| “ | I see it within you. Fear.... jealousy.... betrayal. It is our duty to cleanse the universe of this weakness. | „ |
| ~ Ayesha. |
| “ | Don't screw with the Sovereign! | „ |
| ~ Ayesha as she is about to kill the Guardians. |
| “ | Ayesha: They are perturbed I’ve wasted our resources. When they see what I’ve created here, their wrath will dissipate. Chambermaid: It’s a new type of birthing pod ma’m? Ayesha: That, my child, is the next step in our evolution. More powerful, more beautiful, more capable of destroying the Guardians of the Galaxy. I think I shall call him… ADAM. |
„ |
| ~ Ayesha during the post credits, revealing her next plan to the Chambermaid. |
Ayesha is the secondary antagonist of the 2017 Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and a major antagonist in its 2023 sequel Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
She is the high priestess of the Sovereign, a prideful and genetically perfected species created by the High Evolutionary who view all other species as inferior. After hiring the Guardians of the Galaxy for a job and soon learning that Rocket Raccoon had stolen from them, Ayesha orders the Guardians' elimination, and following her initial defeat, creates the super soldier Adam Warlock to invoke retribution on the Guardians.
She was portrayed by Elizabeth Debicki, who also played Victoria Vinciguerra in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Mina Jensen in The Cloverfield Paradox.
Biography
Employing the Guardians of the Galaxy
Ayesha hires the Guardians of the Galaxy to protect her people's energy batteries from being destroyed by an alien monster called the Abilisk. The Guardians succeed in killing the beast and protecting the batteries and thus return to Ayesha to collect their reward.
During the audience, Ayesha thanks the Guardians for risking their lives for the batteries but also explains that they were only hired because the Sovereign consider themselves too precious for risking their own. Gamora then reminds Ayesha that they were promised something in return for their services and true to her word, Ayesha has the payment brought to them - Gamora's sister Nebula. Ayesha reveals that Nebula was apprehended while trying to steal the batteries and tells Gamora to do with her as she pleases. Before the Guardians turn to leave, Ayesha asks about Star Lord's heritage and he replies that while his mother is from Earth, he does not know his father Ego. She then called Peter an unorthodox genealogy hybrid. While Ayesha is talking, Rocket ironically claims that he was told that the Sovereign were conceited douchebags. This shocks and insults the proud Sovereign and the Guardians leave before they can insult the Sovereign even more. However, it is revealed that Rocket secretly stole some of the batteries.
Revenge on the Guardians
When the Sovereign learn that they have been robbed, Ayesha order the Guardians' deaths. A fifty ship strong Sovereign fleet (led by the Sovereign Admiral) immediately starts pursuing their spaceship but they are all destroyed by the arriving Ego, much to Ayesha's humiliation. After the destruction of the fleet, Ayesha tracks down Yondu Udonta and his Ravager clan, employing them to capture the Guardians and bring them to the Sovereign for their execution.
However, Yondu decided to deliver the batteries instead, as he knows that killing the Guardians would put himself and his clan in trouble with the Nova Corps, which resulted a mutiny (led by Taserface) against Yondu and his followers. After witnessing his loyalists being murdered, Yondu was freed by Kraglin Obfonteri and proceeded to kill Taserface and the other Ravagers before heading over to the planet Ego with Rocket and Kraglin. However, before Taserface died, he gave the Sovereign Chambermaid the coordinates of Yondu's ship, allowing Ayesha to personally commandeer a vast fleet of Sovereign warships after the Guardians in Ego's planet. They attack the Guardians while they are about to destroy Ego's core. Cornering the Guardians' ship with their spaceships, Ayesha briefly informs the Guardians that they will be destroyed as a warning for all others who intend to betray the Sovereign. She then orders her troops to fire onto the starship, but Yondu and Nebula manage to create an enormous blast of energy rays that destroys all of the Sovereign ships. Humiliated once again, an angry Ayesha screams in defeat, just as Star Lord defeats Ego in his plot to the destroy the universe.
A New Creation
Following Ego's death, Ayesha waits to go on trial with the Sovereign Council for wasting their resources on her plot for chasing down the Guardians. Despite the setback, Ayesha still intends to kill the Guardians as she looks onto her newest genetic creation dubbed Adam, claiming that he will be the perfect key to take down the Guardians in revenge for their humiliation against her.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
In the threequel, Ayesha worked with the High Evolutionary to capture Rocket. But the High Evolutionary demanded that Adam Warlock be brought out of his cocoon early, which stunted his growth.
Personality
| “ | Just who in the hell do you think you are? | „ |
| ~ Ayesha to the Guardians of the Galaxy. |
Much like the rest of the Sovereign people, Ayesha is a xenophobic and conservative person. She even considered the Guardians as disrespectful to Ayesha and the rest of her subjects (such as when Rocket Raccoon brought out a rumor that the Sovereign are "conceited douchebags"), but regardless thanks them for killing the Abilisk. However, Ayesha's respect to the group changes when Rocket stole some of the Anulax Batteries, and she immediately saw this as an act of treason, which eventually cause her to give out orders to kill them.
Additionally, she can be extremely pretentious and arrogant, being by thinking of herself and the Sovereign people as much more superior than any other race in the galaxy, and is also somewhat immature, prone to frustrated screaming and fits when embarrassed or defeated. All thought she could be arrogant and conceited, she did care for her creation/son - Adam Warlock. She was also shown to be rightfully afraid of the High Evolutionary, who was far more ruthless, intimidating and brutal, and was even concerned for her son when he was tortured by the High Evolutionary.
Gallery
Trivia
- The post-credit scene reveals that Ayesha is responsible for the creation of Adam Warlock.
- Strangely, a cocoon supposedly containing Adam Warlock had previously appeared in the Collector's possession during the post-credit scene of Thor: The Dark World, though it can be assumed that said cocoon is now completely unrelated to Warlock, given his new canonical origin story.
- Director James Gunn put special attention on the Sovereign's appearance, especially Ayesha because he wanted her dress to look like part of her throne.
- In the comics, the being known as "Ayesha" was originally the second attempt of the Enclave, with the unacknowledged aid of Stephen Strange, to resurrect their plan to end war and crime through the creation of an artificial human after the failure of the first attempt with "Him". Originally referred to as Paragon, she would later be called other names like Her, Ayesha and Kismet.
