BIOGRAPHY - Page 2
Locked up in a prison on Titan, Nebula showed signs of developing insanity, likely a result of Thanos’ torture and her brief period of omnipotence. She was visited in her cell by Starfox and Firelord, the latter wanting to confront the woman about destroying his homeworld, Xandar. Through a psychic link facilitated by Starfox, Firelord learned about Nebula’s tragic past, and ultimately decided to forget his quest for vengeance, leaving Nebula in her prison. [Silver Surfer Annual #5]
Nebula’s growing insanity soon developed to the point she had a complete psychotic break. As she was rendered catatonic, the Titans allowed Nebula’s devout first officer Geatar to care for her. Also whilst she was imprisoned, Starfox’s scientists were unable to determine any genetic connection between Thanos and the woman, though Starfox did concede that when it came to his brother all bets were off.
The Titans' generosity in allowing Geatar to care for Nebula was short sighted, however. As soon as he worked up enough trust, the man liberated his catatonic master from her prison, carrying her over his shoulder. He took the woman to a criminal cybernetic specialist, who fixed Nebula’s catatonia by installing numerous cybernetic implants within her brain, as well as making several other “upgrades.” [Silver Surfer (3rd series) #69-72]
With a new lease on life, Nebula wanted to get right back into piracy and conquering worlds. Needing a loyal crew, she set out to free her old one from the prison planet Anvil. With just the two of them to infiltrate a massive prison facility, Nebula concocted a clever scheme to pose as Geatar’s prisoner and fake a prison transfer. Once inside the prison, Nebula overpowered her captors, while Geatar captured the prison’s chancellor.
Unfortunately for Nebula, the Silver Surfer and Jack of Hearts were also present at the prison, getting Jack an upgrade for his damaged containment suit. When Nebula encountered the Surfer, she managed to force the Herald’s cooperation by threatening the chancellor’s life. The Silver Surfer held to his word not to interfere and watched as Nebula forced the evacuation of all of the prison’s guards and freed her crew.
However, Jack of Hearts was not beholden to the Surfer’s oath and attacked the pirate, preventing 
her and her crew from boarding their escape craft. During the fight, a stray blast injured Geatar and Nebula showed that, despite her hard demeanor, she cared deeply for the man. She refused to leave him behind, stating that his loyalty needed to be repaid and rushed him to her ship. However, after this display of loyalty, Nebula coldly fired the engines in her ship, brutally incinerating all of her crew in order to distract the Surfer and Jack of Hearts so that she could escape. [Silver Surfer (3rd series) #73-78]
However, it didn’t take long for Nebula to replace the crew she just murdered. With Geatar healed and a new crew at her disposal, Nebula could have easily returned immediately to piracy and mercenary work. Instead, she set out on a quest for revenge. The woman held a particular grudge against the people of Titan, having imprisoned her for months and rebutted her claim that she was Thanos’ granddaughter.
Nebula had assembled her forces on Mars’ moon Phobos and was ready to attack Titan when she was intercepted by the Silver Surfer and his allies. The Surfer had been hunting for her since their clash at the prison but Nebula, ever the strategist, was prepared for this. She blasted the Surfer with a weapon strong enough to knock the Herald out and strapped him to a bomb she intended to launch at Titan. Unfortunately for Nebula, she was once again unprepared for the Surfer’s allies. This time it was Thunderstrike and War Machine who helped free the Surfer and take down all of Nebula’s henchmen. Outgunned, Nebula was promptly captured by the Silver Surfer. [Secret Defenders #9-10]
Although Nebula immediately found herself locked up back in the Anvil, she nevertheless managed to escape soon after. Unlike her previous escapes from custody, this 
time Nebula opted not to gather a crew and recommence piracy but instead disguised herself and hid on the pleasure planet Sylloqonia. Unfortunately for her, the Silver Surfer and his ally Genis-Vell coincidentally crossed her path in the club in which she was hiding out. Thinking the Surfer had come to take her back to prison, Nebula attacked the pair with every weapon and clever trick in her arsenal. Ultimately, the Surfer’s vast powers were too much for the fugitive and the Surfer transformed Nebula’s armor into a cocoon that trapped her. Once more, Nebula was shipped off to the Anvil for incarceration… for as long as they could hold her. [Silver Surfer (3rd series) #110]
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Anvil couldn’t hold Nebula for long. Once more, the woman escaped and established herself another pirate cadre. Piracy, however, was not Nebula’s only desire and she soon decided upon killing Richard Rider, Earth’s member of the Nova Corps, in revenge for killing the man she claimed was her father, the Luphomoid warlord Zorr. Although she and her pirates ambushed Nova on Earth, Nebula had underestimated the man, who not only survived the attack but managed to overpower her crew. Still, Nebula managed to escape, leaving unresolved the question of whether her attack had been a genuine quest for revenge or merely a plot to cement the story that Zorr was her father. [Nova (3rd series) #1]
Alone after losing her crew, Nebula sought out new allies. In a surprising move for the woman, she subjugated herself to the leadership of another: Gamora, the adopted daughter of Thanos. She joined Gamora’s Graces, an all-female group of cosmic warriors who worked to conquer the planet Godthab Omega. (Of note, one of the other Graces was Spirit, Luphomoid sister to Zorr, although she and Nebula made no note of having any connection.) Nebula’s work as an enforcer for Gamora brought her into conflict with Ronan the Accuser and, despite her bravado, found herself soundly beaten by the Kree.
This behavior was in fact the result of manipulations by Glorian, a “shaper of worlds,” who used 
his cosmic abilities to draw superhuman beings to the planet and drove them to fight in order to draw power for his own needs. Despite Glorian’s defeat, the Graces remained together for a time, bound together by battling the overwhelming threat of the Annihilation Wave. After the Annihilation War ended, Nebula and the rest of the Graces apparently went their own separate ways. [Annihilation: Ronan #1-4, Annihilation #6]
After the Annihilation War ended, Gamora left Godthab Omega, abandoning her Graces on the backwater planet. Enraged by this perceived betrayal, Nebula seized control of the group. Eventually, the group found a way off planet and presumably set about on a life of mercenary work or piracy.
Surprisingly, Nebula was contacted mentally by Thanos. While the Mad Titan had previously rebuked Nebula’s claims to be his granddaughter, and tortured her severely, he now required her aid. Trapped in “unspace” and on trial for his multitude of crimes by the cosmic entities, Thanos took advantage of a previously unknown connection between he and Nebula, forged by both wielding the Infinity Gauntlet, to ask for her aid. Desperate to win his favor and reclaim her status in the galaxy, Nebula eagerly agreed. With her Graces' aid, she created a gate to unspace but was intercepted by the Guardians of the Galaxy. During the ensuing battle between the two groups, Nebula faced off against her former leader Gamora in combat.
Desperate to complete her mission to rescue Thanos, Nebula seized control of her teammate 
Stellaris’ armor, which had been forged to kill Celestials. However, by connecting to her mentally, Gamora managed to open the woman’s eyes to the bleak, unending desolation that came from being related to Thanos. Distracted, Nebula was easily defeated by the “deadliest woman in the universe.” [Guardians of the Galaxy: Best Story Ever #1]
When a bounty was set on Gamora’s head, Nebula jumped at the chance not only to claim it but punish the woman she despised. Knowing that Gamora now travelled with the Guardians of the Galaxy, Nebula formed an alliance with the Chitauri. With her new forces, she tracked the Guardians to Earth and with a genetic disruptor took down both the Guardians and the Avengers in one fell swoop. However, Nebula was smart enough to know that killing the Avengers would spark an interplanetary incident and left them alive, taking only Gamora. She promptly delivered Gamora to her client, Kindun, an alien with an intense hatred of the woman and a mysterious link to his planet. However, soon after, Gamora was rescued by her allies and Kindun’s rage brought a collapsing cavern down atop himself and Nebula. [Guardians Team Up #1-2]
After numerous failures at getting back to the powerful warlord she once was, Nebula decided to adopt a solo career as a pirate. After a few months of successful piracy, the woman was captured mid-heist by Starfox and the Champion of the Universe, who took her to meet with Thanos’ son, Thane. Thane, who recognized that Nebula only ever wanted to be feared, made her an interesting offer; help him kill Thanos and she would get the fear she so desired.
While incredulous about their ability to kill Thanos, Nebula still accepted. Her part of Thane’s plan 
was to use her infiltration and thievery skills to break into Terrax’s ship and free a prisoner who could get them into Thanos’ fortress.
However, once she got Thane to his intended goal, Nebula learned he had lied. The target was not in fact a prisoner but the Phoenix Egg. Outraged at this betrayal and fearful of the power of the Phoenix, Nebula shot and killed Thane without hesitation. Unfortunately, this murder actually awoke the Phoenix Force, which possessed Thane and provided him exactly what he desired. [Thanos (2nd series) #2-6]
The newly Phoenix-empowered Thane went on a rampage, which drove Nebula and her allies, Starfox and the Champion, to do the unimaginable: ally with Thanos to stop his son. Of the group, Nebula was the most vocally opposed to the idea. With the power of the Phoenix, Thane had stripped Thanos of his abilities, leaving him weak and vulnerable. Nebula wished to stick to the original plan and use this opportunity to kill Thanos. Unfortunately, she was overruled by the rest of her allies, who saw him as the only way to defeat Thane.
Nebula and the Champion waited with Starfox while Thanos faced the trial of the God Quarry, within a black hole, to restore the Titan’s powers. Bored during this wait, Nebula seduced the Champion, though afterwards she insisted it was a one-time thing. Thane arrived soon after and, after sending them crashing into an uncharted planet, demanded to know where his father was. Before he could kill them, the repowered Thanos interrupted, launching the pair into an epic, planet-rending battle, with Nebula and Tryco right in the middle.
Despite their vocal animosity towards each other, both Nebula and Tryco continually saved each other from death as devastation rained around them. Eventually, the pair managed to launch themselves into orbit with protective space suits for safety. Unfortunately for them, in the wake of Thanos and Thane’s battle, they were carried into the black hole and the God Quarry within. Nebula, Tryco and Starfox were witness to Thanos’ defeat of Thane, who was ossified within the God Quarry. Unfortunately, they were now left behind within the strange dimension, trapped. Thanos (2nd series) #7-12]
With Nebula’s resourcefulness and determination, it’s only a matter of time before she finds her way out of the God Quarry. Whether the question of her true parentage will ever be answered remains to be seen.