Karen Gillan is looking menacing as Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy, but the villain almost didn't make it into the film.

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Guardians writer/director James Gunn released a new photo of Nebula via Facebook, and he took the time to answer a few question about one of his project's main baddies and specific look.

"Truth is, I put her in the script largely because of her bald, cybernetic look. She probably wouldn't have been a character without that," Gunn explained when a fan asked why the Nebula isn't sporting a previous black haired look. "I find little enchanting about [the black hair] look. Charlie Wen and I worked on this design for a long time, before we ever cast anyone. We knew exactly what we wanted."

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Gillan, who shaved her long ginger locks for the Marvel production, sports an incredible amount of makeup and prosthetics to insure that her character's face avoided CGI.

"Those are mostly three-dimensional applications not just drawn on lines," Gunn said of the character's raised cybernetic additions, adding that Gillan spent "between four and five hours in the makeup chair, I believe."

Considering Guardians of the Galaxy already has two CGI characters - Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) and Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) - keeping Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), and Nebula away from computer enhancements provides for a healthy mix.

Guardians of the Galaxy will hit theaters on Aug. 1.

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