Favorite Characters: Nebula (Guardians of the Galaxy)

Nebula is in the first Guardians of the Galaxy film just enough to intrigue me and make me want to see more of her, but having seen her expanded role in Vol. 2, it’s high time she got her own write-up.  This is Nebula (a few Nebula-related spoilers for both movies.)

Like Gamora, Nebula is the “adopted daughter” of Thanos.  We don’t have as many details on her as we do on Gamora, but presumably she was similarly stolen by Thanos as a child after he plundered her planet and killed her family and/or her people (not sure on that one – I know Gamora has said she’s the last of her species, but Nebula might be Kree, in which case there are others of her race still alive.)  When we meet her in Guardians of the Galaxy, she seems to be positioned as Thanos’s “good daughter” – i.e. a soulless living weapon who kills at his bidding – in contrast with “bad daughter” Gamora, who betrays him and refuses to do evil for him anymore.  First impressions of Nebula are that she’s drunk the Thanos Kool-Aid and desires his approval, resenting Gamora for getting it when she doesn’t (in her mind undeservedly.)

But that’s far from true.  While Nebula isn’t on the Guardians’ side, that doesn’t mean she’s on Thanos’s either.  She loathes Thanos for everything he’s done to her, and in her own way, she betrays him in the first film as well, continuing to align with Ronan after he makes it clear he wants to destroy Thanos.  Nebula comes by her rage honestly:  one thing we know for sure about her background is that, in her youth, he gradually replaced more and more of her with cybernetic parts, in her eyes as a punishment for losing to Gamora when he would make them spar together.  In addition to whatever atrocity he committed that culminated in him acquiring her and the atrocities he’s since had her commit on his behalf, he tore her apart piece by piece and put her back together with parts that weren’t her.  In light of all that, it’s understandable that she’s fueled by fury and a desire for revenge.

As such, Nebula is ultimately willing to form whatever temporary alliances she needs to to further that goal.  Whether it’s Ronan or a band of Ravagers, she’ll work with almost anyone as long as they’re useful to her and then cut them off with extreme prejudice when it’s clear she can get nothing more from them.  Like most characters who are consumed by thoughts of revenge, she’s drowning in it, and her rage keeps her from seeing potential allies like Gamora.  From Nebula’s perspective, Gamora is the sister who could’ve stopped the torture of her cybernetic augmentation but refused to, continually winning and standing by while Nebula was replaced bit by bit.  She can’t see Gamora as a fellow captive/victim until she’s able to see something beyond her own pain and anger.

Considering that the Guardians met while and immediately after being arrested, they’re not a squeaky-clean bunch, and they all (except probably Groot) have demons to contend with.  At this point in the franchise, Nebula is far more ruled by her darkness than the rest of them, but I like that she’s not entirely without hope of redemption.  It’ll be interesting to see what the MCU does with her moving forward, because while I don’t see her sharp edges getting softened any time soon, having an actual family is bound to have a profound impact on her.