What Species Are Gamora & Nebula? Zehoberei & Luphomoids Explained

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is full of interesting relationships between characters. Apart from love couples and best friend couples, the franchise introduced us to many brothers and/or sisters. Thor and Loki are probably the most known brothers in the MCU, but Gamora and Nebula are certainly one of the most known Marvel sisters. Just like in Thor and Loki’s case, Gamora and Nebula are adopted sisters and different species. So, in this article, we’ll explain what species are Gamora and Nebula.

Gamora is a Zen-Whoberi (also known as Zehoberei or Zehobereian), and Nebula is a Luphomoid. They were both born on the native planets of their species, and they were both taken by Thanos when he conquered their worlds. Both of them are also partially cyborgs, which was the result of Thanos’ torturous training he imposed on them. Nebula is more of a cyborg than Gamora since she endured more Thanos tortures.

Gamora and Nebula share almost the same origin story. They were both born on their home planets, Thanos conquered both of their planets, and both of them were taken by the Mad Titan, who trained and tortured them to turn them into living weapons so that they could serve his cause. Because of that, both of them share the same hatred towards Thanos, and they used work with his enemies in an effort to bring him down. Eventually, they both became members of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Gamora first, and Nebula joined later.

The Zehoberei explained

Zen-Whoberis, alternatively known as the Zehoberei or Zehobereians, are the native people of the planet Zen-Whoberi. The Zehoberei first appeared in Marvel Comics in March 1975, created by Jim Starlin, who also created Gamora the same year.

In the source material, Gamora was depicted as the sole survivor of the Zehoberei on Earth-7528. Zehobereians were peaceful people who the Universal Church of Truth exterminated. Thanos traveled 20 years in the future to the planet where he saved Gamora and brought her to Earth-616, although the Zehoberei were also exterminated in that timeline by Badoon.

Thanos trained her to kill Magus, an evil future version of Adam Warlock, and she eventually earned her nickname: the deadliest woman in the whole galaxy. Although Thanos didn’t show her much kindness growing up, she remained loyal to him because he promised her a chance to avenge her family. Magus was eventually defeated, but that’s when Gamora found out Thanos was an even bigger threat, so she left him and joined forces with Avengers, Drax the Destroyer, and Captain Mar-Vell against him.

The story of the character’s live-action incarnation in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is slightly different. Thanos took Gamora as a child after slaughtering half of her people, including her parents. Although she grew up next to him and became his favorite daughter, Gamora was always planning to run away from him, and that opportunity occurred when Ronan sent her to retrieve the Power Stone for Thanos. We know how that eventually turned out, with her joining the Guardians of the Galaxy and stopping Ronan from destroying Xandar.

The Zehoberei are a humanoid species but differ from humans by many biological traits. They are recognizable by the pale green pigmented skin and heightened cheeks resulting from different facial bone structures. The Zehoberei also have green blood and one other liver.

Although they’re physically weaker than some other species in the Marvel Universe, the Zehoberei skin is much more durable, meaning they can take much less damage from certain physical attacks.

Luphomoids explained

Nebula’s story was very simplified to adapt to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but although there are some things that the comic book Nebula and the live-action have in common, her story in the comics is even more interesting. As we said before, Nebula is a Luphomoid. The homeworld of Luphomoids was the planet Luphom, which Galactus eradicated.

Created by Roger Stern and John Buscema in 1985, Nebula, in the source material, was depicted as the daughter of Thanos (alleged granddaughter) and the adopted sister to Gamora, who she openly hated because of Thanos’ open preference towards Gamora. Nebula is the daughter of the Luphomoid warlord Zorr the Conqueror.

Luphomoids are also a humanoid species, and they’re notable for their blue and lilac-pigmented skin. Unlike the Zehorebei, who are a peace-loving race, Luphomoids are ostensibly warriors and conquerors. Since Thanos cybernetically enhanced Nebula, it’s known that her current look does not apply to a typical Luphomoid since it’s hard to tell how many parts of her were mechanized by Thanos.

Nebula’s story was a bit simplified for the live-action incarnation. It’s unknown if Thanos first conquered Gamora’s planet or Nebula’s, but she took both of them the same way after he killed their parents during his conquests.

Nebula was introduced as a secondary supervillain, although it’s not a secret that she hated Thanos for what he did to her. Despite that, she always tried her best to prove her worth to Thanos, often in vain.

But unlike Gamora, who joined the Guardians of the Galaxy, Nebula decided to betray Thanos by joining Ronan. Her character development eventually led her to grow a strong bond with Gamora as she joined the Guardians of the Galaxy on their mission to defeat Ego, the Living Planet. Nebula left the team shortly afterward and decided to kill Thanos herself, but she ultimately didn’t succeed.

Nebula had one of the most important roles in Avengers: Endgame when she joined forces with Avengers to perform a time-heist to save the universe, and her former self, who was still working with Thanos, was responsible for bringing Thanos from 2014 to 2023.

Ultimately, Nebula killed her former self, and thanks to Endgame’s “changing the past doesn’t change the future” logic, which isn’t really common for that kind of movie, she survived her own murder and rejoined the Guardians.

What is Gamora and Nebula’s future in the MCU? Do they even have it?

Unfortunately for the fans of this dynamic duo, it’s highly unlikely that we will see them again in the MCU. Zoe Saldana confirmed her retirement from the MCU following the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. While we can’t be sure about Karen Gillan, we know Nebula also left the Guardians in the end.

Although, unlike Saldana, Gillan never said that she’s not interested in reprising her most famous role, and it wouldn’t be even a surprise if Saldana would eventually change her mind since Gamora’s ending was handled the way that we could definitely see more Gamora in the future.

It’s always hard to make these predictions when such conclusion movies happen, but we’ll see what the future holds. Even if we never see them again on the big screen, Gamora and Nebula will definitely remain in our hearts.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is now playing in theaters.

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