James Gunn’s Guardian of the Galaxy 3 is a mess of a plotline if you don’t keep up with it. As the Marvel Cinematic Universe expands into another phase, the last chapter of The Guardians leaves us wondering how our beloved assassin, Gamora, is still alive and what exactly is the role she plays in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Isn’t she dead? How come they bring her back, and if she’s back, how? It’s a bit complicated, and with this piece, we aim to make sense of it all.
As with all Marvel movies, there are a few trails of breadcrumbs that we need to pick up to completely understand where she’s coming from, what’s her story and where we go from there. Zoe Saldaña’s beloved character seemed to be written off the script after the events that Avengers: Infinity War showed us, but in the latest film of The Guardians, she’s back after some multiverse-y, time travel-ly shenanigans, only one thing remains, and those are the questions concerning Gamora’s destiny.
Gamora: Back Then & Now
Firstly, let’s do a quick recap of Gamora’s character journey so far. We meet the green alien assassin in the original Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Her story arc goes something like this: Gamora betrays her adoptive dad, Thanos, the purple bad guy, in a bid to stop his plans. Then, she becomes part of the rag team crew of the Guardians of the Galaxy. And also develops a crush for Star-Lord in some sort of inter-species erotica.
As the movies go on, we see how Gamora was killed by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War when he sacrificed her to obtain the Soul Stone. However, in a surprising twist, we saw Gamora come back to life in Avengers: Endgame – although not exactly the version we all loved or expected. Even the Gamora from the 2014 movie, who was still aligned with Thanos, traveled to the main MCU timeline as part of the time travel plot.
The Return of the 2014 Variant Gamora
The central theory of Gamora’s return comes from Iron Man’s snap, which created a Thanos-sized plot hole in Avengers: Endgame. You see, Tony Stark used the Infinity Stones to turn Thanos and his entire army – including any multiverse variants – to dust. As it seems, that snap did not affect the 2014 Gamora as she was not a part of Thanos’ army at the time. This left her alive and stranded in the main MCU timeline, and while that seems ok, there’s more to it than we need to unpack because that’s just an oversimplification.
In Endgame, Thanos destroyed all the infinity stones, so the Avengers do some time travels to find the stones prior to their destruction. When Nebula gets the Power Stone, there’s also another Nebula from another time there, and it’s she who tells Thanos that he beats the Avengers in the future timeline, and now, Thanos risks losing the “endgame” travels across time and brings his army back. In doing so, he brings a different Gamora and a different Nebula. As such, the version we see in GOTG Vol. 3 comes from another timeline and doesn’t have any connection to the Guardians.
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What’s Ahead For This New Gamora?
With Gamora’s comeback comes a series of things, an identity struggle and a heartbroken Star-Lord. Since the current Gamora has no recollection of the things the killed-off Gamora lived, she can’t fall in love with Star-Lord, and with the original Gamora’s memories gone, the 2014 variant’s relationships will change dramatically.
The Meaning of Gamora’s Return
Gamora coming back is a messy plotline, as the time travel thing can confuse many viewers. Since the third GOTG movie mocks the other Gamora’s passing and also covers how the Soul Stone claims a life for a life, we know that the original Gamora is gone for good. That’s the Gamora that turned her back on Thanos and joined the Guardians. Now, the new Gamora, the returned Gamora, brings a fresh perspective to the team and adds a new layer of complexity to their interactions.
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