When the first trailer for upcoming superhero sequel Avengers: Infinity War was released last week, the internet more or less exploded with joy, and who could blame them. This was the culmination of a decade of superhero storytelling, stuffed full of characters we’ve grown to know and love over the years and finally bringing several storylines to their conclusion. It had it all.


Well, almost all – because one or two people did note one problem with the record-breaking teaser, namely that there was absolutely no sign of Jumanji and Doctor Who star Karen Gillan’s fan-favourite character Nebula, which many decried as a terrible shame. Frankly, we’d have to agree with them…

Me: the infinity war trailer is amazing

Also me: BUT WHERE THE HELLS NEBULA — meg (@the_dooIio) November 29, 2017

However, Gillan has now hinted that there could be a plot-related reason why we don’t see her blue-skinned badass in the footage – though she’s not able to explain what it is QUITE yet.

“I wasn’t really disappointed because also it sort of makes sense…it makes sense!” Gillan told RadioTimes.com of her absence from the trailer.

“How do I say this without giving anything away? It makes sense – I feel like Nebula might be in future trailers,” she hinted ominously.

And it’s possible this absence could be explained by Nebula’s relationship with the film’s villain Thanos (Josh Brolin), who stole her and “sister” Gamora (Zoe Saldana) from their parents and cruelly twisted them into killing machines prior to the events of the first Guardians of the Galaxy – a storyline that Gillan says will get some resolution in Infinity War.

“It’s gonna be so good! A lot of stuff that we have planted in previous films is going to all come together in quite an explosive way, I would say. Daddy issues will be faced,” she told us.

“Thanos is the big bad guy, the ultimate supervillain, so this is the biggest fight that the Avengers will ever have. And being his daughter, Nebula will get entwined in there somehow.”

Until then, though, Gillan is playing another action-heavy role in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, a sequel to the original 1995 Robin Williams film where she plays a teenage girl transplanted into the body of a Lara Croft-like video game character.

“I think that they definitely struck the right balance with paying homage to the original, but then also not trying to recreate the original,” Gillan told us.

“Which would’ve been the worst – because you can’t recreate something that good. But to give it its own new concept and evolve it but also, giving nods to the original was I think the right way to go.”

And apparently all her time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe wasn’t enough to prepare for the toll of playing a deadly fighter like Ruby Roundhouse, with Gillan needing more training than ever to nail key battle sequences.

“The most difficult thing was probably the dance fight sequence, where I have to do a dance and then fight two men,” she recalled.

“And that took so much training, oh my goodness. More training than I’ve ever experienced in my life. Just constant martial arts training, just to be able to do that sequence. It’s a lot.”

Clearly, Thanos has nothing on the gruelling mechanics of 90s video games.


Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle is released nationwide on 20th December