S02.E01: What If…Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

When Nebula is recruited to join the Nova Corps, she sets out to prove her detective skills.

Season premiere, dropping Friday, December 22, 2023.

[tkc]

As a big fan of the MCU’s Nebula, I am quite pleased that she got the lead role in a story. Go Nebby!

Last season, it took me a while to get used to the art style. I really enjoyed it in this episode — the lighting was well used, in a part Blade Runner, part Tron: Uprising kind of way.

[thuganomics85]

Kind of a muted start since they didn't bust out any of the "big names" for the premiere, and mainly avoided any kind of universal peril (just a mere planet being in trouble!)  But I since I love Nebula, I won't complain too much.  Liked her basically starring in a intergalactic version of a noir story, and glad they got Karen Gillan back to voice her.  She did great work here. 

Did not expect them to bring back Yon-Rogg since I don't think ever factor back into the MCU after Captain Marvel.  Also surprised they got Jude Law to voice him here.  I guess he had the time and was down for the paycheck!  Same apparently can't be said for Glenn Close, but the actress playing Nova Prime was effective enough.

Howard the Duck running a casino, with Korg, Groot, and Miek as his muscle is the kind of shenanigans that make me enjoy the concept of this series!

Poor Yondu can't seem to win in any universe!

Looks like we only to wait a day for the next episode!

[arc]

I was alternately charmed and put off by the cheesy neo-noir dialogue. The cyberpunk/Blade Runner aesthetics were superb, though.

Why did Nebula even need Yon-Rogg to hack the door to the mainframe? She's a cyborg with incredible hacking abilities herself, as seen both in GOTG3 and this episode right here. ... and then she got double-crossed by the Kree guy she busted out of jail in order to foil the big bad Ronan, who's... also a Kree guy.

Oh, her boss Nova Prime was in on it the whole time. Well, I guess that kinda works. This is still a heck of a convoluted plan for Nova Prime to have enlisted Yon-Rogg's help ahead of time without even setting it up for Nebula to know she would need Yon-Rogg.

Gotta say, as someone who enjoys the MCU but forgets vast swaths of it very quickly, I'm always thrown by the MCU Nova Corps not having super powers, unlike the comics.

And as with S1, I remain impressed that Marvel Studios convinced so many of the live action actors to reprise their roles for this.

Edited December 24, 2023 by arc
Fixing formatting

[chitowngirl]

8 hours ago, arc said:

And as with S1, I remain impressed that Marvel Studios convinced so many of the live action actors to reprise their roles for this.

You throw Disney money at someone and they’re going to catch!

Edited December 23, 2023 by chitowngirl

[vb68]

4 hours ago, arc said:

he cyberpunk/Blade Runner aesthetics were superb, though

Yeah I was instantly thinking of Blade Runner from the opening scene.

I appreciated the hypothesis that Nebula was always good outside of Thanos' control/domination. It was also interesting to see her as a solitary character without the Guardians or Avengers.

For whatever reason, I was not expecting the turn with Nova Prime. Not that I know much of anything about the character. I just had the assumption that she wasn't a villain after the first Guardians movie.  Disappointed Glenn Close didn't return, but I always had the feeling that she wasn't overly fond of the part.

The rest of the voice cast is so interesting who they get and don't get to return. Jude Law returns but Lee Pace can't voice Ronan for even a couple of lines.

Edited December 23, 2023 by vb68

[chitowngirl]

5 minutes ago, vb68 said:

Jude Law returns but Lee Pace can't voice Ronan for even a couple of lines.

Lee Pace might have been filming Foundation and not available. Or just wasn’t interested. 🤷‍♀️

[benteen]

It's always a treat to get Karen Gillan back as Nebula. I liked the Blade Runner influence and enjoyed Howard the Duck playing such a big role.

[festivus]

I liked this one. Love seeing my girl be the good guy and Howard was fun in that Rocket kind of way. She looked cool with Yondu's coat and head fin too.

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 12/23/2023 at 5:31 AM, arc said:

I was alternately charmed and put off by the cheesy neo-noir dialogue. The cyberpunk/Blade Runner aesthetics were superb, though.

Why did Nebula even need Yon-Rogg to hack the door to the mainframe? She's a cyborg with incredible hacking abilities herself, as seen both in GOTG3 and this episode right here. ... and then she got double-crossed by the Kree guy she busted out of jail in order to foil the big bad Ronan, who's... also a Kree guy.

...

Gotta say, as someone who enjoys the MCU but forgets vast swaths of it very quickly, I'm always thrown by the MCU Nova Corps not having super powers, unlike the comics.

And as with S1, I remain impressed that Marvel Studios convinced so many of the live action actors to reprise their roles for this.

Yon-Rogg is positioned as an expert in Xandarian security. As much as Nebula might be a cyborg and expert at actually hacking security, she didn't recognize the schematic she first saw for the security and she might not/did not have the context to make her way to where to find it or to get through what security was between her and the final boss.

I don't know if it is clear what level of tech the MCU Nova Corps might have at their disposal. Just because we haven't seen any flying or really doing much more than contemporary real-world Earth police officers other than flying spaceships doesn't mean that there aren't ones who can jetpack around and who have some level of enhanced strength through tech.

[Captain Carrot]

On 12/23/2023 at 11:27 AM, vb68 said:

For whatever reason, I was not expecting the turn with Nova Prime. Not that I know much of anything about the character. I just had the assumption that she wasn't a villain after the first Guardians movie. 

I don't think she was a villain in that movie, or in the flashback in this episode. Five years of increasing chaos on Xandar changed her.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 12/23/2023 at 11:06 AM, chitowngirl said:

You throw Disney money at someone and they’re going to catch!

Especially Disney money for under an hour of work that requires no make-up or costume prep or anything like that. 

On 12/23/2023 at 2:41 AM, thuganomics85 said:

Liked her basically starring in a intergalactic version of a noir story, and glad they got Karen Gillan back to voice her.  She did great work here. 

Her Nebula voice totally works for that kind of story.

[tennisgurl]

Finally getting the time to marathon these episodes, and I am so happy we started with a Nebula episode! I adore her and Karen Gillian, who I thought did a great job with all of the noir dialogue, so of course I was going to like this one. It was all very Blade Runner cuberpunk, which Nebula fits well into. I really like that it showed that Nebula is a genuinely good person at her heart, all she needs is to get away from Thanos. 

I was surprised to see Yon-Rogg back again and that they got Jude Law back, which was nice to see as I really liked his performance in Captain Marvel and felt like he was underused. Overall it was a fun start to the season, its hard not to be excited about a season that starts with Howard the Duck as a high roller with Groot, Korg, and Miek as his security team!