Nebula is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Roger Stern and John Buscema, the character first appeared in The Avengers #257 (July 1985). Originally depicted as a supervillain, Nebula was later depicted as an antihero and member of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Nebula has appeared in various adaptations of the character in other media, including animated television series and video games. Karen Gillan portrayed the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) in addition to voicing alternate timeline versions in the Disney+ animated series What If...? (2021).
Publication history
Nebula was created by writer Roger Stern and artist John Buscema, and first appeared in The Avengers #257 (July 1985).
Fictional character biography
A brutal space pirate and mercenary, Nebula seized control of Sanctuary II, a massive spaceship previously under the command of Thanos. Thanos was believed to be dead at this point, and Nebula claimed that he had been her grandfather. Nebula's band of mercenaries and pirates consisted of Skunge, Kehl, Gunthar and Levan.
Nebula asked the second Captain Marvel to join her mercenary band and aid them in conquering the Skrull Empire, but she only pretended to go along with her plan. However, Firelord learned that Nebula had massacred the Xandarians. Eventually Nebula used her space fleet to attack the Skrull space armada and the Avengers.
Nebula then schemed to gain absolute power by using Earth scientist Dr. Harker's atomic compressor to release vast amounts of energy that were absorbed by the Infinity Union. This attempt nearly triggered the end of the universe when the experiment caused a second Big Bang that came close to annihilating everything before a small group of Avengers Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Spider-Man and Sersi were able to escape the destruction and shut down the equipment in time to negate the unmaking of existence. She fought the Avengers, absorbing energies from the Infinity Union through the implant in her brain until Sersi removed the brain implant, depriving her of her powers. Nebula then escaped.
The Infinity Gauntlet
The newly resurrected Thanos was offended by Nebula's claims of kinship. He reclaimed his ship and almost killed her, using the Infinity Gems. He transformed her into a grotesque virtual corpse still barely alive, leaving her as a maimed and seemingly mindless zombie, burned and disfigured by his energy beams.
When he later claimed the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos boasted that Nebula was his greatest creation — unable to die, but not truly alive either. However, when Thanos defeated Eternity and took his place, Thanos expanded his consciousness into the universe, leaving his body comatose. Nebula managed to take the Gauntlet from Thanos, using its power to restore herself to health and banish Thanos, seeking to conquer the universe herself. Thanos agreed to help a loose band of Earth heroes defeat Nebula. The group in question consisted of Adam Warlock, Doctor Strange, the Silver Surfer, Thor, the Hulk, Firelord, Doctor Doom and Drax the Destroyer— the only heroes that Strange had been able to locate in the time available to him.
The group confronted her, and, with Thanos exploiting Nebula's inexperience with wielding the Gauntlet, she was tricked into undoing the events of his godhood and all the death and destruction he had wreaked with his power. The Cosmic Pantheon (which Thanos had earlier defeated) immediately appeared, and battled her. With Nebula thus distracted— not realizing that they were keeping her occupied by attacking her all at once, thus preventing her from thinking of a less direct method of assault— the Surfer and Warlock were able to steal the Gauntlet from her by exploiting Warlock's connection to the Soul Gem, disrupting the unity between the Infinity Gems and forcing Nebula to drop the Gauntlet. Nebula was captured by Starfox and returned to Titan for trial, while Adam Warlock claimed the Gauntlet.
Nebula was later confronted by Firelord in the Titanian prison, where the murder of her abusive father was depicted in flashback which left her in a catatonic state. Nebula was later freed from prison by her lieutenant Geatar, and converted into a cyborg by Doctor Mandibus. She attempted to free her pirate crew from the "Anvil" space prison, but was thwarted by the Silver Surfer and Jack of Hearts. She killed her crew in escaping.