Spoilers for the film to follow…..
The first Guardians of the Galaxy established a heated rivalry between Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and her adoptive sister Nebula (Karen Gillan), which escalated to the point of violence by the end of the movie when the daughters of Thanos engaged in vicious hand-to-hand combat. Though audiences walked away firmly believing that Nebula was the villain in this situation, when the two clashed again in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, it was revealed that things weren’t quite that clear cut.
As it turns out, Nebula was just retaliating for the extreme cruelty inflicted upon her by her “father” every time she lost a fight to Gamora. Having your limbs removed for getting beaten up will tend to make you a little tetchy, after all. Recently, director James Gunn was asked about this complex relationship during an interview to promote the film, and expanded on what he aimed to achieve by ultimately switching the viewers’ sympathies:
It really is the culmination of two movies’ worth of hatred between sisters who do not get along. This first manifests itself in a physical fight here and then leads to an emotional scene where Nebula breaks down. You thought she was the bad guy the whole time. But you realize that actually she was the one who was wronged by her sister when she was young and she’s the one who, in a lot of ways, is the victim in the relationship.
By the end of the film, Gamora and Nebula do form something resembling a true sisterly bond, but it’s not enough to stop the latter leaving the team to hunt down the Mad Titan. With Gillan confirmed to reprise the role for Avengers: Infinity War, it’s going to be very interesting to see how and why Nebula reconnects with the other A-holes.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 hits US theaters this weekend and in case you need more encouragement to see it, you can check out our review right here.