Sony’s PlayStation Showcase 2021 on September 9 was full of fun trailers and game reveals, but likely had its biggest impact on fans of the expansive Marvel Comics universe. Insomniac Games’Marvel’s Spider-Manon PS4 and its follow-upMiles Moralesalready helped Sony stand out among a sea of Marvel video games including Crystal Dynamics’Marvel’s Avengersand Kabam’sRealm of Champions, but the showcase revealed fans can anticipate bothSpider-Man 2andWolverinein the near future. Beyond those reveals, Sony also debuted a new trailer forMarvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, the next Square Enix-published Marvel game afterAvengers.
Guardians of the Galaxyis being created byDeus ExandTomb Raiderdeveloper Eidos Montreal, and has appeared in a few different events since its announcement at E3 2021. Unlike its Crystal Dynamics-developed predecessor,Guardiansis a single-player adventure with Peter “Star-Lord” Quill as its lead character, and thus focuses more on telling a strong narrative. The PlayStation Showcase 2021 trailer dove deeper into the overarching plot of the game, piecing together how some comic book characters fit in while introducing others like the Worldmind.
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Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy - What is its Plot?
One of the strengths ofGuardians of the Galaxyhas been its willingness to highlight obscure characters. WhereasMarvel’s Avengersfocused largely on its circle of playable superheroes that many recognize from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), the MCU characters inGuardians of the Galaxyseem to stop at its titular group. Rather than rehashing film antagonists such as Ronan the Accuser or Ego, the video game’s trailers have focused on characters such as Lady Hellbender and Grand Unifier Raker.
Raker is a member of theUniversal Church of Truth (UTC), a Guardians of the Galaxy antagoniststraight from the comics with the aim of unifying everything and everyone under its righteous and “peaceful” rule. However, this often entails assimilating entire cultures by force, with the church willing to purify any blasphemous peoples utilizing technology powered by its followers' faith.
According to the description ofGuardians of the Galaxy’s PlayStation Showcase trailer, this version of Marvel canon sees the UTC aiming to reunite the galaxy under one rule after a Galactic War twelve years prior left everything in turmoil. This turmoil offered Star-Lord the opportunity to create his Guardians of the Galaxy, as he saw “opportunity for adventure and profit” by becoming heroes-for-hire. The team is sent byCosmo the Space Dogto investigate Raker and the UTC so they can prevent the conquest of Knowhere. One of their stops is to see the Nova Corps and their leader, the Xandarian Worldmind.
The Xandarian Worldmind in Marvel Comics
Xandar is the home planet of the Nova Corps, which MCU fans should recognize as the planet where the Guardians of the Galaxy first meet and later fight Ronan in James Gunn’s 2014 film. The Nova Corps are a militant, intergalactic police force, and are entrusted with housing theOrb that contains the Power Stone in the MCU- leading to Xandar’s destruction at the hands of Thanos prior to the events ofInfinity War.
Xandar in Marvel Comics canon is similarly destroyed inAvengers #260, leading to the deactivation of Worldmind. The Worldmind is a supercomputer that helps lead the Nova Corps and is made continually smarter using the stored brains of deceased Xandarians. After the Nova Corps are reestablished byRichard Rider, the superhero “Nova"who inherited the powers and rank of Nova Prime whom led the Nova Corps prior, Worldmind came back to life and helped rebuild both Xandar and its population using clones of its peoples' stored memories.
Rider was also influential in helpingStar-Lord build his version of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Both Drax and Gamora have worked together with Rider to protect Worldmind from threats such as the Kree Empire. However, it does not appear that the Guardians have had much interaction with Worldmind in the comics.
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How Worldmind Plays Into Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
It’s unclear how much screentime the Worldmind will receive in Eidos Montreal’sGuardians of the Galaxybased on what was shown in thePlayStation Showcase 2021 trailer. Mid-way through the trailer, after Cosmo sends the Guardians on their way, it cuts to Worldmind floating in space surrounded by starships. Star-Lord says “long time no see,” suggesting there may be history between the Guardians and Worldmind to explore. However, dialogue beyond that amounts to Worldmind offering its probable statistics that the Guardians have a 0.3 percent chance of defeating the UTC.
IfGuardians of the Galaxyfollows any prototypical storytelling tropes, it’s likely the Worldmind will dismiss the team’s interests early on, but then send its peacekeepers to help fight the UTC when things are at their most dire and the Guardians are the galaxy’s last hope. Fans of the comics and MCU alike will just have to wait and see, though there isn’t much more time to wait considering the game releases next month. HopefullySquare Enix and Eidos Montrealkeep story reveals light from here on out, that way players can get some nice surprises from familiar or obscure Marvel characters.
Guardians of the Galaxyreleases June 10, 2025 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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Source:Guardians of the Galaxy
