Guardians of the Galaxy: Karen Gillan Reveals Why James Gunn Kept Nebula Alive

Nebula has had quite the arc in the MCU, going from generic henchman of Thanos to beloved anti-hero. Fans were probably surprised when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 changed her for the better, revealing a more sympathetic side of the cyborg sister of Gamora. It turns out that we almost didn't get any of that, as the character was meant to die at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy.

Karen Gillan, the actress who plays as Nebula in these movies, revealed how she was able to keep Nebula alive; through her acting.

During Fan Expo Canada (via ComicBook.com), Gillan revealed that she impressed James Gunn during a fake scene for Guardians of the Galaxy. Though it was fake, the scene was supposedly very emotional and Gillan ended up crying, which impressed Gunn. Because of this, Gunn decided to let Nebula live and she has been around since, even surviving the events of Avengers: Infinity War.

"The fact that all of this has happened with the character is really surprising but not, because when I did the screen test for Nebula, it was quite an emotional scene between her and Gamora, which never made it --- it was a fake scene, so it wasn't in the movie. Well, it was an emotional scene, but I started crying during it [laughs]. And then James Gunn really responded to that, I remember, and then we felt that we'd found this whole other aspect of a character that could have just been bad, you know?"

Nebula's arc with Gamora was a very emotional one in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. It revealed that Gamora and Nebula were constantly forced to battle each other to stay alive, with Gamora winning every time, leading to constant abuse from Thanos. Nebula even let Gamora win some of these fights and was spiteful since her sister never did the same for her.

Since she survived the events of the InfinityWar, we can only hope that she gets her revenge on Thanos. Her and Thor, as the latter lost so much and it would be satisfying to see him "go for the head." Then again, Nebula has been through so much abuse and lost her sister, so if either of these two ends up killing Thanos, it's going to be very satisfying.

Avengers 4 comes out on May 3, 2019. Karen Gillan will return as Nebula, though we don't know if she will survive that one.

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