Spoilers ahead for Avengers: Infinity War.
As the behemoth blockbuster becomes available for home purchase, there's been a resurgence of excitement over Avengers: Infinity War. The Russo Brothers did what seemed impossible, and brought together the Marvel Cinematic Universe's characters for an epic and emotional journey that ended with one killer twist. Among these characters were the Guardians of the Galaxy, including Karen Gillan's complicated and deeply damaged Nebula. When she was introduced Infinity War, Thanos had his adopted daughter in captivity, torturing her in order to get the location of the Soul Stone from Gamora. Gillan recently shared a photo from filming the scene, and it's pretty awesome. Check it out.
That's a lot of blue. While Karen Gillan has clearly become experienced with blue makeup from her various appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the added blue screen room shows just how heavily Avengers: Infinity War leaned on visual affects. The locations were rendered beautifully, and it's fun to see how the sausage gets made on such a giant movie.
Karen Gillan's Instagram post shows how Nebula's opening scene in Infinity War was actually filmed. In the final film, Nebula is shown being literally stretched and disconnected from her various metal pieces, with Thanos using the Power Stone to torture his daughter. Gillan was there and in full costume and makeup, but laying on a frame that would support her, and give the CGI artists a baseline to create the scene around.
Nebula suffered terrible abuse from Thanos when she and Gamora were growing up, as he'd replace a part of her each time Gamora bested her in combat. So when Thanos harmed her again, Zoe Saldana's character had no choice but to bring her father to the location of the Soul Stone.
While Nebula has mostly been a supporting character and occasional antagonist in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, it should be interesting to see how she factors in the main narrative of the MCU in Avengers 4.
Smart money says Nebula gets her time to shine in Avengers 4, especially because she is one of the few characters (especially Guardians) to survive Thanos' finger snap of death in Infinity War. She's currently stuck with Tony Stark on Titan, while Rocket was left devastated and alone in Wakanda. With Nebula mourning her sister and likely doubly hellbent on revenge, it would be cool to see her join forces with Earth's Mightiest Heroes and attempt to reverse her father's finger snap. And if someone is going to get the honor to actually kill Thanos, Nebula is a good candidate.
All will be revealed when Avengers 4 arrives in theaters on May 3rd, 2018. Infinity War is available digitally and on Blu-ray now. Be sure to check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
