All in all, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3broke our hearts in the most wonderful ways. We laughed, we cried (I outright sobbed in the middle of the theatre), and waited with bated breath. Yet there was one scene, that even in jest managed to trigger our cringe mode, leaving the one with more fortified willpower to make fun of the scene to gain some semblance of normalcy. But now that a secret closely guarded by Nebula has been exposed, suddenly, the feeling of mortification has been replaced by an almost unanimous dive by the fandom into instant daydreaming. 

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You know how Star-Lord and Gamora have always been the ‘it’ couple since day one? But like every fandom, nothing stopped the fans from coming up with the unlikeliest fictional pairings and one such ship has been Star-Lord and Nebula — yep, the very individual who always seems ready to chew up and spit out him out whenever he even breathes wrong. 

But some hearts want what it wants and these “Nebter” diehards were definitely appeased by Vol. 3’s scene where Star-Lord recounts the qualities of the Gamora he fell in love with, only for the alternate version of his past girlfriend to retort that it sounds more like Nebula, prompting Quill to look at the very uncomfortable Guardian in dazed contemplation and getting yelled at in response. Those who couldn’t even dare to think of Nebula and Star-Lord romantically were glad that the scene was done just for laughs and snipped in the bud. 

But who knew the “Nebter” detractors are the ones who are the minority as James Gunn has revealed in a chat with The New York Times that Karen Gillan believes Nebula has harbored a crush on Quill for years and has always played the character’s interactions with him keeping this secret in mind. 

“I never thought about fully going there, but do I think that Nebula, emotionally, is sort of that mean schoolgirl who’s not going to show her feelings to anybody. Karen thinks that Nebula has a little bit of a crush on Quill that she doesn’t quite know how to put together, and it makes sense because as we come to them in ‘Vol. 3,’ we realize that they are the two leaders of the Guardians. I think it’s very normal in any close friendship to have some sort of occasional romantic or crush-like feelings.”

Apparently, a verbal confirmation from Gunn and Gillan was all that was needed to give turn this unlikely pairing all the potential of turning into Marvel’s own version of a soap opera in the future. The hero falls in love with the sister of his dead girlfriend while a doppelganger of his love exists — I mean, come on, that is one heck of a soap opera storyline, right there! 

When Gamora says that it sounded like Quill was describing Nebula when he was talking about the Gamora he knew, and he comments about how dark Neb’s eyes are and her response and both of their reactions make it seem like they are both attracted to each other.

— Kamala McDaid (@mcdaid_k) May 26, 2023

Well, Peter's Gamora is dead, he seems to be attracted to Nebula and she has a crush on him, so I do not know if it would be so bad to see them in the future, although if a bit of soap opera have the boyfriend who falls in love with the sister of his dead girlfriend

— 🇮🇹_Hot_AsmodeusHB❤️💙 (@Lorenzo74209291) May 26, 2023

The future — intact with a new title for Nebula — is already being set in stone…

“She may have been your girlfriend boy, but she wasn’t your mommy”

-Nebula in Vol 4

— Blue Moon’s Biggest Simp (@Luna_Blue_Moona) May 26, 2023

Suddenly everyone is sure that the “tension” between the two was evident all along. 

I mean then tension was definitely more.prevelant in the third movie for sure.

— Ryan (@Nin10doGod) May 26, 2023

Some still can’t make themselves believe that Nebula has romantic feelings for Quill. 

its probably more jealousy than a crush but its definitely there

she would definitely want the love she never got and she sees her sister getting that, she wants it too

— cactussmd (@ballfondler1984) May 26, 2023

And anyway, if we do make this canon, we know why Nebula really ended by liking Star-Lord.

The choices were him or a tree

— Jordan Chong (@JordanTChong) May 26, 2023

Well, if you too like us were blind to all the obvious “spark” between Nebula and Star-Lord, it is time to re-watch Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. and probably try to detect those feelings she has for him in her “pretty” black eyes before some of the Guardians unfortunately return to the MCU.