Nebula

"My father would have Gamora and me battle one another in training. Every time, my sister prevailed, my father would replace a piece of me with machinery, claiming he wanted me to be "her equal." But she won. Again, and again, and again, never once refraining. So, after I murder my sister, I will buy a warship with every conceivable instrument of death, I will hunt my father like a dog and I will tear him apart slowly, piece by piece, until he knows some semblance of the profound and unceasing pain I know every single day!"

- Nebula

Nebula is a Luphomoid assassin, an adopted daughter of the intergalactic warlord, Thanos and as well the adopted sister of Gamora. As the right-hand woman of Ronan the Accuser during his and Thanos' quest to retrieve the Orb, she helped him in the fight against the planet Xandar and the Guardians of the Galaxy. She deserted after a fight against her sister. She was captured by the Sovereign and handed back to the Guardians. She escaped and helped Taserface lead the other Ravagers in a mutiny against their former leader Yondu Udonta before leaving to find and kill Gamora. After forgiving and helping her own sister alongside the Guardians during the Battle on Ego's Planet, she left in a ship to pursue a revenge mission against Thanos.

Nebula was eventually captured by Thanos, however, and used as a bargaining tool to convince Gamora to reveal the location of the Soul Stone. Escaping and then pursuing Thanos to Titan, Nebula learned that Thanos had killed Gamora and aided both the Guardians and members of the Avengers in combatting Thanos. Despite their efforts, they failed to stop Thanos from obtaining the Infinity Stones, which he then used to wipe out half the universe's population. Nebula was among those who survived, but was left alone on Titan with Tony Stark. She and Rocket Raccoon are currently the only members of the Guardians of the Galaxy who are still alive.

Trained for Thanos
"My father would have Gamora and me battle one another in training. Every time, my sister prevailed. My father would replace a piece of me with machinery, claiming he wanted me to be her equal. But she won. Again, and again, and again, never once refraining."

- Nebula

Nebula was one of many youths who are orphaned and then taken in by the interplanetary warlord Thanos to be trained as merciless warriors devoted to his service. While Nebula greatly despised her other adopted siblings, she formed a genuine bond with the Zehoberei Gamora to the point that they began to truly consider each other as sisters. Throughout her childhood, Nebula trained to be a Galaxy-Class Killer under the tutelage of Ronan the Accuser. Nebula would often train alongside Gamora and fellow Thanos devotee Korath. Thanos regularly had Nebula spar with Gamora to test their strengths with Gamora winning every match. Every time Nebula lost, Thanos would upgrade her to try and make her Gamora's equal. Nebula grew to resent Gamora for never letting her win causing Thanos to torture her.

During one training scenario on the arboreal world of Dervani saw Nebula and Gamora pitched against each other in a competition to retrieve a data ingot for Ronan. The girls sparred on the surface, leading to Gamora throwing Nebula off a cliff, severely injuring her and requiring multiple cybernetic replacements in order for her to live. Upon reaching adulthood, Nebula and Gamora served Thanos under the command of Korath the Pursuer. On a mission to locate the Orb on the planet Praxius IX, inside of one of the Cloud Tombs of Praxius, Nebula went in without waiting for Gamora and fell into a trap. Ensnared by an impenetrable Laser Thorn Energy Net, Nebula found herself at the mercy of the inhabitants and needed to be rescued by Gamora. Never one to tolerate failure, Thanos ordered Gamora to leave Nebula behind, with only a sharp blade to free herself. Nebula was forced to amputate her own arm in order to escape the netting.

Following Ronan's Orders
"You think I don't know? You would keep me from advancing! You would have Ronan tell father only Gamora furthers his great plan!" "I will keep you alive!" "Compassion? What would Ronan say to that?"

- Nebula and Gamora

Thanos lent Nebula and Gamora to the Kree warmonger Ronan the Accuser, who made a deal to retrieve the Orb for Thanos so he would in turn destroy Xandar. When Korath the Pursuer reported that he had failed to retrieve the Orb on Morag, thanks to Star-Lord's intervention, Nebula was tasked to retrieve the Orb from Star-Lord. Nebula told him it would be an honor but Gamora insisted that she follow Quill as she knew Xandar. Ronan agreed and Gamora went on the mission. When they left the meeting, Nebula confronted Gamora and they had a brief argument where they tried to break each other's fingers. Nebula accused her sister of now attempting to become Ronan's favorite and they discussed who was the superior killer. When Nebula mentioned that the screams of her victims could be heard across the galaxy, Gamora replied that it was because she took too long to kill them before walking away from Nebula. When Ronan and Nebula received word that Gamora had betrayed them only to be sent to the Kyln with the Orb, The Other demanded they travel to the Sanctuary to discuss this with Thanos. There, Nebula repaired her cybernetic arm while Ronan argued with The Other, only for Ronan to snap his neck. Thanos responded by threatening Ronan if he failed again. As they left, Nebula assured Ronan that he would not win a fight with her father. When they arrived at the Kyln, they discovered Gamora had already escaped with the Orb, with the help of Star-Lord and others. Ronan's soldiers took over the prison and Nebula tortured a Nova Guard to gather more information. She received a message on her cybernetics that the Nova Corps were on their way to defend the prison. As they were leaving Ronan ordered Nebula to send their Necrocraft across the galaxy to begin the search for Gamora and to cleanse the prison, murdering all of the guards and the prisoners.

Skirmish on Knowhere
"You are a disappointment sister; out of all our siblings, I hated you least." "Nebula, please. If Ronan gets this stone he’ll kill us all." "Not all. You will already be dead."

- Nebula and Gamora

Following the orders of Ronan the Accuser, Nebula and Korath the Pursuer continued their search for the Orb across the galaxy onboard the Dark Aster, until they received a message from Drax the Destroyer telling them it was on Knowhere where they went to recover it. Upon arriving onboard Necrocraft and their army of Sakaarans, they were spotted by Gamora and her new team, who escaped into a Mining Pod while Nebula gave chase with her small army.

While Ronan began fighting with Drax, whose wife and daughter had been killed by the Kree, Nebula lead a squad of soldiers in fighters to chase Gamora across Knowhere, while fighting off Star-Lord and Rocket Raccoon who defended their ally. Eventually Gamora was forced to head into deep space which shut down her pod. Nebula destroyed her ship, despite her pleas, and leaving her for dead in space and retrieved the Orb for her master Ronan. Both Nebula and Korath the Pursuer were present when Ronan the Accuser told Thanos he was aware of the Orb's nature as one of the Infinity Stones. Ronan ripped open the Orb and harnessed its power, becoming the most powerful being in the universe. Ronan told Thanos he would destroy Xandar and then find and destroy The Mad Titan. Nebula offered her total loyalty to Ronan should he succeed, swearing to help him destroy a thousand planets.

Battle of Xandar
"The starboard kern has been breached! We have been boarded!" "Continue our approach." "But the Nova Corps have engaged!" "None of that will matter once we reach the surface."

- Nebula and Ronan the Accuser

When they arrived on Xandar, a fleet of Ravagers lead by Yondu Udonta and Star-Lord engaged them. The fleet fired a blot of flame to disguise their moves, but Nebula saw that they had dived under the ship and she ordered all their fighters to destroy the ships. Once they received word that the side of the ship had been breached, Nebula tried to convince Ronan the Accuser to retaliate but he refused, stating that his focus was to land on the planet's surface so he could finally destroy it. Deciding to take matters into her own hands, Nebula took a squad of soldiers with her to engage the attackers before shutting the door, locking in Ronan. When Star-Lord, Gamora, Rocket Raccoon and Drax breached the ship, Nebula confronted them. As Nebula began to insult her former sister she was silenced when Drax shot her with a rocket, sending her flying backwards and damaging her body while allowing the Guardians to continue on their mission.

Duel against Gamora
"Sister! Help us fight Ronan! You know he is crazy!" "I know you're both crazy."

- Gamora and Nebula

The shot fired by Drax the Destroyer caused Nebula's entire body to be damaged, but her cybernetic implants helped to repair her within moments, twisting her arm and jaw back into place. Once she was repaired Nebula began to fight Gamora, using her electrified batons against Gamora's Godslayer. During their fight against each other, the side of the ship was suddenly torn apart by an explosion as the Battle of Xandar between the Ravagers and the Sakaarans continued on. During their fight, Gamora attempted to unlock an armored door to assist the Guardians of the Galaxy, however Nebula did all she could to delay this action. Eventually Nebula managed to gain the upper hand by disarming Gamora and then using her batons to electrocute Gamora, nearly killing her. However Gamora regained her strength and knocked her outside of the hole in the Dark Aster and leaving Nebula hanging onto the edge of the hole. As Nebula hung hundreds of feet above Xandar's surface, with her hand trapped onto a spike, Gamora tried to convince her to fight against Ronan the Accuser, claiming Ronan was crazy. But Nebula refused, citing they were both crazy and cut off her cybernetic hand. However, instead of falling from the sky to her death, she landed on top of a Ravager's M-ship. Nebula then threw the pilot out and took control of the ship before flying it far away from the battle.

Captured by the Sovereign


"I understand she is your sister?" "She is worth no more to me than the bounty due for her on Xandar."

- Ayesha and Gamora

Some time later, Nebula was arrested by Ayesha and the Sovereign for trying to steal expensive Anulax Batteries. Six months after the Battle of Xandar, the Guardians of the Galaxy took custody of her to hand over to the Nova Corps. As the Milano piloted away, Nebula was handcuffed inside the ship and demanded food being ignored by the Guardians. While still locked up Nebula continued to mock Gamora for joining the Guardians before demanding that she be fed some fruit, which Gamora refused to give her, claiming the fruit was still not ripe enough. When the Sovereign fleet attacked after Rocket Raccoon stole the batteries, Nebula was almost sucked out of the ship but escaped her restraints. Her hands remained handcuffed and she demanded to be released after they crashed on Berhert to fight whoever was in the unidentified craft, with Nebula surviving the crash with the others.

Deal with Taserface
"Well, hello boys. Blah, it's not ripe."

- Nebula to the Yondu Ravager Clan

Nebula witnessed Ego's revelation that he was Star-Lord's father. The next day she was left in the Milano with Rocket Raccoon and Groot whilst Gamora, Quill and Drax the Destroyer went with Ego and Mantis. When Yondu Udonta and the Ravagers attacked the Milano, she managed to persuade Groot to release her before shooting Yondu's fin and then shooting Rocket in the chest. She was taken aboard Yondu's ship witnessing the mutiny led by Taserface before demanding ten percent of the bounty Ayesha had placed on the Guardians of the Galaxy as well as 'some other things'. Nebula was given a new cybernetic arm by Kraglin Obfonteri as well as an M-ship. She informed him of her upbringing with Thanos and how he had 'upgraded' her every time she lost a sparring match to Gamora. Nebula explained that after she killed Gamora she would use her ten percent to buy every ship she could to kill Thanos.

Fight with Gamora
"I'm not the one who just flew across the universe just because I wanted to win!" "Do not tell me what I want!"

- Gamora and Nebula

Nebula flew to Ego the Living Planet and began firing at Gamora pursuing her into caverns before being trapped as her M-ship prepared to explode. She was rescued by her sister but instead of being grateful attacked her sister but couldn't kill her. The pair formed an uneasy alliance after Nebula revealed her anger at Gamora's attitude during their upbringing.

The two sisters walked through the caverns and discovered a large pile of bones.

Battle on Ego's Planet
"This is gonna hurt!" "Promises, promises."

- Yondu Udonta and Nebula

Nebula and Gamora rushed back to the palace and confronted Mantis who agreed to help them. Along with Drax the Destroyer, they burst into the main hall to find Ego attacking Star-Lord before a ship piloted by Yondu Udonta and Rocket Raccoon crushed him. Nebula agreed to help as the Guardians were her only ride off of Ego.

During the Battle on Ego's Planet, she wired the ship up to her cybernetic arm to provide power to the lasers which electrocuted her and caused her great pain but destroyed the Sovereign fleet in the process. When the ship was destroyed she joined the Guardians of the Galaxy in the heart of the planet to continue the fight. When Ego attacked, Nebula saved Gamora from falling to her death with the sisters climbing back up to the fight before being trapped and suffocated in organic matter. When Star-Lord took control, they were both released, which allowed them to reach the ship piloted by Kraglin Obfonteri.

Reconciling with Gamora
"Nebula, I was a little girl, trying to live day by day, not knowing or understanding what that meant to you. There are many other girls out there, like us. You can stay with us, and help them." "I can help them, by killing Thanos."

- Gamora and Nebula

Nebula prepared to leave during Yondu Udonta's funeral. Despite Gamora's attempts to persuade her into joining them, she chose to leave and try to kill Thanos instead and prevent other people's daughters from sharing the same fate she has suffered. The two sisters hugged before Nebula departed.

Futile Vengeance
"You should have killed me." "It would have been a waste of parts!"

- Nebula and Thanos

Four years following the ordeal with Ego, Nebula attempted to kill Thanos by sneaking onto the Sanctuary II. She was just about to succeed, but was caught by her former master and was put through extreme torture. When Thanos had captured Gamora after she attempted to stop him on Knowhere, he brought her to Nebula to try to get her to reveal the location of the Soul Stone. When Gamora refused, Thanos began torturing Nebula more, pulling apart her cybernetic parts until she gave in and revealed the location. When Thanos and Gamora left, one of his henchmen began putting Nebula back together. Seizing a quick opportunity, she killed the henchman and made a quick escape from her captivity. Getting inside a Necrocraft, she flew to Titan with the plan to kill Thanos. Nebula contacted Mantis, requesting her and the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy to meet her on Titan. Nebula crashed on Titan and immediately began to attack her adoptive father. She furiously told him that he should have killed her, to which Thanos coldly told her that it would have been a waste of spare parts. As she continued to fight him, Nebula demanded to know where Gamora was.

Although she fought hard and ferociously, Nebula prove to be no match for Thanos and she is soon thrown to stones. However, she had brought enough time for Doctor Strange to restrain Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet's hand and the Guardians and Avengers just barely overpowered Thanos and desperately try to remove the Infinity Gauntlet. However, Star-Lord started to disrupt the plan when he asks Thanos where Gamora was. Knowing what it took for Thanos to retrieve the Soul Stone, Nebula realized that Thanos had sacrificed Gamora and killed her. She then heavily implies this to him, never actually saying it out of possible sympathy for Star-Lord's relationship with Gamora. Outraged after hearing of Gamora's death, Star-Lord begins to punch Thanos in the face repeatedly and completely disrupts the group's near success in taking the Infinity Gauntlet.

This allowed Thanos to escape, with Nebula being knocked out by a powerful shock wave from the Gauntlet. She is just barely saved from being killed by the oncoming shower of meteors by Spider-Man, leaving them all stranded on Titan. Not long after, Thanos collected the last Infinity Stone, the Mind Stone that was located on Earth, and used the Gauntlet to finally obtain his goal to wipe out half the universe. Nebula survived along with Iron Man, watching in horror and despair as their allies disappeared, simply commenting that Thanos had won.

Personality
"You were the one who wanted to win, and I just wanted a sister! You were all I had, but you were the one who needed to win. Thanos pulled my eye from my head. and my brain from my skull, and my arm from my body... because of you."

- Nebula to Gamora Like Gamora, Nebula despises her father, Thanos, for torturing her and turning her into a cybernetic assassin. However, despite this, she always tried, often in vain, to prove her worth to her father. Nebula resents Gamora for being Thanos' favorite daughter, which he has openly expressed even with Nebula present and she showed no hesitation in trying to kill Gamora more than once. Despite this Gamora doesn't not share these feelings for Nebula and even tried to convince her to betray Ronan the Accuser and help the Guardians of the Galaxy fight him even after trying to kill her twice. However, after defeating Ego, Nebula finally set aside her grudge and began warming up to Gamora.

Nebula has very little loyalty to a cause as she quickly betrayed Thanos once Ronan harnessed the power of the Orb, believing he could kill Thanos as he declared to do so. However when the Battle of Xandar became too intense for her liking she quickly abandoned Ronan to escape, despite her sister's pleas for her to help the Guardians, possibly returning once again to Thanos. Unlike her sister who seeks to atone for her past crimes Nebula does not show any visible signs of regret for her own crimes as she was perfectly willing to murder anyone tasked to her and anyone who stood in her own way.

Ironically, despite her claims of hating her sister and her actions against her, it seems she does care for Gamora greatly. When Nebula destroyed the ship Gamora was in outside Knowhere, Nebula genuinely believed that she was doing Gamora a favor as she doubted that Thanos or Ronan would be so merciful as to give her a quick death as punishment for betraying them and stealing the Orb for herself. Although, on the sister's duel on Ego, Nebula finally had the chance to kill her sister but choose not to, even joining forces with the Guardians of the Galaxy. When Nebula departed from their company, she did so on equal terms, sharing a hug with her sister before she left. Later on, Nebula furiously confronted Thanos to find out where Gamora is without hesitation. She shows a level of trust in the Guardians as she trusted Mantis to meet her on Titan. Upon realizing that Thanos had sacrificed Gamora, Nebula was visibly distraught and sympathized with Quill, Gamora's boyfriend, remaining silent when he asked what happened.

Powers

 * Luphomoid Physiology: Nebula possesses natural higher physical capabilities beyond any human being, which are further enhanced by her physiological enhancements.
 * Superhuman Strength: Nebula has strength greater than that of a human being. She managed to throw a pilot of an M-ship out of the vehicle in mid-air with ease and managed to temporarily overpower Gamora after the two of them survived an explosion.
 * Superhuman Durability: Nebula can easily withstand multiple injuries, especially impact trauma, such as falls from great heights. While her body was contorted by being blasted with Drax's cannon at point blank range, she was otherwise unharmed and her cybernetic implants twisted her body back into place. She managed to jump onto a M-ship from several stories without withstanding injuries and survived being inside an exploding ship before landing on her feet several stories down unharmed. When plugging her mechanical arm into the ship to power the ship's energy beams, she was electrocuted and experienced great pain, but otherwise survived. She even managed to survive a powerful blow from Thanos and later a shockwave from the Infinity Gauntlet.
 * Superhuman Agility: Nebula has agility and coordination greater than that of a human being, allowing her to easily keep up with Gamora in a fight and dodge her sister's attacks.
 * Cybernetic Enhancements: Nebula's bionic enhancements are more extensive than that of her adopted sister, Gamora, allowing her further abilities.
 * Regenerative Healing Factor:Nebula-Broken-Jaw.png Nebula's extensive cybernetic implants allow her to quickly heal from otherwise near-fatal injuries, such as when her body was crushed and mangled when withstanding a direct blow from Drax's cannon. Thanks to her implants, she was able to reshape her body back to its original form by snapping her arms and jaw back into their normal place. Nebula was able to reshape her body after the impact of an exploding M-ship.

Abilities

 * Master Assassin: Ever since she was a child, Nebula has trained extensively as an assassin under Thanos. She trained with Gamora throughout her childhood, but Nebula stated that she wasn't as skilled as her sister.
 * Master Combatant: Very proficient in armed and unarmed combat, Nebula was able to compete with "the deadliest woman in the galaxy," Gamora, for a prolonged amount of time and even managed to defeat her when both were wounded after escaping an explosion, although it should be noted that Gamora was weakened more than Nebula was due to Nebula's more extensive cybernetics. She has been using retractable, baton-like electroshock weapons in battle which can be combined to form a longer electroshock staff with great proficiency. Nebula was even skilled enough to land a few blows on Thanos, although Thanos was briefly off-guard and soon easily knocked her away.
 * Expert Pilot: Nebula is an expert pilot, easily flying a Necrocraft and an M-ship. During the Skirmish on Knowhere, Nebula was able to manoeuvre around Gamora's mining pod with ease.
 * Expert Marksman: Nebula is a very accurate marksman skilled in sharpshooting. During the Attack on Berhert, Nebula was able to accurately shoot off Yondu Udonta's Yaka Arrow Controller before incapacitating Rocket Raccoon.

Cybernetic Enhancements
In her early years under Thanos' wing, Nebula received various critical injuries that required her to endure extensive cybernetic augmentation.
 * Contact Whiplash
 * Tempersteel Claws
 * Concussive Blasts

Weapons

 * Electroshock Batons: Nebula's weapon(s) of choice are baton-like electroshock weapons which can be combined to form a longer electroshock staff.
 * Godslayer: During their skirmish on Ego the Living Planet, Nebula took Gamora's sword Godslayer and attempted to kill her sister with it, however she chose not to.

Family

 * Thanos - Adoptive Father turned Enemy, Attempted Victim and Attempted Killer
 * Alars - Adoptive Grandfather
 * Gamora † - Adoptive Sister, Former Rival, Attempted Victim, Attempted Killer, and Teammate
 * Black Order
 * Corvus Glaive † - Adoptive Brother
 * Proxima Midnight † - Adoptive Sister
 * Cull Obsidian † - Adoptive Brother
 * Ebony Maw † - Adoptive Brother

Allies

 * Ronan the Accuser † - Former Master
 * Korath the Pursuer † - Adoptive Brother
 * The Other †
 * Guardians of the Galaxy - Enemies turned Closest Friends and Teammates
 * Peter Quill/Star-Lord † - Enemy, Attempted Victim turned Close Friend and Teammate
 * Drax the Destroyer † - Enemy, Attempted Victim turned Teammate
 * Groot † - Enemy turned Teammate
 * Rocket Raccoon - Enemy, Attempted Victim turned Teammate
 * Mantis † - Teammate and Friend
 * Yondu Udonta † - Enemy, Attempted Victim turned Teammate
 * Kraglin Obfonteri - Possible Love Interest
 * Taserface's Ravagers - Former Partners
 * Taserface †
 * Gef †
 * Halfnut †
 * Retch †
 * Brahl †
 * Scrote †
 * Narblik †
 * Avengers
 * Tony Stark/Iron Man
 * Peter Parker/Spider-Man †
 * Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange †

Enemies

 * Nova Corps
 * Head Riot Guard † - Victim
 * Ego † - Attempted Killer
 * Sovereign - Former Captors
 * Ayesha

Trivia

 * Nebula's appearance in the movie seems to be based more on her second incarnation from the comics.
 * Nebula shows complete loyalty to Thanos most of the time, but also states that she would gladly destroy a thousand worlds if it meant Thanos would die. This is possibly out of fear towards him, but may also be out of hatred, due to Thanos constantly undermining her in favor of Gamora. It is more likely the latter, due to the fact that both he had Gamora constantly defeat her in brutal sparring matches and then mutilated her body for physical enhancements and implantation.
 * In the Guardians of the Galaxy Prelude, Nebula loses her entire left arm and has it replaced by cybernetics; however, in Guardians of the Galaxy, her left hand appears to be made of flesh.

Behind the Scenes

 * revealed she was up for the role of Nebula.
 * Karen Gillan stated that "I think she's a really interesting character. What I like to play around with is how jealous she is. She's Gamora's sister, and there's a lot of sibling rivalry. That's the most interesting aspect to me, because jealousy can consume you and turn you bitter, and ugly. And she's a total sadist, so that's fun too."
 * Karen Gillan also said, "She is very sadistic and evil, but I like to think for a very valid reason."
 * Monique Ganderton, Olivia Jackson, Kelly Richardson, Amy Lynn Tuttle and Shauna Galligan were stunt doubles for Karen Gillan in the role of Nebula.
 * Collette Von Tora and Caileigh Scott were stand-ins for Karen Gillan in the role of Nebula.