Nebula actress Karen Gillan shared a picture to social media that hints at how much work goes into getting her ready to perform in Avengers: Infinity War and Guardians of the Galaxy. Gillan has hinted in the past that we're about to see a new side of her Nebula character and find out some really "dark" things about her past. Nebula is a complex character as the adopted daughter of Thanos and she has gone on to become one of the standout characters in the MCU and will reportedly have a substantial role in Infinity War.

The picture was shared via Karen Gillan's Instagram page and it features a crewmember holding up the remains of her prosthetic makeup/mask after a day of filming on the set of Avengers: Infinity War. Many thought that the Nebula mask and costume was more or less body paint, but that is certainly not the case as this picture proves. The thick layer prosthetics covers nearly all of Gillan's face and head. Gillan has to sit in a makeup chair for a few hours while Legendary Effects applies her mask every day for it all to be easily torn off at the end of the day and thrown in the trash.

Back in June, Marvel Studios released a time-lapse video that shows off just how much work that goes into getting Gillan into character. The crew start with a bald cap and then begin adding the prosthetic pieces to Gillan's head and face while she appears to be listening to music and reading. The time and effort gone into making just her head is truly astounding and even though the team has it down to a science, it still takes a long time to apply. Gillan has said that the process improved "dramatically" from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 to the sequel and Infinity War, but it still looks like an incredible amount of work.

In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, we saw Nebula's tough exterior start to soften a tiny little bit and we saw her relationship with her sister Gamora (Zoe Saldana) take a positive turn. As previously mentioned, Infinity War is expected to delve into Nebula's dark past and her troubled (to say the least) relationship with her father, Thanos. We could very well end up seeing a friendlier Nebula arise as she ends up with a top secret "BFF" in Infinity War as well.

Not even Karen Gillan knows the entire story arc for Nebula as her and the cast are only given little bits of the script at a time. The story could go the way of the comics and she could gain control of the Infinity Gauntlet at some point between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4, which could cause a huge amount of destruction. Whatever the case may be, we still have a little ways to go before we see Nebula on the big screen again. Avengers: Infinity War opens on May 4th, 2018, but in the meantime, you can check out Karen Gillan's Instagram post and the Marvel Studios time-lapse makeup video below.