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After working on games in popular franchises like Deus Ex and Tomb Raider, Edios Montreal revealed its next project from another well-known brand. At E3 2021, during the Square Enix showcase, Guardians of the Galaxy was revealed and received a deep dive through a lengthy gameplay segment. The gameplay seemed to capture the essence of who the Guardians are, a ragtag group formed by a bunch of headstrong individuals who eventually embrace what it means to be a team.
Gameplay features the tone and humor that the series has come to be known for, typically at the expense of Peter "Star-Lord" Quill who thinks of himself as the defacto leader of the group. The game has revealed Lady Hellbender, a lesser-known character who seems to signal the direction this new game is trending toward. Considering the Guardians of the Galaxy is a group that was originally created in the 1970s, there's a lot of content that Eidos Montreal has been able to mine.
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Just last month, the obscure character trend continued with the latest Guardians of the Galaxy trailer, revealing a villain known as Grand Unifier Raker. Heavily rooted in comic books, Raker's story isn't as lengthy as his typical foes, the Guardians of the Galaxy. Even so, this is everything fans need to know about Raker and his Universal Church of Truth.
Origins
Unlike many other characters revealed in Guardians of the Galaxy such as Groot, Rocket Raccoon, or Star-Lord, Raker is on the newer side. Originally introduced in August 2008 as part of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 #2 by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, and Paul Pelletier, Raker was a high-ranking member of the Universal Church of Truth, acting as one of the Cardinals. In this universe, the Cardinals are more like an elite strike force rather than simple religious officials. After the Guardians destroyed one of the Church's Templeships, the Matriarch dispatched her Cardinals led by Raker to deal with them.
Raker's story would be fairly short lived, only surviving a few appearances before being killed in issue #22 at the hands of Drax the Destroyer. However, his Church seems to have much deeper roots inside of the Marvel Universe.
Universal Church of Truth
Unlike Raker, the Universal Church of Truth has been around the Marvel Universe since 1975 as part of Strange Tales #178. This religious empire worshiped Adam Warlock's evil self, known as Magus, and would attempt to take over planets through the offer of peace and harmony. However, if the offer was rejected, the Church would seek to purify the planet by force, subjugating the population and killing off any who stood in their way.
The Church was led by an individual known as the Matriarch, who was found and chosen by Magus to lead in his stead. She ruled from a planet only known as Homeworld, which actually didn't represent one central location as the Church was forced to move every few years due to overcrowding by those on religious pilgrimage.
Link to The Guardians of the Galaxy
Both the Church and Raker are primary antagonists for Star-Lord and his crew, having battled numerous times throughout the comics, typically with the heroes attempting to stop the Church from resurrecting Magus. Other times involved the Guardians attempting to stop the Church from conquering planets, as well as breaking space-time fissures.
Raker has been involved in numerous attacks on the Guardians, including one where the Cardinals invaded their base on Knowhere to abduct a telepath known as Moondragon. While typically shown in bright golden armor with an obscured face, Eidos Montreal's take on Raker appears to be quite different, as not only does the character have the title Grand Unifier but it appears he's more of a spiritual leader than a warrior. Either way, the latest Guardians of the Galaxy trailer seems to give the villain a fresh spin.
Powers and Abilities
After his comic introduction, Raker had the ability of flight and teleportation. He was also able to fire force bolts from his hands, though his greatest ability came from the device known as the Belief Battery.Similar to the DC Comics hero Green Lantern, Raker and his Cardinals could utilize a battery that allowed them to unleash superhuman abilities in strength, speed, stamina, durability, and just about anything else they could think of. These batteries were powered by Faith Generators, essentially the belief generated from the Church's followers. Not only did this give the Cardinals access to a potent weapon, but it powered their Templeships as well.
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy launches October 26 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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