Gamora Zen-Whoberi, formerly Gamora Zen-Whoberi Ben Titan, is one of the main characters in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. She is the adoptive daughter of Thanos, and a former assassin regarded as the "deadliest woman in the galaxy". Pardoned due to her contributions to the Resistance, she is currently a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy alongside Peter Quill, Drax, Groot and Rocket.
Hailing from the planet Zen-Whoberi, Gamora's parents and entire race were eradicated by Thanos when she was 5 years old. For whatever reason, Thanos decided to adopt her, and raise her as an assassin alongside Nebula. One time he bought ugly Xandarian dolls for them both, but when six-year-old Gamora lost hers, it caused a fight between the two. Thanos settled it by burning Nebula's—the gifts being a lesson on the importance of not getting attached. Despite Thanos's "mind games" often pitting them against one another, Gamora served him, thinking he loved them, and protected her sister even into young adulthood, and tried to make each other laugh during battle.
When Thanos sided with the Chitauri Empire in the Galactic War, countless of their political targets fell to Gamora's blade; she also visited the Chitauri homeworld many times. When the Resistance appeared, Thanos grew obsessed with them, and had Gamora and Nebula comb the galaxy for their location for cycles. Somehow, Gamora was the one to find them; when she went home to report back, she was about to excitedly tell Thanos, when she heard her father talking to an empty room. Realizing that he was in love with death itself, and he would kill even his daughters to prove it, Gamora fled that day and joined Richard Rider's Resistance.
Towards the end of the war, everyone knew the Resistance was losing. But when Thanos died at the hands of Drax, and it became clear that it wasn't simply misinformation to lure them out, Ko-Rel spearheaded a stealth mission to Chitauri Prime, while the Kree and Resistance fleets launched an attack on the planet. Ko-Rel had Gamora tag along so that she would kill the infant queen, but Gamora refused. Instead, they kidnapped the queen, and the Chitauri quickly surrendered, marking the end of the war. Although no one died on the stealth mission, for reasons she never fully understood, Gamora became known as the "deadliest woman in the galaxy".
Despite her war crimes, Gamora was granted amnesty, begrudgingly so, by the Worldmind under advice from Richard Rider. Still, Gamora found herself increasingly sidelined by the allies after the war, with Richard getting busy with politics and Worldmind refusing to involve her in post-war efforts related to New Xandar and the Nova Corps. Gamora, evading surveilance, thus retreated to the fringes of space. In the following years, Gamora then became an assassin-for-hire, with a wave of mysterious and brutal deaths attributed to her, though none could be proved.
About a decade later—with Thanos, the war, and the assassinations having taken a toll on her—, a vengeful and hateful Nebula got the jump on Gamora, nearly killing her. Seeing the monster Nebula had become, and that she would never stop unless she stopped her, Gamora ended up killing Nebula. At that time, Mantis happened to be there and saved Gamora's life; however, the incident had "broken" Gamora. In the year that followed, Mantis became Gamora's friend and somehow managed to take Gamora to Lamentis, where she introduced her to the Priests of Pama. The priests, willing to help Gamora heal, thought it would be a good idea for her to work through her issues with a boy, Akan, who was "lost" just like her.
Through mutual support, Gamora and Akan were able to overcome their demons. Now sufficiently healed, Mantis suggested that Gamora join a team, telling her it'd good for her mental health. Taking her advice, Gamora thus joined Peter Quill's "heroes-for-hire" enterprise, Guardians of the Galaxy, sometime after Drax. Despite being on fourteen missions together, the team has yet to achieve real success.
Personality[]
Trained to be a weapon, Gamora is generally a logical, businesslike and pragmatic individual, as well as dangerous. Both Peter and Rocket find her "scary", with even the latter generally avoiding doing things that could truly upset her. Preferring to keep her feelings and hobbies to herself, Gamora comes across as distant, but she isn't above spending downtime with her teammates or engaging in friendly banter, and is outspoken in her opinions.
Confident in her demeanor and abilities, she takes others' distrust—due to her past loyalties—in stride and, except for one pointed exception, shows little hesitation to talk about her past. Still, Drax's unrelenting insistence sometimes vexes her. Whenever this occurs or when she is displeased at something, Gamora is very sarcastic. She is also not above threatening others with violence when angry. "No killing teammates", somewhat humorously, appears to be a term in her contract. Still, although she would rather not admit it, Gamora does enjoy being on the team.
Reasonably well-adjusted as she is nowadays, Gamora continues to struggle with her upbringing under Thanos, as well as Nebula's fate. Thanos, who never tolerated imperfection, forced Gamora and Nebula to sever their emotions and turn them into hyper-focused weapons. Her way of life taking a toll on her and leaving her despondent with suicidal urges, it was thanks to her stay on Lamentis that she has been able to work through her trauma, to reflect and process. She is often seen meditating in her free time.
Conscious that everything Thanos ever did—even gifts—was a mind game designed to control her and Nebula, Gamora remains wary of being manipulated, and is unaccustomed to people doing things for her without expecting something in return. Her coping mechanism, making puns during battle, also remains ingrained into her even now. While Gamora seems to accept she isn't beyond redemption and worth thanks to the Priests and Mantis, Nebula's death weights heavily on her mind: She hasn't quite managed to stop thinking of herself as a monster, and tries to honor Nebula's memory by collecting dolls. Likewise, Gamora utterly despises men who take advantage of young girls, and will not hesitate to risk her life to save anyone she feels is in the position she and her sister were; however, her determination to do so can drive her to act uncharacteristically reckless.
Gameplay[]
Gamora is a non-playable character who assists Peter in and out of battle. In battle, true to her moniker, she is a skilled assassin who swiftly eliminates targets by delivering quick, high damage attacks. Using her blade Godslayer, she will deal the most combat damage to single enemies but can still attack multiple enemies at once with her Abilities. In explorations, Gamora can help Peter by remove obstacles to make way for the crew, can climb walls and pull Peter to higher ground, and cut certain out-of-reach objects. This generally can be used during battle, where Gamora can cut down hanging objects to drop on opponents.
Regarding items, Gamora has her standard outfit, and seven other outfits, of which one inspired by the 2014 film, and four by the comics. She has three Collectibles related to her past:
Assassin's Ring - Talks about the origin of her title and betraying Thanos.
Gamora is the sole surviving child of an alien race known as the Zen-Whoberi, who were eradicated by the Mad Titan, Thanos. He chose to raise her as his perfect assassin, along with an adopted sister, Nebula. Thanos forced the girls to sever their emotions and live only for the kill, often pitting them against one another. But even into young adulthood, Gamora protected her sibling.
When Thanos sided with the Chitauri in the Galactic War, Gamora initially served him. Countless political targets fell to her blade, until the day she fled. For unknown reasons, though many have speculated revenge, she joined Richard Rider's Resistance and helped lead them to victory. Finding herself increasingly sidelined by the allies after the war, she retreated to the fringes of space.
There, Gamora seemingly became an assassin-for-hire. A wave of mysterious, brutal deaths was later attributed to her, though none could be proved. It is unknown why she recently resurfaced and chose to join the rogue mercenary group, Guardians of the Galaxy.
First appeared in Strange Tales #180 (1975)
Writer: Jim Starlin
Artists: Jim Starlin, Alan Weiss
Cover Artist: Jim Starlin
Editor: Len Wein
ZEN-WHOBERI BEN TITAN, GAMORA
THREAT LEVEL: Galactic
ALIAS: Deadliest Woman in the Galaxy
STATUS: (1) Unpaid Fine
ORIGIN: Zen-Whoberi
INDICTMENTS: Aiding and Abetting, Conspiracy, Resisting Arrest, Flying Without a License, Theft, Assault, Armed Robbery, Smuggling, Illegal Scavenging, Murder, Crimes of War.
NOTES: Gamora Zen-Whoberi Ben Titan is the adoptive child and former pet assassin of the Mad Titan, Thanos. Her criminal involvement with the Chitauri has led to the generation of this file.
Despite her war crimes, the Worldwind begrudgingly notes that without Gamora's defection to the Resistance, the Galactic War may not have been won. As such, under advice from Richard Rider, amnesty has been granted.
ADDENDUM 1: The Worldwind has refused participation from Gamora regarding post-war efforts related to the future of New Xandar and the Nova Corps as an organization. A priority zero (P0) flag has been placed on her file. Further monitoring is required. Attempts to surveil Gamora have been unsuccessful. The P0 flag remains intact.
ADDENDUM 2: Gamora has recently joined the "Gardeners of the Galaxy", a supposed legitimate business founded by Peter Jason Quill. Further monitoring will be required.
AFFILIATIONS: Thanos, Chitauri Empire, The Resistance, Gardeners of the Galaxy
Gallery[]
Final concept by Frédéric Bennett.
In-engine render by Genci Buxheli.
Casual render by Buxheli.
Gamora, with a damaged armor, in Chapter 12.
Trivia[]
Regarding her design, the team wanted to reflect Gamora's status as the deadliest woman in the galaxy, which resulted in full tactical body armor that has swift and lethal design elements woven into her outfit. According to Gauthier-Leblanc, Gamora's overall look is sharp and practical, emphasizing her lethal nature.[1] Her face markings, representative of the Zen-Whoberi race, had many versions, but in the end they went a direction that was reminiscent of face paint that ancient civilizations would put on before battle; the black area also contrasted very well with the whites in her eyes, which helped emphasize her gaze.[2]
Out of Peter's music collection, Gamora likes "The Warrior" which, she says, gets her everytime. However, she isn't good at singing.
Her doll affection is a reference to Marvel Holiday Special '92, where Thanos gives a young Gamora a baby doll for Christmas.[3]
Gamora's look in Marvel Puzzle Quest.
Gamora makes an appearance in the mobile game Marvel Puzzle Quest.[4] Eidos-Montréal gave Demiurge Studios plenty of reference/concept art and background info, which allowed them to come up with some ability concepts for Gamora that fit her character and conveyed her fierceness and determination.[2]
