet against her beloved friend, she was even more heartbroken. It was the event that would eventually set her on her life's path.
Marguerite Hellbender first became a warrior who fought all kinds of characters on all kinds of different planets. Eventually, she became the regent of one of those planets, known as Seknarf Nine and it was then that Marguerite became Lady Hellbender and started down the road that will have her be one of the apparent "big bads" in Guardians of the Galaxy. After she had done enough fighting for the sake of fighting, she found herself another path. She wanted to travel the universe and collect all kinds of different creatures and animals. While her intended goal was to make sure they were safe, it appears somewhere along the way, her mission got a bit garbled.
Hellbender Vs The Hulk
One of the interesting twists in adding Lady Hellbender into the story of Guardians of the Galaxy is that she's not a traditional foil for the group in either the comics or the movies. That doesn't mean she hasn't tangled with some of the characters that have had canonical run ins with Star Lord and his gang before. One of the more interesting tie-ins could also be the thing that hints at a cross-over at some point with Square's Marvel's Avengers. Lady Hellbender hasn't really tangled with Gamora and the gang, but she has traded blows with the Hulk in several different issues of the comics.
The first and biggest battle between Lady Hellbender and The Hulk was when she was chasing the legendary alien dragon Fin Fang Foom, and he led that merry chase to earth. Eventually Lady Hellbender's allies started a fight with two Marvel heroes that were also looking for the dragon, She-Hulk and Spider-Man. Apparently not understanding that the two groups needed to be at odds, they squared off and that fight eventually included The Hulk. The fight between the powerful entities only ended when Hellbender eventually clarified why she was on the earth and why she was following Fin Fang Foom.
While Hellbender thought that the sometimes-Avenger could be an ally, Fin Fang Foom showed up while they were talking and the Hulk eventually showed off his strength. In the aftermath, Lady Hellbender decided The Hulk was the most powerful creature on earth and eventually captured him. Once again, she eventually saw the light and let him go, but it's entirely possible those two squaring off as they did could eventually mean that Marvel's Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy are going to have a crossover. Of course, it's not entirely sure how that kind of thing would get pulled off in two separate games, but if it's going to happen, it's possible a character like Lady Hellbender could bridge the gap.
Squaring Off Against Venom
If one battle against one of the more powerful Avengers wasn't enough, Lady Hellbender eventually ran afoul of Spider-Man again. This time he and Eddie Brock teamed up to try and beat her back when she went after Venom. When she realized that the symbiote wasn't all that impressive without the aid of Brock, she tried to convince the pair to combine and go with her. Eventually, as she had done with The Hulk, she relented and decided that Venom wasn't the same kind of creature that she was trying to "protect" and add to her collection. Once that fight was over, she returned to the stars in pursuit of her collection.
One aspect that's been left out of Lady Hellbender's comic book history is a run-in with Star Lord and the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Of course, there's plenty of stories to be told when talking about a powerful woman traveling around the universe capturing "creatures." The new trailer seems to show that she's taken a special liking to Drax the Destroyer. Perhaps her history of mistakenly brawling with some of the MCU's most powerful heroes can come into play in the game.