History[]
"You have seen what Thanos has made of me. If you destroy him than I will serve you and Oblivion to whatever ends you may seek."
Nebula is the adopted daughter of the Mad Titan Thanos. A Luphomoid by birth, much like her adoptive sister Gamora and many of the other mercenaries in Thanos' employ, she was taken from her home when Thanos ravaged her homeworld, culling half the population but leaving her alive to train as a warrior. Unlike Gamora, though, Nebula was never treated as a daughter by Thanos, but rather as a science experiment gone horribly wrong. As children, both she and her sister would regularly be placed in brutal combat drills against one another, drills that Gamora usually won. Every time she did, a piece of Nebula would be replaced by cybernetics, ostensibly to make her stronger. However, these cybernetics were not top of the line quality (unlike Gamora's which she received on the few occasions she lost these conflicts). This left Nebula resentful of her father, and secretly seeking a way to plot his demise and downfall. She also grew jealous of Gamora, though also hid this from her sister, even being taken into Gamora's confidence over the location of the elusive Soul Stone, trying to keep it hidden from Thanos.
In young adulthood, Thanos sent Nebula and Gamora to oversee the space pirate Maelstrom and his attempts to capture the Orb of Morag, which contained the Infinity Stone of Power. When his initial efforts were foiled at the hands of an outlaw named Star-Lord, Nebula demanded the ability to capture the stone herself for Maelstrom, but Gamora convinced Maelstrom to send her instead. This was simply a way for Gamora to take the stone for herself, selling it to Taneleer Tivan, whom she had been hired to work for in secret (though given her motivations, it is just as likely Nebula would have kept the stone for herself and tried to use it to kill Thanos). Nebula accompanied Maelstrom to a meeting with her father, informing the space pirate of his inability to defeat her father and accompanying him to the Kyln, slaughtering the guards when they found that Gamora had already vacated the premises.
A lead on the stone came from one of the people Gamora was working with, Drax the Destroyer, who was attempting to lure out Thanos by drawing out Maelstrom. When Maelstrom and Nebula arrived on Knowhere, Nebula was ordered to take out the stronger Drax, which she managed to do thanks to her more saavy combat techniques. She then launched a fighter brigade after Gamora, overloading the circuits on her ship with her own cybernetics to destroy Gamora's ship and strand her in space before retrieving the Orb for Maelstrom, leaving her sister to die. She watched as Maelstrom claimed the Infinity Stone for himself, later pledging to follow him and the personification of Oblivion if he would destroy her hated father for her. Nebula defended the Dark Aster during the Battle of Xandar, trying to keep Gamora (who had survived their first encounter) from lowering the shield surrounding the bridge of the ship. After a long battle, Nebula was thrown from the Dark Aster and sent crashing down into the ocean around Xandar's capital city. Following the Battle of Xandar, she was rescued by Herbert Wyndham, the High Evolutionary, and taken to Counter-Earth to be studied.
Whatever knowledge that the Evolutionary gained from Nebula was apparently limited (due in part, according to his own recollection, to the inferior cybernetics she had in her body). Nebula, however, saw the Evolutionary as another potential way to kill her father. She told him of the location of the Soul Stone, allowing him to retrieve it to use as a power source for the "perfect" lifeform that he was creating by the name of Adam Warlock. Eventually by chance, Nebula stumbled across the Guardians of the Galaxy, who had crash-landed on Counter-Earth and were attempting to repair their ship. Feigning desperation, Nebula earned the wary trust of Rocket and Groot, leading them back to Wundagore Castle to rescue their friends. However Nebula sprung a trap which resulted in Rocket's capture along with Peter Quill and Gamora. It was then though that the High Evolutionary cast her aside as he did with all his experiments he had no further use for, ordering the Knights of Wundagore to melt her down for scrap. She managed to escape on a small ship, though. Rendezvousing with her father in orbit around Xandar, she returned to his side for the time being, taking delight in watching the High Evolutionary being "interrogated" over the location of the Soul Stone.
Powers & Abilities[]
- Cybernetic Enhancements: As a result of her being raised by Thanos, Nebula has been forcefully converted into a cybernetic being. While her normal Luphomoid physiology makes her on average stronger than a normal human, her strength has been greatly enhanced to the level that she can match Drax the Destroyer (though Drax was admittedly drunk at the time) in strength for a short while. Her cybernetic parts can also be realigned to make her incredibly flexible and able to contort into acrobatic positions.
- Electric Conductivity: Nebula has been shown to be able to conduct electrical energy both from outside sources and from her own body to a limited capacity, though this causes her extreme pain to do so.
Weaknesses[]
Nebula's cybernetic parts are, to a certain degree, flawed. This is due in part to the haste with which they were installed by Thanos' operatives, designed to remind her of her failures against her sister Gamora, who was always favored by Thanos. Though Nebula has seemingly rejoined with her father, her aims are still to destroy him, which clouds her overall judgment (and according to Gamora, may have put the whole galaxy at risk by revealing to the High Evolutionary where the Soul Stone was.)
Film Details[]
Nebula appears in the following films in the Earth-11584 continuity. In all cases she is portrayed by actress Karen Gillian.
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)