you can be a guardian.

NAME: Aru

CONTACT: PM, hopewillbloom

AGE: 31

OTHER CHARACTERS: N/A

CHARACTER NAME: Nebula

CANON: MCU

CANON POINT: Guardians of the Galaxy 3 movie end
AGE: 35 (Her age is unknown but she was was probably early-mid twenties in GOTG and it's been 12 years)

HISTORY: MCU Wikia Entry

PERSONALITY:

What impression does your character give when meeting someone for the first time? How does the first impression differ from your character’s true nature?

"[Nebula's] changed dramatically since we first met her. She was pretty evil and she can still be pretty ornery at times, but she definitely isn't evil. And she's one of the more moral members of the Guardians in certain ways... and she's become almost defacto leader because as we see Peter Quill has become incapacitated by his own emotional issues."


Many years ago, Nebula would be considered both evil and the biggest sadist in the galaxy. She’s morally good now - without the hand of Thanos and her fear guiding her. Being good doesn’t make her any easier to get along with. Nebula’s way of speaking is still as stilted and direct - she’s always been sincere and honest, even if both of those things come from a cutting tongue. She wasn’t taught to lie and directness is the only approach she knows - and because she never once had a gentle hand in life it translates often to the same with others. Concern is hidden behind anger, contempt, and a quick will to correct whatever mistake or weakness was perceived.

Nebula has a serious mean girl appearance, from the way she holds herself, the way she speaks, and the actions she takes. So when someone first meets her, she very much seems the way she always was - distant and kind of rude in her honesty. Or if they meet her in the middle of a battle and she takes a hit, angry and quick to brush someone off. If she finds someone she comes across as weak she can be quick to yell at them.

She is learning compassion and empathy, from her friends and experiences as a Guardian. This doesn’t mean it comes easy. We see her yelling at a bunch of kids to move faster while carrying one to safety and we see her firmly reminding them they’re not killing anyone. Morally, she takes her role as a Guardian seriously. Gunn has told us she can’t forgive herself for what she did in the past, but she is moving forward and taking strides.

The biggest thing about Nebula, from start to finish, is that she seems like a person who hates people and is quick to criticize anyone she meets. But the truth is, Nebula is perhaps the one Guardian who has sought a family longer than any of the others. She’s sought a chance to kill Thanos because, to her, that was preventing him from hurting any other little girls out there. After losing everything and everyone, she becomes a Guardian and decides to lead a city with thousands of created children to give them the home she never had. She may not have handling her emotions under control and can be uncomfortable with certain situations, but this ideology is the thing that kept her going and the crux of her redemption.

How does your character handle stress? What do they do in an emergency?

"She's uncomfortable because she's uncomfortable with tenderness to begin with, but I think she also feels quite sorry for him."
As a child of Thanos, she was raised as a living weapon and in her failure tortured for most of it. Pain isn’t something that scares her or stops her because her everyday life is full of it, from the too often torture from Thanos and the pain of it that lingers long after it’s done (Nebula strongly implies that she’s in massive amounts of pain everyday because of these “enhancements”).

Because of this, Nebula is fully capable of making snap judgements in the moment with quick reflexes. She doesn’t usually startle from pain and gets up within moments - largely thanks to regenerative functions and her own stubborn pride. She’s capable in a fight and as said by Gunn because defacto leader during Peter’s difficulties because she was “the least numbskully of the group”.

If it’s her alone, she doesn’t hesitate in the moment to do what’s necessary… When it’s with others is where we’re more leant into the problems. Depending on the person and the team, Nebula can have easy synergy with a group - the Guardians, specifically, more than anyone else. When someone screws something up and endangers them, she can turn to criticizing them the first chance she gets. It’s the more unexpected stressors in battle that you have to watch out for. Nebula doesn’t know how to be gentle and so she doesn’t know how to handle children. She can have their well-being in mind and want to do the right thing, but if they don’t listen or understand she resorts to yelling and ordering around. They can get more upset and this in turn frustrates her further and no one is getting anywhere.

What are some of your character's regrets? How is your character impacted by them?

"Nebula's really not forgiving herself for any of the stuff she's done in her life."

That journey Nebula has been on has been a story of survival and trauma to healing. She's been freed of the grip Thanos had on her and his endless torture, but that doesn't mean she's free of everything. Learning to be a better and more well-rounded person is one thing, but accepting yourself is another. Nebula did a lot of damage under Thanos and while could be on him...

It's not how Nebula sees it. She sees that time as failure on her part and weakness. This is as much apart of her learned behavior - weakness was not tolerated with Thanos. And she was weak, as Karen so eloquently puts it, Nebula was "the scapegoated sibling, never good enough, always over-looked in a toxic family". Nebula doesn't necessarily feel bad for the killing she's done in her life, but she does feel regret for the who and why. She's evolved as a person, learned empathy, and has began to accept love/kindness from other people... This isn't something she could have ever done if she stayed the same person she was all those years ago.

There's a key moment in her story that shows us just how far this drives her: Nebula has to kill Nebula. When Thanos arrives in the present to redo his goal, he brings with him a younger Nebula who he'd recently tortured as a prisoner for present Nebula's treasonous actions. Gamora and Nebula confront this past Nebula and try to insist she can leave him and change, but this Nebula so deep in the throes of torture and torment can't picture a future where it was possible. Believing she would never escape - would never be strong enough to - she tries to shoot Gamora only to be shot by herself.

It's this weakness - this fear - that Nebula regrets the most. And by killing herself, she finally freed herself.

INVENTORY: Please describe any emotionally or canonically significant items that your character may have on them as they enter the city. Normal pocket contents (e.g. wallet, keys, five sticks of gum, some lint) do not need to be described.

SKILLS/ABILITIES:

ENNHANCED PHYSIOLOGY: By nature of both not being human and also mostly a cyborg, Nebula is more strong, agile, and durable than a human. While we don't know what Lumphoids are fully capable of Gunn has said that as an alien with alien technology means she's fully capable of tearing a man's arm off (sorry Bucky).

CYBORG: (As a brief preface, exactly how much of Nebula is mechanical is a bit unknown. We see that Thanos's torture of her means splitting her apart - literally - to pieces and it looks like most of her nonvital organs/parts have been replaced and maybe some of her vital.)

As a non-human species, Nebula was already more durable than a human could be. In Thanos's attempts to perfect her, she was made stronger and even more durable than even that. Her arms and legs are almost entirely mechanical, her eyes have been replaced, and her mind made partly computer. While being this way to such extremes has some weaknesses it does come with a lot of benefits, especially now that Rocket has been upgrading her.

REGENETIVE FUNCTION - Nebula is incredibly difficult to break. While she can be knocked out and injured, it takes a few moments for her body to snap back into place as if nothing happened but her pride being wounded.
HOLOGRAPHIC PROJECTION - The part of her brain that acts as a computer is capable of saving memories and information and replaying it for others to see. She's also capable of using this part of her mind to read information files from other computers or objects and project this information as well.
ROCKET'S ARM - Nebula's newest upgrade and main source of fighting power. In their effort to make her human parts more human and machine parts more deadly, Rocket has replaced her left arm with what appears to be a dozen thick metal wires that can change shape to her will. The ability to change seems to be limited to only her imagination and we see her using it as both tools (flashlight, blow torch, suction cup) and weapons (gun, concussion beams, burning swords). It can only take one form at a time, so while powerful she still has to rely on a second pistol for more crafty means.
ENHANCED SENSES - Her eyes and ears have been modified to give her sharper and better hearing than a normal human.

ASSASSIN GUARDIAN: Raised as a child soldier at an incredibly young age under a strict teacher, Nebula is just what you might expect her to be - hardfaced and cold and capable in battle. She's been trained in all ways of combat, from staff and sword-fighting to gunfighting. She's an agile and quick fighter and even once almost killed Thanos when she sneaked in to do so. She's far from the strongest fighter and her sister, Gamora, was still capable of besting her in battle - but she's surely not someone to be looked down upon.

NERFING:
REGENETIVE FUNCTIONS - Nebula's ability to regenerate will be severely limited. What would take a few moments will take a couple of weeks to repair if she doesn't have someone else to help fix it..
ENHANCEMENTS - Her senses, durability, agility, and strength have all been lowered to 20% better than a human.
ROCKET'S ARM - All weapon functionality has been lost, but she is still capable of turning it into various tools (so long as they don't cause harm).

WEAKNESSES:
Nebula's biggest weakness is the fact that so much of her is mechanical. Parts of her can be broken and without the right people or equipment will stay broken. More importantly, we know from experience, that if she malfunctions and the right person can utilize it her memories/information can be taken advantage of - which also lends itself into the possibility of her being hacked.

The City TDM with Gamora
The City TDM with Futaba
Peter