Will Karen Gillan switch sides to play the hero in Guardians of the Galaxy 2?
Nebula might be swapping the dark for the light
It may be winding down filming at the moment, but there’s still very little we know about upcoming sci-fi sequel Guardians of the Galaxy volume 2. Will the gang discover the truth of Peter Quill’s (Chris Pratt) parentage? Will Groot grow back to his normal size? And will Drax ever learn the meaning of a metaphor?
So many mysteries – but perhaps the biggest question mark lies over the fate of Doctor Who star Karen Gillan’s Nebula, the adoptive sister and mortal enemy of Zoe Saldana’s Gamora last seen escaping from danger after her team-up with Ronan went wrong in the first movie. Gillan is back for the sequel, and for some reason this time she’s not shaved her head, but apart from that information has been very scarce.
However, we now think that Marvel might have revealed exactly what we can expect from her blue badass in the new movie – and this time, she could be on the side of the angels.
You see, this week Marvel released the synopsis for Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, and while most of it is pretty much what we knew already, one element stands out as particularly interesting (highlighted below).
"Set to the backdrop of Awesome Mixtape #2, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the team's adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos.
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"The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill's true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favorite characters from the classic comics will come to our heroes' aid as the Marvel cinematic universe continues to expand."
Who else could be an “old foe” turning into an ally except Nebula? Just think about it – the first film’s baddie Ronan (Lee Pace) is already dead along with his main lieutenant Korath (Djimon Hounsou), while the conflicts Star-Lord and his crew had with the Nova Corps police and the Ravagers (led by Michael Rooker’s Yondu) died away to have them ally by the end of the first movie. Hardly “old foes” any more than Benicio del Toro’s Collector, who was more of a contact for them than anything else.
Of course there is the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s main baddie Thanos (Josh Brolin) to think of – he had a smallish part to play in the first Guardians and is definitely their enemy – but considering Thanos is supposed to be the main endgame villain for the Avengers: Infinity War films, it seems unlikely that he’d be brought into the action only to undercut his future villainy. At the moment, he works best in the shadows.
With those characters out of the picture, that only leaves Nebula to do a volte-face and join with the Guardians, and to be honest it totally makes sense – she has no more love for her “father” Thanos than Gamora does, and the tension between the two sisters as they gradually worked to take him down would be an interesting dynamic. In fact, in one of the few details Karen Gillan HAS given about her role this time round she seemed to hint at just this possibility…
“I'm really excited about it delving into the sisterly relationship between Gamora and Nebula,” the actress told Comic Book Resources last year.
“I think that we're going to see a little bit more of that, and it's going to be a bit more fleshed out.”
So there you have it – next year we could be seeing Karen Gillan fighting to save the universe just like in her Doctor Who days, but this time covered in robot parts and blue paint. Eat your heart out, Amy Pond.
Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 will be released in April 2017
