EW’s glut of collectible Avengers: Infinity War covers boast some curious character team-ups. A few we knew to expect, like Thor, Rocket and Groot, while others tease partnerships we didn’t know were on the cards. One of these is the cover featuring Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch and Karen Gillan’s Nebula. But just what could bring these two very different individuals together?
Well, one illuminating part of EW’s coverage may reveal the surprising connection between the duo. The write-up reminds us that, when you think about, Nebula and Wanda have actually had lives that oddly mirror each other’s. Here’s how EW put it:
“As played by Karen Gillan and Elizabeth Olsen, both are sisters who were shaped by powerful experiences with a beloved (or maybe not-so-beloved) sibling, and both found redemption after aligning with darker forces.”
First up, Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Nebula is the adoptive daughter of Thanos, who was pitted against her sister Gamora for years by the Mad Titan in an effort to make them better assassins. The result was that Nebula developed a passionate hatred for her old pops while sharing a complicated relationship with Gamora.
Wanda Maximoff, on the other hand, was experimented on by HYDRA and given vast psionic powers due to her exposure to the Mind Stone. She and her speedy brother Quicksilver hated the Avengers so joined up with Ultron to bring them down. Eventually, though, the siblings switched sides, with Pietro dying a hero.
When you look at it like that, then, you can see how the two women might develop a mutual understanding. While one is an uber-powerful witch and the other’s an alien assassin with cybernetic enhancements, they’re both driven by complex feelings to do with their family. Not that we expect the two to become best pals in the movie, mind you.
Nebula and Wanda’s story will be just one small – but no doubt interesting – part of the mind-bogglingly massive Avengers: Infinity War, which arrives in theaters worldwide on April 27th.