Karen Gillan‘s character of Nebula has been a staple of the MCU for some time now. Kickstarting things off back in the first Guardians of the Galaxy film, the actress showed her commitment to the role by actually shaving all her hair off to play the blue, bald-headed, cybernetically enhanced alien. But fans believe there is more on offer for Gillan than she has played so far.
Gillan is a talented actress, one who got her start playing Amy Pond in the popular BBC series Doctor Who. She has since made the leap across to Hollywood and has starred as a prominent character in the MCU and also in the Jumanji franchise among others. She has appeared in a number of MCU projects, notably the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise helmed by James Gunn, but she also made an appearance in Avengers: Infinity War, Endgame, and Thor: Love and Thunder.
Despite having played such a prominent role, many believe there is more than Gillan could do within the MCU outside of Nebula. It wouldn’t be the first time that an actor has taken on more than one role within the franchise. Benedict Cumberbatch plays the notable superhero Doctor Strange and also provided the voice of the dimensional villain Dormamu in his first movie. Most recently actress Linda Cardellini gave her voice to the character of Lylla, Rocket’s otter friend, but you have also seen Cardellini in the MCU already as Laura Barton, Hawkeye’s wife.
Perhaps the most obvious comparison we can make is that of actress Gemma Chan. She too was covered in blue in her first role for the MCU, as Minerva in Captain Marvel. That didn’t stop Marvel execs from bringing Chan back to star as Sersi in Eternals, sans blue makeup. Fans believe this is definitely something that could be done in the case of Gillan, who would look completely different without all the prosthetics and bald cap.
Many point out the fact that Chan has already done just this.
Others also note that Gillan doesn’t use her natural Scottish accent as Nebula, so if she were to go back to that it would be easier to separate her from her current role.
Michelle Yeoh is another actor to have played two live-action characters within the same universe,
Gillan actually made a short appearance in Doctor Who before she became Amy Pond. They must have liked her so much that they asked her back.
It all depends on what execs and directors want though at the end of the day.
And you never know, Gunn might want to snag her to be a part of his new DC Universe.
Gillan has been a part of the MCU for over a decade so she may want to go on and find new challenges outside of it, potentially coming back for cameos in the future rather than playing Nebula as a main role again. We never know though, perhaps there is a lot more the Scottish actress has to offer the franchise before she finally calls it quits.