Gamora

Gamora is a fictional alien and one of the main characters featured in the 2014 feature film Guardians of the Galaxy. The character is based on the Marvel Comics character Gamora, who first appeared in Strange Tales, Volume 1 #180 in June, 1975. In the film, the role of Gamora is played by actress Zoë Saldana.

Gamora is a green-skinned alien female and a member of the Zen-Whoberians. She is also a member of the space-faring group of adventurers known as the Guardians of the Galaxy, and is the only female member of the original group.

Biography
Gamora was raised as the daughter of Thanos, who actually appreciated her more than he did his own daughter, Nebula. Thanos had brokered a deal with the Kree warlord Ronan the Accuser to acquire the Infinity Gems. With such power, he would be able to lay waste to entire planets. Though she worked as an assassin, Gamora could not stand idly by while Ronan and her father set out to destroy the homeworld of the Nova Corps, Xandar. Ronan hired her to find one of the gems, which resided inside of an orb. However, her true plan was to make sure that the orb would never get into Thanos' hands.

Gamora traveled to the prison world of Kyln, where she learned that the orb was now in the possession of an Earthling space pirate named Peter Quill. She stole the orb from Peter, which invariably brought her into contact with two alien bounty hunters named Rocket and Groot. All of them were captured by agents of the Nova Corps and placed in prison. On Kyln, Gamora met a brutish inmate named Drax the Destroyer. Like she, Drax wanted to destroy Ronan, whom he blamed for the slaughter of his family. When Peter Quill discovered that Gamora wanted to betray Ronan, he invited her to become part of a group that could break out of the prison and keep the orb safely protected from him (the fact that it was worth a lot of money was also an incentive for Quill). Ronan and Nebula tracked Gamora to a marketplace in Knowhere - located inside the desiccated skull of a Celestial. The group split up and tried to escape, but Nebula destroyed Gamora's ship, leaving her to die in space. She likely would have perished had Peter Quill not ventured into the vacuum of space from his own ship, The Milano, and rescued her. He gave her his helmet, which allowed her to breathe, but also healed her injuries from exposure.

Gamora confronted her sister again during the Battle of Xandar. Gamora proved victorious, and Nebula nearly fell to her doom. Some part of Gamora did not wish to see her sister die, and she reached out to her, but Nebula sacrificed her own hand, preferring instead to fall to her doom rather than be saved by Gamora.

Gamora, Rocket, Drax and Peter risked everything to stop Ronan. The tapped into the power of the Infinity Gem, at great risk to themselves, and used it to destroy Ronan. Though the threat of Ronan the Accuser was gone, there was still the lingering presence of Thanos awaiting on the horizon. Gamora chose to remain with this hodgepodge group of freedom fighters who had come to refer to themselves as the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Notes & Trivia

 * On April 3rd, 2013, it was announced that Zoë Saldana would be playing green-skinned alien assassin Gamora in the Guardians of the Galaxy feature film.


 * The Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Gamora is the first live-action iteration of the character. Previous versions of Gamora include the first animated version of Gamora, who appeared in the "Antibody" and "Radical Justice" episodes of the Silver Surfer cartoon series as well as the Gamora who appeared in the "Guardians of the Galaxy" episode of the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon series.
 * Playing Gamora marks the second time that actress Zoë Saldana has played an alien character of an alternate color. She is also known for playing the part of Neytiri of the Na'vi in James Cameron's 2009 epic Avatar. Additionally, Saldana is also known for playing Nyota Uhura in the 2009 reboot of the Star Trek franchise as well as its 2013 sequel, Star Trek: Into Darkness.


 * Gamora is the third green character featured in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first green female character. The other two are The Hulk and his nemesis, The Abomination, both of which appeared in 2008's The Incredible Hulk. The Hulk also appeared in The Avengers in 2012.