Nebula (comics)

For the DC Comics character, see Nebula Man.

Nebula
Art by Ron Lim
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Avengers #257 (Jul 1985)
Created by	Roger Stern John Buscema
In-story information
Species	Luphomoid
Notable aliases	Captain Nebula, Ms. Peale

Nebula is a fictional character, an alien supervillain appearing in the Marvel Comics universe.

Fictional character biography

A brutal space pirate and mercenary, Nebula seized control of Sanctuary III, a massive spaceship previously under the command of Thanos. Thanos was believed to be dead at this point, and Nebula claimed that he had been her grandfather. Nebula's band of mercenaries and pirates consisted of Skunge, Kehl, Gunthar, and Levan.

Nebula asked the second Captain Marvel to join her mercenary band and aid them in conquering the Skrull Empire. However, Firelord learned that Nebula had massacred the Xandarians. Nebula used her space fleet to attack the Skrull space armada and the Avengers.^[1]

Nebula then schemed to gain absolute power using Earth scientist Dr. Harker's atomic compressor to release vast amounts of energy that were absorbed by the Infinity Union. She fought the Avengers, and absorbed energies from the Infinity Union through the implant in her brain. As she fought the Avengers, she lost her powers when Sersi removed the brain implant. Nebula then escaped.^[2]

The Infinity Gauntlet

The newly resurrected Thanos was offended by Nebula's claims of kinship. He reclaimed his ship and almost killed her, using the Infinity Gems. He transformed her into a grotesque virtual corpse still barely alive, leaving her as a maimed and seemingly mindless zombie, burned and disfigured by his energy beams.^[3]

When he later claimed the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos boasted that Nebula was his greatest creation — unable to die, but not truly alive either. However, when Thanos defeated Eternity and took his place, Thanos expanded his consciousness into the universe, leaving his body comatose. Nebula managed to take the Gauntlet from Thanos, using its power to restore herself to health and banish Thanos, seeking to conquer the universe herself. Thanos agreed to help a loose band of heroes defeat Nebula. The group in question consisted of Adam Warlock, Doctor Strange, the Silver Surfer, Thor, the Hulk, Firelord, Doctor Doom and Drax the Destroyer— the only heroes that Strange had been able to locate in the time available to him. The group confronted her, and, with Thanos exploiting Nebula's inexperience with wielding the Gauntlet, she was tricked into undoing the events of Thanos's godhood and all the death and destruction Thanos wreaked with his power. The Cosmic Pantheon (which Thanos had earlier defeated) immediately appeared, and battled her. With Nebula thus distracted — lacking the knowledge to realize that they were keeping her occupied by attacking her all at once, thus preventing her from thinking of a less direct method of assault — the Surfer and Warlock were able to steal the Gauntlet from her by exploiting Warlock's connection to the Soul Gem, disrupting the unity between the Infinity Gems and forcing Nebula to drop the Gauntlet. Nebula was captured by Starfox and returned to Titan for trial, while Adam Warlock claimed the gauntlet.^[4]

Nebula was later confronted by Firelord in the Titanian prison. In flashback, the murder of her abusive father was depicted.^[5] Nebula was later freed from prison by Geatar, and converted into a cyborg by Doctor Mandibus.^[6] She attempted to free her pirate crew from the "Anvil" space prison, but was thwarted by the Silver Surfer and Jack of Hearts. She killed her crew in escaping.^[7]

Annihilation

Nebula has appeared as one of Gamora's followers, 'The Graces'. In this role, she battled Ronan the Accuser alongside Stellaris. Ronan triumphed, severely wounding her.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Powers and abilities

Nebula is an athletic woman and an excellent armed and unarmed combatant. She possesses a gifted intellect and is a brilliant battle strategist.

Nebula uses blasters worn on her wrists that fire concussive blasts of unknown energy or heat blasts that can incinerate a human being almost instantly. She also apparently wears a device that enables her to disguise her appearance, either through illusion-casting or through actual molecular rearrangement of her body and clothing.

Nebula was converted by Doctor Mandibus into a cyborg. She was given an artificial left eye, left arm, and left shoulder. The left upper quarter of her head and part of her right hip are sheathed in metal.

Nebula briefly possessed the Infinity Union, a combination of three devices that together could channel all forms of ambient energy into her; this infused her with vast energies. She also briefly possessed the Infinity Gauntlet, which held six "Infinity Gems" of virtually unlimited power, which gave her seemingly absolute control of reality while she possessed them. However, her short-sightedness meant that she often made crucial errors in judgement when wielding the power; she undid the events of Thanos's godhood without realizing that this would revert her to her near-death state and free the imprisoned Cosmic Pantheon whom Thanos had recently defeated.

In other media

Television

• Nebula appears in the two-part Silver Surfer episode "Learning Curve" voiced by Jennifer Dale. Nebula, like many before her, wants to gain knowledge from The Universal Library (Home of the Watchers). Because the motive of her search for knowledge is greed, she devolves into a creature known as a viral (a blob-like creature full of knowledge, but unable to act on it). The Silver Surfer needs help from the virals in order to penetrate a force field covering Zenn-La. After doing so, the Surfer has to help Zenn-La leave a dimension belonging to a being known as The Soul Hunter. During the escape, The Silver Surfer fails to save Shalla-Bal, for which he blames Nebula. He starts to blast her, but she is protected by Thanos' energy field (in the new history of the universe, Thanos is a peace seeker and resident of Zenn-La). One of the energy blasts penetrates the field, restoring Nebula to her humanoid form, and she takes her leave. Her final scripted appearance has her attempting a journey to Galactus' ship, because of the knowledge she recalled from her time as a viral. Unfortunately, no further scripts were written to explain this. Like many characters, Nebula was to make another appearance on the second season of the series. Eight episode scripts were written, but were never produced.
• Nebula first appears in The Super Hero Squad Show episode "Double Negations at the World's End!" voiced by Jane Lynch.^[8] This version is the older sister of Thanos. Nebula finds the Space Infinity Gem and flees Thanos. She arrives on Earth to end up finding a jump gate to get away from Thanos only for her to drag the Helicarrier with H.E.R.B.I.E. and Wolverine on it with her as they end up in the Negative Zone. When Nebula becomes caught in a Matter Well, she is saved by Iron Man and Falcon. Once out of the Negative Zone, the Super Hero Squad tries to claim the Space Infinity Gem from her only for Thanos to arrive. Before Thanos used the Space Infinity Gem to get away dragging Nebula with him, Nebula commented that if she knew it was a Space Infinity Gem, she would've used it to get away from Thanos earlier. She was later featured in the episode "Fate of Destiny!" as Thanos's prisoner. He had her mouth removed with the Reality Stone, and once Doctor Doom and his henchmen arrived, he accidentally destroyed the rock prison holding her, causing her to run about Thanos's asteroid "lair".

Video games

• Nebula is the penultimate boss in the SNES game Marvel Super Heroes: War of the Gems.
• Nebula appears in the Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet video game voiced by Jane Lynch.

References

1. ^ Avengers #257, 260
2. ^ Avengers #311-312, 314, 316-318
3. ^ Infinity Gauntlet #1
4. ^ Infinity Gauntlet #5-6
5. ^ Silver Surfer Annual #5
6. ^ Silver Surfer Vol. 3 #69-73
7. ^ Silver Surfer Vol. 3 #76-78
8. ^ "TV stars invade Marvel Super Hero Squad | Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources – Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment". Robot6.comicbookresources.com. http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/07/tv-stars-invade-marvel-super-hero-squad/. Retrieved 2010-12-28. 

External links

• Nebula at Marvel.com