FIGHT LIKE A GIRL

 NEBULA

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there are many strong female characters, and that’s one of the things I love about said universe. But today I would like to talk about a woman in particular who, in spite of having been tortured, hurt, beaten and trained to be a merciless assassin, ends up becoming one of the bravest heroes in the battle against Thanos.

When she was a kid, Nebula’s planet was invaded by the cruel titan Thanos, who murdered her entire family and took her with him to train her. Nebula did everything she could to please her father, but she was never able to be as good as her sister Gamora. The evil titan usually made the girls fight each other, and her sister would defeat her again and again. So each time Nebula fell, Thanos tortured her replacing her body parts for machinery, to improve her and make her better. Gamora never let her win, and this created a friction between the sisters, and is the reason why they don’t have a close relationship. Nevertheless, in the end she realices that they were both fighting for survival under their father’s commands.

Nebula’s transformation from villain to hero in the MCU is wonderful to watch. If there is something nice in this universe, is that it’s perfectly capable of developing the narrative arcs of its characters, and I think Nebula has a great one. We see that she’s desperate to be better than Gamora, to be what her father expects from her, to defeat and fight anyone who opposes her, and afterwards we see her reconsider her actions and joining the Avengers to destroy the cause of all her suffering: Thanos.

I admire this character because she’s an example of resilience, self-improvement, spirit, redemption and liberation, and I wish for the MCU to continue writing these type of characters that fight like a girl and kick ass.