This 'Guardians 2' Spoiler Sounds Amazing

The one MCU franchise I have loved from the opening credits is Guardians of the Galaxy. The music, the roguish characters, the sprawling universe... it was all so completely enthralling. So, when I heard that not only a sequel, but a third Guardians film would be coming, I was practically jumping for joy. While the Avengers have had a more austere camaraderie, the Guardians have had nothing but rib-tickling repartee while they were saving the world. In the battle of the squads, I'll choose the Guardians every time. What I find most interesting about the upcoming sequel are the latest additions to the Guardians, though: We'll have a new face in the form of female badass Mantis and we'll get a familiarly old one... Nebula. A quick reminder: Nebula (Karen Gillan) is Gamora's sister, one of the adopted children of Thanos, and the shadowy villain we glimpsed in the first Guardians.

Nebula's confirmed involvement in the Guardians means a few major and exciting things will happen in this sequel. First, we may get a deep examination of the relationship between Gamora and Nebula. Two, the Guardians will have some big help is their fighting skills with another trained assassin on their team. Thirdly, Nebula might be the real key to the Guardians defeating Thanos for good because she has been so closely aligned to him for so long. What's better to overthrowing the villain than a little double-agent style treachery?

Where Gamora had her own journey to redemption in the first Guardians film, it looks like Guardians 2 may be the space for Nebula to come full circle, too. Nebula spent most of the first film as her father Thanos' right-hand woman, and in direct opposition to the Guardians — but most prominently in opposition to Gamora. Now, in Guardians 2, there is the opportunity for them to become even closer as they work together to bring down their adopted father who raised them to be heartless killers. As Zoe Saldana put it when she spoke to IGN: "You’ll begin to get a glimpse of how terrible life must have been like to grow up with a crazy stepfather through Nebula," adding later on that, "[w]e’re starting somewhere very crazy but appropriate given where we had ended things off in the first installment. So Thanos is definitely spoken about – not highly."

With Nebula and Gamora coming closer together, despite their volatile history, what Guardians 2 feels pitched to do is not only meaningfully explore an intimate female relationship, but also posit that the real key to defeating evil can come from a once-unlikely place. Rather than having a female character offered up in sacrifice for the sake of the team (as is sometimes the case in films), Nebula may actually be able to provide some major keys to the victory of the Guardians.

Does Nebula have what in takes to not only overcome her nefarious roots but become a major team player in Guardians 2? I certainly hope so.

Images: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Marvel Studios; Giphy