Marvel's What If...? Nebula Episode Almost Had A Tragic Ending
This article contains spoilers for "What If...?" season 2.
"What If...?" season 2 only just premiered on Disney+ and brought with it another round of fascinating adventures through the multiverse. The Marvel Cinematic Universe could have turned out any number of ways — had certain characters made different choices along the way. This new season kicks off with a Nebula-focused episode titled "What If... Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?" As the title implies, it sees the adopted daughter of Thanos taking something of a hero's turn as a member of the Nova Corps. But that gritty hero's journey almost wandered down a dark path.
Showrunner A.C. Bradley recently sat down with IGN to break down the show's second season. In discussing the season premiere, which was written by Matthew Chauncey, Bradley explained that the whole thing came about simply because the show's creatives love Karen Gillan's work as Nebula (and as an actor in general):
"That episode came from Karen being the most talented and brilliant actress around. In season 1, she came to play. And so going into season 2, we definitely wanted to do an episode with her."
The episode in question is very much inspired by "Blade Runner" and it sees Nebula investigating the mysterious death of Yondu. Lots of characters such as Groot and Howard the Duck appear along the way, throwing in some light-hearted fun amidst a murder investigation and a massive conspiracy. It also ends on a pretty positive note, with Nebula getting to be a hero and saving Xandar from Ronan. But that wasn't the original plan.
Nebula's hero's journey originally took a dark turn
The episode sees Nebula becoming a Nova Corps investigator after Ronan betrays and kills Thanos. She ends up developing close ties to Nova Prime (Julianne Grossman), who recruits her to the Nova Corps and tasks her with finding out who murdered Yondu. In time, though, Nebula discovers Prime is aligned with Ronan and successfully teams up with Howard, Groot, and Korg to stop Prime's plan to let Ronan take over Xandar. It's a pretty upbeat way to conclude things, although the episode nearly took a darker, tragic turn. According to Bradley:
"This idea of doing like a darker detective episode came into our minds and then Matt ran with it. It was funny; Matt was writing that episode during the early days of the pandemic and he called me at one point. He's like, 'It's darker.' The first draft was really dark. It almost ended in a tragedy. And then we lightened it up."
Bradley declined to elaborate on the specifics of that original draft. How dark did things get? What was the tragedy that Chauncey cooked up? All we can do is hopelessly speculate. One thing we can comment on, though, is the episode as it exists. It does work effectively as a way to further redeem Nebula, building on the events of movies like "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" and "Avengers: Endgame." This is a character who has been through a lot, even if she was aligned with Thanos for so long.
As she exists, Nebula is someone who has had to endure enough darkness. There's something to be said for letting her get the win here. Whether that's as satisfying as the MCU going full-on dark and tragic is another question entirely.
"What If...?" seasons 1 and 2 are now streaming on Disney+.