Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Could Connect To Marvel’s Avengers
Following the rocky release of Marvel's Avengers, Square Enix has released its second Marvel game in the form of the far more well-received Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. Despite being published by the same company, all parties maintain that Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy and Crystal Dynamic's Marvel's Avengers are not connected, yet the games seem to directly counter that thought.
Shortly after its reveal, Square Enix stated that Marvel's GotG is in its own universe. To some extent, that actually may be true, albeit on a technicality. That doesn't, however, mean they're not connected. Given Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy takes place beyond the Milky Way galaxy and sees the Guardians hopping a variety of planets, only off-handedly mentioning Earth due to Quill's origins, there's no real reason for the Avengers to have a direct cameo in this game.
[Warning: Major spoilers for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy are below.]
Still, Eidos-Montreal found a way. After meeting Cosmo on Knowhere and telling him there is imminent danger in the galaxy, he takes the Guardians to what can only be described as a multi-dimensional elevator known as the continuum cortex. It presents itself in the form of a giant hand and allows the Guardians to move between space and time, intersecting different realities. On the way to their destination, they hear "HULK SMASH!" and the very iconic "AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!".
Regardless of Square Enix's continued denial of a connected Marvel games universe, it sure sounds like the Guardians are not alone. Taking it a step further, a New York citizen can be heard calling out Spider-Man's name. Quill immediately recognizes this as Earth, despite not being able to see into this reality. Earlier in the game, a newspaper from the "Weekly Bugle" can be found in Star-Lord's childhood bedroom. The paper is obscured, but the headline mentions something about a vigilante. Spider-Man works for a paper called the Daily Bugle, so this may raise some eyebrows.
It has the same stylized logo as the Daily Bugle, but a slightly different name. It's possible that Eidos changed the name of the paper during the 1980s flashback and then it gets changed to the Daily Bugle later. It's also possible that this is actually in a different universe, so the paper has a different name. Later this year, Marvel's Avengers will add Spider-Man to its playable roster, perhaps the Spider-Man that Quill hears of while in the continuum cortex is that same Spider-Man.
To make it even more mind-boggling or convoluted, Quill may already be familiar with Spider-Man. A version of the web-slinger may have existed in the 1980s, given the newspaper in his bedroom and his ability to pinpoint the callout on Earth. That may or may not be the same Spider-Man that Quill grew up with, but the Spider-Verse has certainly given everyone an understanding of multiple incarnations of the wall-crawler throughout space and time.
Later in the game, as the Guardians are trying to hatch a plan to take on Raker and Magus, Gamora suggests calling upon Earth's heroes. The Avengers are subtly referenced, but Peter Quill rejects the idea. Eidos likely wanted to show its heroes are capable of dealing with their problems on their own, but the seed has been planted for the future.
There is one other possible hint at a connected Marvel games universe. When the Guardians are in the Quarantine Zone at the start of the game, they come across the head of an inactive Kree sentry. It looks eerily similar to the one seen in the final battle of Marvel's Avengers, meaning that they could've come from the same place. It doesn't mean they're the exact same sentry, but that they're part of a larger collection of the same model of sentries.
Of course, it could also just be a total coincidence, but it does seem like there's more to it than Square Enix is letting on. It's possible that the Marvel's GotG team saw Marvel's Avengers' low sales and felt it was best to distance itself. It has been heavily speculated that Guardians of the Galaxy underwent some changes at some point, as some fans noted that an Eidos employee was once in charge of some sort of online component. That could've been for a separate game or Eidos could've stripped out the online stuff at some point.
The game also features a "units" currency which players must earn to pay a Nova Corps fine, but it can also be used to purchase alcohol at a bar on Knowhere. The currency never has any other purpose in the rest of the game, meaning it could be a remnant of a currency system that would've been on par with the live service elements of Marvel's Avengers.
Nonetheless, Marvel's GotG thrives without Marvel's Avengers. It works well as a standalone adventure and should Square Enix want to continue this story without branching off into the rest of the Marvel universe, it won't be much of an issue. It would be great to see the Guardians team up with the Avengers one way or another, but it's also not totally necessary.
Should either party want to make a crossover, it shouldn't be too challenging. Eidos has essentially created a door for the two superhero groups. The Avengers do exist in some part of the Guardians' universe, it just might be in a different reality. Marvel's GotG's post-credits scene doesn't really tease much for the future beyond some character interactions, so there's no telling what comes next for the ragtag group of space heroes.
Adam Warlock is in possession of one of the six Infinity Stones at the end of the game and although Thanos is dead, there may be some other evil force out there who could put them to use. There's also no shortage of other huge threats in space, Galactus is a character that has yet to be done justice on the big screen or in a video game, so maybe that could be a substantial enough foe for the Guardians to call upon the Avengers. Only time will tell, but it certainly seems that Marvel's Avengers is not as disconnected from Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy as Square Enix has made it out to be.
Guardians of the Galaxy is out now on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch via cloud streaming.