Nimona, the Rebellious Shapeshifting Sidekick
Nimona was created by N.D. Stevenson, the archives for the original webcomic can be found through the Wayback Machine, or you can purchase the graphic novel for yourself. The movie can be watched on Netflix.
WARNING
This blog will discuss themes of suicide. Viewer digression is advised
Welcome back to the blog! Here’s a character I’ve been excited to talk about for a while. I was a big fan of Nimona way back in 2015, and for years I was excited for the movie adaptation. It sadly went through development hell and I was devastated by the hardships the film went through. I was so worried that the movie wouldn’t ever see the light of day! I’m overjoyed that finally got the chance it deserves, and that people can enjoy something that I felt was extremely underrated. I advocated for Nimona on Death Battle long before trailers for the movie even came out, so I’m happy to see Nimona get more attention from the VS community. As I am a huge fan of both the comic and movie, I gotta admit that I’m a little on the fence about comping them. The comic certainly helps shed light on how her powers operate, but the plots go in noticeably different directions. How I’ll approach it is that I will comp the abilities, but distinguish where the feats come from. Movie feats will be in red. The webcomic and graphic novel are essentially the same, but the latter has updated art. Of course, I’ll be spoiling all iterations.
Background
"I don't know what's scarier. The fact that everyone in this kingdom wants to run a sword through my heart... or that sometimes, I just wanna let 'em."
What is Nimona? A lot of things, really. She's a shark, a rhino, an ostrich, and even a dragon. She can be whatever and whoever she wants! The better question is WHO is Nimona? Nimona's origins AND journey largely vary between the movie and graphic novel, so I'll start with the formulas present in both before diving into each separately.
In both versions, Nimona is a plucky and impish shapeshifter. She refuses to be confined to a single form, living freely as whatever she likes without anyone telling her otherwise. On the surface she's fun-loving, energetic, murder-happy, and very devious; but deep down is someone who just wants to be accepted by others regardless of what she is. She wants to rebel against the corrupt Institution of Law and Enforcement that partially commands the kingdom. So, she searches for the public villain Ballister to become his sidekick so they can take the Institution down together. As they're both outcasts that have beef with the Institution, she thinks it'll be easy to hit it off with him. He finds it difficult to grow accustomed with her bombastic personality and her shapeshifting and murderous tendencies, but over time they form a close bond and he becomes a father-like figure to her. Together they revolt against the Instituion, frequently squaring against Ambrosius Goldenloin, the Institution's prized knight who has a complicated relationship with Ballister. As the duo makes further strides to deface the Instituion, a wrench is thrown in Nimona's bond with Ballister as he becomes suspicious of her past and even feels threatened enough by her to reach for his sword. It all leads to a big fight where Nimona turns into a giant shadowy kaiju that kills the Institution's Director that's responsible for everything wrong in the kingdom, but at the cost of her seemingly dying. Ballister and Ambrosius have since made up and ameliorated the kingdom. There isn't any Institution to hunt Ballister anymore, so he can finally live peacefully. However, he deeply misses the girl that changed his life…
The key differences between versions of Nimona have to do with her past and how the story wraps up. Starting with the movie, Nimona's exact origins are unknown, but she is at least a thousand years old. She was always a free spirit living, coasting from place to place to do whatever she wanted. Although liberated, she felt lonely. Regardless of what form she took, she couldn't find anyone that would accept her. That is, until she met a young girl named Gloreth, who accepted her and her shapeshifting powers. Their friendship blossomed and for a while, Nimona was happy. But when Gloreth's village discovered her, they treated her like a monster. She was cornered and frightened, and when she tried to defend herself, her only friend joined the mob in scaring her away. Gloreth would go on to be crowned the queen of the kingdom years later, immortalized for standing up to a fearsome monster that threatened the townsfolk. The reality couldn't have been farther from the truth.
Upon learning that she may have been this legendary beast, Ballister confronted her about it. She was heartbroken that this new insight almost made him see her as the monster everyone else thinks she is, making her run away. Fleeing for her life, she's haunted by her past when she happens to arrive at the well where she met Gloreth. Consumed by grief, she turns into a giant shadow monster and invades the kingdom. While she stomps through the city, she's never outwardly violent unless she's acting in self defense or taking down signs perpetrating the "kill the monster" mentality. Ultimately, she attempts to take her own life by piercing her heart through the giant sword held by the statue of Gloreth. Thankfully, Ballister stops her and apologizes, making sure she feels validated and comforted. As she embraces him and sobs, all the bystanders see that she's not a beast to be vanquished, but someone who just wants to be accepted. Unfortunately their moment of comfort doesn't last long, as the Director is preparing to fire a laser cannon to destroy her, along with half the kingdom as collateral. Turning into a radiant phoenix, Nimona sacrifices herself to save everyone. After time passes for the kingdom to rebuild itself, Nimona is praised as a hero and mourned for her passing. Ballister doesn't have a target on his back anymore and he made up with Ambrosius, but he misses Nimona dearly. Thankfully when he returns to his old hideout, he's visited by his doting minion…
The comic has many differences compared to the movie, but it's nowhere near as evident in Nimona herself. She's a flat out villain who murders people in cold blood, gives many unknowing peasants food poisoning, and helps Ballister rob a bank. In spite of her homicidal tendencies, she's still a lovable scamp who grows on Ballister. Sure, some of the missions they go on bring out her inferiority complex and it's apparent that she's hiding things from him, but that makes Ballister all the more concerned for her safety. That is… until he realizes she lied about her past. Like the movie, she storms off after he reaches for his sword. Ballister decides to contact his scientist buddy Dr. Blitzmeyer to hypothesize about Nimona's true nature, and she brings up the beast that the great knight Gloreth once slew a thousand years ago. According to the tales the monster shared many of Nimona's powers. Some even believed that the monster actually killed Gloreth and took her place. If she were the beast of legend, Ballister presumed that it's become more difficult to hide because something had changed with her—likely due to lab modifications. On occasion, Nimona would be vocal about her hatred of labs and reacted radically when asked for her powers to be researched.
Ballister is eventually caught by the knights. After starting to reconcile with Ambrosius, Ballister is brought to the Director's weapon development chambers. There, he sees Nimona, who was caught while trying to rescue him. She's forced to cooperate with her captors as they threaten his life. As they begin conducting tests on her, it severely backfires when her blood is drawn. That small drop of blood turns into a giant black dragon that escapes, threatening to destroy the kingdom. Ballister comes up with a plan to use Blitzmeyer's technology to trap the beast in its current form so he can bring the Nimona from the lab to her. As all hell breaks loose, bits of her true past are revealed, and it's honestly very depressing. Long ago when Nimona was a child, she revealed her powers trying to stop raiders from invading her village. Her parents were convinced she was an imposter that replaced their actual daughter after unexpectedly overcoming a dire sickness when she was a baby. Thus, she was brought to the village's knights and was imprisoned. Not long after, she was taken to a lab so her powers could be researched and experimented on. The Director was nowhere near the first person who tried to break her. And just like Nimona's abusers before, the Director was up in flames.
Eventually, Ballister comes back for the original Nimona and escorts her to her monstrous duplicate. When the two Nimonas meet, the monster version of her tells her that she can't change forms. This convinces the original that Ballister reunited them so he could swiftly kill both. Even though he tells her that he'll shut off Blitzmeyer's device, she still doesn't trust him. There were many before Ballister who thought they could be her protective friends that could save her from a life of rejection and fearmongering. However, after they find out how bad it really is, they abandon her or even try to kill her themselves. The cycle never stops. All Ballister was trying to do was to stop her from destroying the kingdom, yet she's still convinced he's the same as everyone else. Forced into a corner, he greatly damages Nimona's beast form. As Nimona's original body goes to comfort her injured other half, the facility they were fighting in is set for self destruction. As Nimona refuses to leave the monster's side, Ballister saves Ambrosius before the building is purged.
Afterwards, Ballister as championed as a hero for slaying the beast. Nimona's riot brought to light all of the Institution's illegal projects and many campaigned for it to be disbanded. In spite of everything, Ballister does not think of Nimona as a monster and feels like he just killed one of his friends. Thankfully that isn't true, as for the last time in his life, he's visited by Nimona disguised as a doctor. By the time he figures out it was her, he watches her give a somber farewell as she blends into the crowd…
Hopefully by now, she's found peace.
Equipment
Knife
She's never seen using it on anyone in the movie, but she is delightfully prepared to shank anyone that gets in her way
Abilities
Shapeshifting
Nimona is a one of a kind shapeshifter. There are beings that shift from one form to another in her world like werewolves and selkies, but there's nothing quite like her. She can transform into any type of organic being, which includes:- Any type of animal. All her animal transformations are red (except for the shark transformation in the comic but we can let that slide)
- Changing specific parts of herself, like making herself or a single arm muscular, growing extra thumbs, or sprouting draconic wings
- Turning into mythical creatures that exist in her world like dragons or phoenixes. It should be noted that the movie's art book shows many transformations of magical creatures that didn't make it into the movie like gnomes, plant monsters, and eyeball creatures)
- Transforming into extinct animals, like ankylosauruses or triceratopses
- Shapeshifting into any person, regardless of gender or age. She can also change aspects of whoever she shifts into, like gaining a red highlight or sharpening her teeth
- Can turn into fictional characters, as demonstrated by her turning into a red version of the cereal mascot Kwispy the Dragon. While that power is one of her limits in the comic, she is able to turn into people she makes up. It's just harder for her compared to people that already exist
- She gains the abilities and characteristics of whatever she turns into, like having a mechanical arm when turning into Ballister or breathing underwater as a fish
Her only real limit is turning into inanimate objects.
Nimona is a one of a kind shapeshifter. There are beings that shift from one form to another in her world like werewolves and selkies, but there's nothing quite like her. She can transform into any type of organic being, which includes:
- Any type of animal. All her animal transformations are red (except for the shark transformation in the comic but we can let that slide)
- Changing specific parts of herself, like making herself or a single arm muscular, growing extra thumbs, or sprouting draconic wings
- Turning into mythical creatures that exist in her world like dragons or phoenixes. It should be noted that the movie's art book shows many transformations of magical creatures that didn't make it into the movie like gnomes, plant monsters, and eyeball creatures)
- Transforming into extinct animals, like ankylosauruses or triceratopses
- Shapeshifting into any person, regardless of gender or age. She can also change aspects of whoever she shifts into, like gaining a red highlight or sharpening her teeth
- Can turn into fictional characters, as demonstrated by her turning into a red version of the cereal mascot Kwispy the Dragon. While that power is one of her limits in the comic, she is able to turn into people she makes up. It's just harder for her compared to people that already exist
- She gains the abilities and characteristics of whatever she turns into, like having a mechanical arm when turning into Ballister or breathing underwater as a fish
Her only real limit is turning into inanimate objects.
Flight
This is accomplished with any of her winged transformations
This is accomplished with any of her winged transformations
Size Manipulation
This really depends on what shape Nimona takes. She can be a monster as big as a building, or as small as a ferret
This really depends on what shape Nimona takes. She can be a monster as big as a building, or as small as a ferret
Firebreath
Since she can turn into a dragon, she's able to breathe fire like one
Since she can turn into a dragon, she's able to breathe fire like one
Regeneration (Mid-High)
Nimona has some of the most interesting healing abilities out of any character I've covered on this blog. Every time she transforms, her every cell in her body is completely destroyed and regenerates. Essentially, she dies every time she transforms and reforms at the cellular level.
Nimona has some of the most interesting healing abilities out of any character I've covered on this blog. Every time she transforms, her every cell in her body is completely destroyed and regenerates. Essentially, she dies every time she transforms and reforms at the cellular level.
Resistances
Blood and Cell Manipulation
Nimona can manipulate her own blood and cells that are extracted from her. and can turn them into a being independent of her.
Nimona can manipulate her own blood and cells that are extracted from her. and can turn them into a being independent of her.
Immortality (Types 1 and 3)
Nimona is not only a shapeshifter, but an immortal being too. Thanks to her highly regenerative cells, she's managed to live way longer than anyone reasonably should. She appears as a young girl since that's the form she chooses to take. It's unclear what her true current form looks like. I believe type 1 is most represented in the movie while type 3 is best shown in the comic. In her comic version's past, the technology is still the same as it is currently. Thus, she likely didn't live as she blatantly did in the movie, which is at least a thousand years. Whereas while the movie depiction might imply that damaging her heart may be enough to kill her (even though she survives a half-city-destroying laser afterwards), she shrugs off her whole atomic structure being completely obliterated in the comic.
Nimona is not only a shapeshifter, but an immortal being too. Thanks to her highly regenerative cells, she's managed to live way longer than anyone reasonably should. She appears as a young girl since that's the form she chooses to take. It's unclear what her true current form looks like. I believe type 1 is most represented in the movie while type 3 is best shown in the comic. In her comic version's past, the technology is still the same as it is currently. Thus, she likely didn't live as she blatantly did in the movie, which is at least a thousand years. Whereas while the movie depiction might imply that damaging her heart may be enough to kill her (even though she survives a half-city-destroying laser afterwards), she shrugs off her whole atomic structure being completely obliterated in the comic.
Limited Duplication
Her cells from spilled blood can regenerate so quickly that they can turn into an entirely new being. The form of whatever being comes from her blood is driven by whatever emotion she was feeling before. However, she doesn't do this often, as it threatens her previous body to disintegrate.
Her cells from spilled blood can regenerate so quickly that they can turn into an entirely new being. The form of whatever being comes from her blood is driven by whatever emotion she was feeling before. However, she doesn't do this often, as it threatens her previous body to disintegrate.
Spike Projection and Bodily Weaponry
In her giant beast form, she can shoot black spines
In her giant beast form, she can shoot black spines
Voice Mimicry
She can change her voice to sound like whoever she's transformed into
She can change her voice to sound like whoever she's transformed into
Cereal Breath
In her Kwispy form, she fires giant cereal bits from her maw. Talk about an unbalanced breakfast
In her Kwispy form, she fires giant cereal bits from her maw. Talk about an unbalanced breakfast
Techniques
N/A
Feats
Overall
- Mauled a knight to death, then turned into a little girl to steal another other knight's knife to stab him in the back. That was enough to make the third knight run away
- Helped Ballister expose the Institution's jaderoot conspiracy, in which they were hoarding the infamously poisonous jaderoot plant
- Carried out one of Ballister's plans by disguising as an old lady and adding non-fatal toxic apples in markets to make people more suspicious of the Institution after the jaderoot rumors
- Helped Ballister rob a bank
- Poisoned the food at the royal tournament, causing the peasants to rebel against the kingdom's knights
- She freed herself from a self-repairing alloy cage when her extracted blood turned into her beast form that broke her out
- She killed the king and burned his palace
- Killed the corrupt Director in both iterations
- Saved her birthtown when she was a child
- Massacred the people who experimented on her when she was a child, and possibly rampaged throughout her original village—as she likely killed her parents
- Gravely injured Ambrosius Goldenloin
- While transformed into a sheep, she knitted her own wool into a scarf
- Freed Ballister from prison, breaking in disguised as a rat. She disposed of at least 13 guards offscreen before finding him. Then she defeated several knights with her many transformations when making their daring escape
- While running with Ballister, she threw an axe to the side without looking. The axe a knight's head on the opposite side of the room, making him fall off the balcony
- Beat up a bunch of knights while disguised as Ballister, all while loitering, littering, and playing free jazz on a saxophone. Did this as a distraction so Ballister could board a train undetected
- Helped Ballister kidnap a squire while taking the form of a little boy and unearthed the truth that the Director is responsible for the queen's death
- Ran on a ring of knights in her ostrich form
- Saved Ballister and a kid as the famous cereal mascot Kwispy the Dragon
- Helped expose the Director's conspiracies by disguising herself as Ambrosius and allowing the Director to "kill" him as her monologue is on camera
- Stopped the Director from destroying half the city just to take her out
- Was finally seen as a monster no longer, but rather a hero
Strength
- Mauled a knight to death in her wolf form
- Broke through a metal door in her rhino form
- Broke through an elevator
- Rammed through a metal wall in her ankylosaurus form
- Her fire can instantly incinerate anyone, even if they're wearing protective armor
- Broke through a building's ceiling as the beast
- Her black beast form is stated to be a threat to the entire kingdom, burning down many buildings
- Short circuited a password keypad by punching it
- Fell through five floors as a whale
- Landing on the last floor made twelve large statues shake (not the two behind Nimona). Then they all collapsed
- Her chaos in the jail led to this explosion happening after escaping
- Knocked away a billboard in her monster form
Speed
- Scales to Ambrosius, who reacted to Ballister's laser cannon (likely not a lightspeed laser)
- Tackled Ballister so he'd dodge an explosive laser blast
- She disappeared from a spinning chair to an aloft bed in three seconds
- Dodges and catches many crossbow arrows throughout the movie
- Caught an arrow that riccocheted inside a tight closet
- Can turn into an ostrich, which can run up to 43 mph
- Scales to Ballister, who can dodge lasers
Durability
- Survived a castle-like research facility exploding
- Regenerated from being decapitated in her dragon form
- Survived an electric shock
- Beast form endured a blast from a jaderoot gun
- Beast form withstood an exploding overcharged tank
- Survived an explosion of a 500 ft radius
- Survived a fall from this height by turning into an armadillo to protect herself
- Never flinched while an arrow was in her leg. Same goes for when it was pulled out
- Survived being stabbed through the torso
- A rocket crossed her body in her monster form, making a large cut
- Her back was hit by explosive rounds in her monster form
- Survived an explosion that would have taken out half the city. The initial blast she withstood still unleashed a massive burst of light. This link contains a calc for large island level (credit to G-Toasty)
Weaknesses
- Nimona is one chaotic gremlin. Instead of strategizing villainous plans, she'd rather jump headfirst and murder everyone in sight. Her anarchic approach usually leads to great success due to her quick thinking, but her reckless behavior can catch up to her
- She can't turn into anything inanimate, only living creatures
- Nimona is allergic to bananas, they give her hives
- In the comics, there is an anomalous energy source that keeps Nimona from changing forms when exposed to it. For Nimona it takes a lot of energy to transform, and being exposed to that energy source interferes with her access to energy. So if she's transformed into a cat, she'll be stuck that way until she's far away from the energy
- This is especially evident in the comic, but Nimona has a massive inferiority complex.
- She immediately lashes out and pushes those away who try to dig into her past, even people she's close to. To Nimona, it all ends the same for her when they learn more about her—abandonment or an attempt on her life
- It seems like her heart is her weak point in the movie. However, she completely regenerated after she took a city-destroying laser to the face and came out fine afterwards, so destroying her heart might not even kill her
- She's unable to escape from containment in a self-repairing alloy from the inside
- After a stronger duplicate is created from her free cells, the weaker Nimona will eventually disintegrate if they don't rejoin. Splitting herself is unstable, so it's not safe for the original Nimona to transform into something strong. When that happens, she takes the form of her younger self.
Matchup Potential
Nimona vs Amethyst (Nimona vs Steven Universe)
(thumbnail by Vibe Check)
Vibe Check
The connections are the following: Free-spirited, impulsive and chaotic immortal outcasts who are capable of shapeshifting their bodies into any form they want. They were taken in by a leader they looked up to who used to be part of an antagonistic organization within a larger nation that had wronged them. They'd go on to become wanted criminals to said nations. Both have heavy emotional baggage their own self-worth, sporting big inferiority complexes. Thankfully, both have found families that help them through their struggles. For comic Nimona, they also share some heavy baggage regarding experimentation.
While I liked this matchup before, the movie coming out made it even better for me. Nimona has such a bombastic personality that really bounces off of Amethyst's well. Amethyst is more of a lax jokester compared to the anarchic goblin that is Nimona, so the banter would be a big highlight. The shapeshifting aspect would be pretty fun, especially since Amethyst can turn into more than just animals and people. I like the idea of Amethyst trying to fight Nimona as a helicopter, but Nimona sneaks into her cockpit as an otter and causes her to spiral out of control and fall to the ground. Amethyst's whip would also add some good variety to the dynamic, as it can interact with Nimona's shapeshifting in many fun ways. At some point I feel like Nimona might reach a breaking point as she's hit too much, and as Amethyst goes to check up on her.
As for the verdict, Amethyst likely statstomps, but Nimona has a way more powerful regen option than Amethyst's. One could definitely argue that Nimona could outlast her, though betting on Amethyst is likely the safer bet.
Advent_Chaos
I think it's the MU where you get the most out of both characters, both fight dynamic wise and thematically. The outcast story and themes of acceptance and found family are very prevalent in both Nimona and SU, and Amethyst and Nimona's share many similar beats be it in personality, origin and overall attitude. But at the same time they are different enough so that the clash between them doesn't feel like the same character fighting.
Nimona is a lot more in your face about it, while Amethyst really loves teasing from a distance. So it could literally first start off as a game of cat and mouse as Nimona tries to pin down Amethyst and also barks back at her sass. And I think with the several transformations they share, the choreography potential really is limitless.
Nimona vs Beast Boy (Nimona vs Teen Titans)
(thumbnail by Vibe Check)
Vibe Check
You wouldn't believe how flabbergasted I was when I first learned that Nimona vs Beast Boy was announced as a Death Battle Cast episode. I'd highly recommend watching it; it was such a blast watching the team discuss Nimona and everything about her. Huge props to Erin for repping her in the debate. Here's to hoping more webcomic characters are on more DB's radar.
As for the matchup itself, I think it's okay. It boils down to gremlin-coded shapeshifters, though I don't know Beast Boy enough to comment on it. The matchup was pitched with Teen Titans Beast Boy in mind since anything beyond that would just make it a mismatch. I'd be inclined to agree, but Teen Titans Beast Boy still stomps. Especially with what was discussed in the cast episode.
Even though there's another webcomic character I think works better against Beast Boy (who I may cover in the future), this one's still decently fun. Their funky personalities work well for humorous banter and it could make for a chaotic shapeshifter fight. While using TT!Beast Boy inhibits him from using a lot of his cooler and weirder transformations, it's probably for the best so it doesn't overwhelm Nimona too much.
Nimona vs Maui (Nimona vs Moana)
(thumbnail by JustADude)
JustADude
The connections are basically immortal shapeshifting partners to the protagonists that just want some love. One is seen as a hero and one as a villain.
I don't have a lot to say for the mu as a fight. The interactions would be the most fun part, and the set up is obvious due to Maui's hero status and Nimona's "villain" one. The climax can be something similar to the Te Kā fight with the final blow being Nimona's giant phoenix vs Maui's last hit with his hook.
But uh yeah I'm not usually a deep thinker for match ups so I'll go with "It's a cool mu bruh, trust me".
Nimona vs Grace Scuridae (Nimona vs El Goonish Shive)
(thumbnail by Vibe Check)
Vibe Check
The connections here mostly relate to the comic version of Nimona. It's two webcomic shapeshifters who were demonized for their unnatural abilities.They'd be the target of capture for a major antagonist, meeting up with a mad scientist they'd soon grow attached to. Both desired to go down opposite paths, with Nimona wanting to become a villain and Grace wanting to become a hero. Eventually, both would end up confronting the people who tortured them all that time ago and face off against them, showing off a powerful rage-induced form that they'd get lost in until one of their friends helped them calm down.
I have not read El Goonish Shive yet, but I do vibe with this connection list I discovered while searching for Nimona MUs. I'd figure the contrast in personalities could lead to good banter and the dynamic would consist of a lot of different transformations.
NEXT TIME ON WCAB… whenever I feel like it
