Fans were shocked when the Guardians of the Galaxy cast made their first appearance as a unit at 2013’s San Diego Comic-Con, which culminated in Karen Gillan whipping off a wig to reveal that she’d shaved her head completely bald to get into character as Nebula.
However, the actress has since resorted to the standard bald cap for each of her subsequent appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is just as well because it would be a real hindrance to her career outside of the superhero series were she to wait on her long locks growing back before signing on to another project.
The former Doctor Who star turned 34 years old yesterday, and to mark the occasion, James Gunn paid tribute to his longtime collaborator with a pair of Guardians of the Galaxy behind the scenes images showing both sides of Gillan’s personality, which you can see below.
Nebula has become an increasingly integral part of the MCU’s cosmic mythology, without even mentioning her fantastic femme fatale appearance in animated series What If…?, and while the next Guardians of the Galaxy will mark the end of the line for both Gunn and Dave Bautista, fans will be hoping that Gillan sticks around for the foreseeable future.
