Avengers Infinity War ending: Who is Nebula? Karen Gillan on her character

Avengers Infinity War has taken the world by storm this week as it rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars in its opening weekend. 

The latest Marvel movie sees our favourite Avengers take on Thanos, the Mad Titan, as he searches for the six infinity stones. 

Infinity War is a MASSIVE movie, featuring more than 70 Marvel characters in its 2 hour 40 min runtime. 

The second most expensive movie of all time features a whole host of A-list actors as they don their superhero costumes to battle for the universe. 

The complicated relationships are a joy to watch, but none more so than the relationship between Thanos and his family – or half family at least. 

As Thanos hunts for the remaining stones, his two daughters, Nebula and Gamora, play a big part in attempting to stop him, and they could play an even bigger part in the MCU in the future. 

Who is Nebula? 

Throughout the 19 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thanos’ arrival has been an ever-looming threat for Earth’s defenders. 

Before Infinity War, much of his backstory was shrouded in mystery, with only small hints being dropped in one or two of the previous films. 

The biggest connections we have previously had was in Guardians of the Galaxy when we were introduced to Thanos’ daughters. 

Gamora was taken from her home planet as a child, seconds before half her people were annihilated by the Mad Titan. Trained to become the most feared warrior in the universe, Thanos favoured Gamora over his second adopted daughter, Nebula.

A Luphomoid assassin, Nebula was also adopted and trained by Thanos, finding friendship and sisterhood with Gamora in the early years of her life. 

Nebula and Gamora would regularly be pitted against each other to test their strengths, with Gamora always coming out on top.

Every time Nebula lost, Thanos would strip away the normal parts of her “upgrading” her with robotic enhancements in order to help her win the next fight, until she became a cybernetic assassin that harbours a fierce hatred for the universe. 

She has superhuman strength, durability and agility thanks to her cybernetic body parts, with the ability to easily fix fatal injuries in an instant. 

Infinity War gives us a much closer look at the relationship between the three characters, and the long history of cruelty and hatred that has stretched out over decades.

Who plays Nebula in Infinity War?

The robot assassin is played by Doctor Who actress Karen Gillan, though she is almost unrecognisable in her blue makeup. 

The red-head actress is set to star in the Jumanji sequel in 2020, but not before she reprises her role as Nebula in Avengers 4. 

In the Infinity Gauntlet comics – a series that directors Joe and Anthony Russo have followed closely for their movie – Nebula has a pivotal part to play throughout the saga.

Nebula is responsible for stealing the Infinity Gauntlet, taking control of the unlimited power herself, resulting in the Avengers, as well as her adopted father Thanos, teaming up to take her down. 

Talking to RadioTimes, Gillan said that Nebula is a pretty important character going into the next Marvel Cinematic phase.

Gillan said: “A lot of stuff that we have planted in previous films is going to all come together in quite an explosive way, I would say. Daddy issues will be faced.

“Thanos is the big bad guy, the ultimate supervillain, so this is the biggest fight that the Avengers will ever have. And being his daughter, Nebula will get entwined in there somehow.”

Talking to ScreenRant, Gillan imagined how Nebula may fit into to the Infinity War story and how the character evolves.

Gillan said: “I had no idea that this was where the character was going.

“I genuinely signed on to the role thinking it was eight days of filming and then I was going to die in the first Guardians. Three movies later and there’s three more to come out – it’s, like, crazy.

“It’s funny because I read the Infinity Gauntlet, which is what the new Avengers films are based on, as research for my character because it’s her biggest moment within the Marvel comic book world. Then to find out they’re making a double-bill feature based on that, I was just so excited actually because Nebula gets some really cool stuff.”

At the end of Infinity War, Nebula is one of the few remaining heroes to survive Thanos clicking his fingers and wiping out half the universe from existence. 

Fans will have to wait until Avengers 4, May 3 2019, to find out what role she will play.