Ever since its surprise announcement during the Square Enix presentation at E3 2021, Marvel fans have been counting down the days until Guardians of the Galaxy releases. The game looks to be a fun romp through the cosmic corners of the Marvel Universe, with Peter Quill and the rest of the Guardians crew. In terms of pre-release content, it seems like Eidos Montreal is excited to show the title off, as it's been consistently posting video content showcasing different scenes and scenarios from the game. While the game's heroes are all accounted for, the studio has been showcasing plenty of villains that the superhero team will be encountering throughout their adventure.
As they have quite a lengthy history in the comics dating back to 1969, there's plenty of inspiration for Eidos Montreal to draw from in terms of which villains to include in Guardians of the Galaxy. So far, the studio has shown off quite the cast of potential antagonists, but it seems like, based on the player's choices, the encounters don't always need to end in a fight. That said, the trailers haven't seemed to make reference to the main antagonist of the game, so there's still a good chance that there are more villains in the game that haven't been introduced yet. Here's every villain that's made an appearance in the trailers so far.
Lady Hellbender
Eidos Montreal's decision to include Lady Hellbender in Guardians of the Galaxy is a little bit puzzling to fans of the characters, as the Guardians have never encountered her in the comics or in the MCU. In fact, she's a smaller character in the grand scope of intergalactic Marvel characters, but that doesn't mean she won't fit right in among the cast. In her comic appearances, Lady Hellbender, also known as Marguerite Hellbender, had something of a rough childhood which caused her to be a collector of rare monsters. Through hook and crook, she ended up on Earth 616 and fought a handful of heroes including Spider-Man, She-Hulk, and Hulk until eventually realizing that it was all a giant misunderstanding. She also had a run-in with Venom and Eddie Brock, hoping to keep the pair in her collection before letting them go.
While it's currently unclear if Guardians of the Galaxy will have any sort of relation to other Marvel IPs, video game or otherwise, it does seem like Marguerite will make an interesting addition to the cast of the game. Based on the recent trailer featuring Lady Hellbender, it seems like the Guardians are going to be caught up in her search for rare creatures. As among the Guardian's ranks are a talking bipedal raccoon and a humanoid tree, it seems like they might have conflicting interests about Rocket and Groot's freedoms.
The Wendigo
Although its appearance in one of the trailers was brief, it looks like Guardians of the Galaxy will be including Wendigos as enemies. The Wendigos aren't an alien race, which has fans curious about their inclusion in the game, instead, in the Marvel Universe, they're cursed humans who resulted to cannibalism and were cursed by the Elder Gods. Anyone who's played Until Dawn might recognize the Wendigo in name alone, as the monsters serve as the central villains in the game. The monsters weren't featured prominently in any trailers in the same way that Lady Hellbender was, but the official Guardians of the Galaxy Twitter account seemingly confirmed their inclusion when asked by responding simply with two "eye" emojis.
The Blood Brothers
Gh'Ree and R'Hos Blood are also featured briefly in the initial reveal trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy. From what it looks like, Peter Quill might end up in a one-on-two fight with the duo, which could end quite poorly. The Blood Brothers have a history of fighting plenty of Avengers on Earth, most of which have more superhuman abilities than Star-Lord does. Often fighting in the name of Thanos, the Blood Brothers have a messy history with Drax the Destroyer.
Due to their allegiance to Thanos, Drax had been following the Blood Brothers for quite some time before they ended up imprisoned on Earth. He later fought them and killed R'Hos, but ultimately, R'Hos was later resurrected. As mentioned above, it's unclear how much relation Guardians of the Galaxy will have to other established Marvel IPs, so the game could result in an uncomfortable reunion between the brothers and Drax.
Grand Unifier Raker
The most recent villain to be revealed for the game, Grand Unifier Raker is also a relatively new character in Marvel comics. Introduced in 2008, Raker is a high-ranking Cardinal in the Universal Church of Truth and is one of the church's warriors who disposes of anyone who doesn't follow the will of the church. Unlike other villains that have been confirmed so far for Guardians of the Galaxy, Raker has direct ties to the Guardians in the comics, as he encounters them multiple times before fighting Drax and ultimately dying.
There isn't a whole lot going for Raker in terms of his backstory, as he's still such a new character. However, the Universal Church of Truth has a much longer history. The church is not to be challenged or tampered with, and doing so usually results in death and violence. This would make them a good central antagonist for Guardians of the Galaxy, if that's the direction that the game's story is headed. The Guardians have a history of conflict with the church as mentioned above, so it'll be interesting to see how they play into the game's main narrative. The recent trailer introducing the church and Raker seems to be taking the threat much more seriously than others introduced for the game so far, so it's likely that they mean business.
Guardians of the Galaxy launches October 26 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.