It took her two movies to leave her villainous lifestyle behind, and with her next MCU appearance being Thor: Love and Thunder, it’s a new opportunity for her to keep on working on her new heroic side, leaving it to Guardians of the Galaxy 3 to properly complete her arc. By the end of the movie, Nebula joined the Guardians of the Galaxy and left Earth with them and Thor, sealing her transformation into a hero. Nebula caught up with the rest of the heroes in 2023 by convincing 2014 Gamora of betraying Thanos after telling her what he did to her in 2018, and she killed her past self before joining the rest of the MCU in the Battle of Earth. It was during the events of Avengers: Endgame when Nebula made the shift from villain and antagonist to actual hero: after tracking Thanos down and Thor finally killing him, she and Rocket Raccoon (Bradly Cooper) spent five years protecting the universe and she later joined the surviving heroes on the time heist, which unfortunately left the door wide open for 2014 Thanos and Nebula, along with their armies, to travel to the “present-day” (2023, due to the five-year time jump). By then, Nebula had already made huge steps as she was now able to work with others, which continued in Avengers: Endgame, as she, along with Iron Man, were the only survivors from that battle on Titan. Nebula’s next appearance was in Avengers: Infinity War, where she joined Star-Lord, Drax (Dave Bautista), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), and Spider-Man (Tom Holland) on Titan to stop Thanos from wiping out half of life in the universe. At the beginning of the movie, Nebula was still her antagonistic and evil self, but after a fight with Gamora, she finally let her frustrations out, and she helped her and the rest of the Guardians kill Ego (Kurt Russell), and at the end of the movie, she set out to kill Thanos.
2., which saw her going through important changes that helped push her arc forward. Nebula returned in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. Related: Avengers: Endgame Could've Possibly Shown The Original Nebula (With Hair) Nebula was evil and sadistic and had grown jealous of Gamora as Thanos had always shown more affinity towards her, so she was constantly looking to prove herself. Guardians of the Galaxy also introduced viewers to Nebula (Karen Gillan), Thanos’ adopted daughter and thus Gamora’s (Zoe Saldana) sibling, who was also one of the most loyal soldiers working for him and later for Ronan.
Now that the Infinity Saga came to an end, the MCU is ready to move forward with a new batch of TV shows and movies, and among Marvel’s future plans is a third Guardians of the Galaxy movie.ĭirected by James Gunn, Guardians of the Galaxy was released in 2014 and followed Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), who teams up with a group of extraterrestrial criminals to go on the run after stealing a powerful orb that Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) had been looking for, as it contained the Power Stone.
The first three phases of the MCU, collectively known as the Infinity Saga, introduced various superheroes that would lead this first wave of movies – from classic characters like Captain America and Spider-Man to more modern ones like the Guardians of the Galaxy. Nebula has had one of the best character developments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Guardians of the Galaxy 3 should properly finish her arc – here’s why.