There are many characters who have it in for Thanos going into Avengers: Endgame, but one anti-heroine who’s hated him before it was cool is Nebula. As his adoptive daughter and sister to Gamora, the cyborg assassin has been through hell at Thanos’ hands over and over. That’s been the backbone of her arc across her three appearances in the MCU so far, but how will it come to a close in the upcoming movie?
Karen Gillan teased a bit about that while speaking at an Endgame press conference that took place in LA this weekend. The Guardians of the Galaxy star hinted that Nebula might finally find closure in this film but stopped short of revealing more in case she gave anything away.
“She suffers from some daddy issues. I think I’m excited for her to finally face the source of this abuse. This has been building through multiple movies…I would like to see her try and face that. I don’t know if she will. I’m not saying anything. I just got really nervous that I might have given something away.”
Gillan’s sudden worry that she might have let a spoiler slip out here is intriguing. Does that mean we can expect something big to come out of Nebula’s next meeting with her father? Say, for instance, Thanos’ death? Fans of the character have long hoped that she would be the one to kill the Mad Titan as, out of all the heroes left, she has the most personal reason to hate him. If anyone should have the honor of finishing the villain for good, it’s got to be Nebula, right?
Of course, we can’t infer too much from Gillan’s comments here. She’s not Mark Ruffalo or Tom Holland, after all. At the very least, the actress’ reply tells us that Nebula will face Thanos in the film and likely find a way to externalize the pain he’s brought her all her life. Whether she achieves that by killing him, giving him a really good beating or just helping the Avengers reverse his plans, we don’t know.
All we can say for sure right now is that Nebula and the other remaining heroes will do #WhateverItTakes to defeat her demonic dad when Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26th.