Recently, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy introduced one of its big bads, Lady Hellbender. This may have been a bit of an headscratcher for comic fans, as she has no real history with the titular group. Of course, that doesn't stop the two from interacting given it's actually quite surprising they haven't before.
For those who aren't familiar with her, Lady Hellbender is a "Collector" of sorts. After a conflict with her dad, she set off for the stars and would eventually start taking in different rare monsters for sanctuary on her planet. This eventually became more sinister in nature, putting Lady Hellbender in conflict with groups like The Avengers. The game will be her first conflict with the Guardians of the Galaxy, but she could have potentially fit elsewhere too.
Lady Hellbender and Venom
As unlikely as it is now, Lady Hellbender has a history with Spider-Man, or perhaps more specifically, Venom. In pursuit of a creature known as Fing Fang Foom, Lady Hellbender arrived on Earth and entered battle with Spider-Man and She-Hulk. However, eventually, The Hulk defeated Fing Fang Foom and caught her eye as a creature to be collected. Later on, her eyes would fall on another being on Earth: Venom.
Venom's main draw for Lady Hellbender was how he and Eddie Brock worked together in equal partnership, yet she did separate the two. It was during this separation that Lady Hellbender dismissed Venom as weak compared to other symbiotes but attempted to seduce Eddie. Collecting Edie Brock when he wouldn't go with her willingly, Eddie reunited with Venom, subdued her, lost, got separated again, and all of this drama continued when Eddie leaped out of her ship's airlock after the Venom symbiote. All of this left a strong impression on Lady Hellbender, and it could still work, theoretically, in Insomniac's Spider-Man universe.
At the end of Spider-Man PS4 and Miles Morales, it's revealed that Norman Osborn is working on a cure for Harry. There's some hints that either Norman or Harry become the Green Goblin, there's a hint of Doc Connor becoming the Lizard, and overall, there's a hint the potential cure is a symbiote...Venom. If, in Insomniac's Spider-Man Universe, Harry becomes Venom or Venom escapes and takes on a new form (be it Eddie Brock or not), his very existence could invite Lady Hellbender in for their own story. It'd be interesting to see how much of the comic storyline it used, but it's at least one of many possibilities.
Of course, that possibility seems slim now that Lady Hellbender is appearing in Guardians of the Galaxy. If nothing else, though, it shows just how flexible many of Marvel's heroes, villains, and stories actually are, and that bodes well for future Marvel video games.
Guardians of Galaxy launches October 26 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.