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Nova (comics)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the former Herald of Galactus who also went by the name Nova, see Nova (Frankie Raye).
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Nova, (Richard Rider), is a fictional superhero from Marvel Comics. Becoming a member of the galaxy's Nova Corps, an intergalactic police force, the youth gained enhanced strength, flight, injury resistance, and a uniform with life support.
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The character was created by Marv Wolfman and John Buscema in Nova #1, 1976. The original Nova series lasted 25 issues. Marvel produced three subsequent Nova titles, the most recent of which (Nova, volume 4) began in April, 2007. The character also features prominently in past issues of Marvel's New Warriors as well as the 2006 Annihilation cross-over event.
Born in Hempstead, New York, Richard Rider as a teenager is chosen at random by the alien Rhomann Dey, last surviving Nova Centurion of the planet Xandar's elite Nova Corps, to inherit his power and succeed him in the rank of Nova Prime following the destruction of his world by the intergalactic pirate Zorr. Having been mortally wounded in the battle that tore Xandar apart, Dey succeeds in tracking Zorr to Earth, but is unable to exact vengeance due to the extent of his injuries. At death's door, Dey has little choice but to transfer his power to an unsuspecting human on the planet below, praying that whomever he finds will take up his cause.
Rider gains great strength, a degree of invulnerability, the power to fly, and a uniform with a sealed life support system, but little instruction on how to use these new powers. Still, he takes up the life of a superhero, fighting costumed villains in New York and gradually learning how to use his new powers.
Rider was called into space to protect the recently reconstructed planet Xandar, the same world where his great powers originated. Eventually tiring of a life of constant intergalactic war and hoping to rejoin his high school friends, Rider requests a return home to Earth. When he is told he must relinquish his powers in order to do so, Rider agrees.[1]
For a time, Rider lives a relatively normal life flipping burgers and barely making ends meet due to his disrupted education. He spends his time trying to pick up the pieces of the life he had left behind, all the while wishing he could find a way to regain the powers he lost. Unknown to him, during this period, the planet Xandar is destroyed again in an attack by the space pirate Nebula.
In a bid to secure new super powered allies, the superhero Night Thrasher deduces that Rider's powers lay dormant inside the young man. Sure that a high-stress situation will be enough to activate Rider's powers, Night Thrasher kidnaps Rider and drops him off the top of a building. The fall causes Rider's powers to reignite to full strength.
Rider joins Night Thrasher's superhero group, the New Warriors. Their adventures together include encounters with Nova's old foe the Sphinx and a brief stint working alongside Cable and X-Force. During this time, Rider begins dating fellow teammate Namorita and becomes close friends with Speedball.
Functioning for several years as an earth-bound super hero with no connection to the Nova Corps, Rider eventually encounters three Xandarians who had survived the destruction of that planet: Firelord, Air-Walker, and Garthan Saal, a former Nova Corps Centurion who has been driven insane by his attempt to absorb the entirety of the Xandarian Nova Force, the source of the powers of all Nova Centurions. This confrontation indirectly leads to the repopulation of Xandar, the reformation of the Xandarian Nova Corps, and Rider's appointment to the rank of Centurion Prime.
Returning to Earth, Rider is confronted with the challenge of balancing dual lives as a member of both the Nova Corps as well as the New Warriors. Rider soon encounters another Nova Corps member from an alternate timeline named Nova 0:0, who attacks him in an effort to prepare him to do battle with the mysterious force that had destroyed his own Earth: "the Deathstorm." Defying the direct order of Xandar's Queen Adora to return to Xandar to quell an emergency, Rider succeeds in stopping the Deathstorm and saving Earth. His success is short lived, however, as Rider finds himself stripped of his powers once again and replaced as Centurion Prime by Nova Omega (Garthan Saal). After several months, Saal is killed by Volx, Queen of the Dire Wraiths, returning the Nova force to Rider with his final breath.
Nova briefly travels the US with the reformed New Warriors as part of a reality television show. After the first season of the show, however, he leaves the group for space to stand with the rest of the Nova Corps in the fight against the forces of Annihilus. The clustered world of Xandar is quickly decimated and the entire Nova Corps is massacred by a surprise attack of the Annihilation Wave, newly arrived in this universe from the Negative Zone.
Rider survives the onslaught, awakening on the ruined surface of Xandar. Drawn deep under the surface of the planet, Rider makes contact with the Xandarian Worldmind, a living supercomputer that is the regulator of the Nova Force and caretaker of the entire collective database of Xandarian civilization. As Rider is the only Nova Corps Centurion left alive, the Worldmind explains that there is no choice but to upload itself and the entire Nova Force into his being. This act greatly enhances his already superhuman strength and durability as well as granting him control of the nearly limitless energies of the Nova Force.
During the prolonged effort to repel the Annihilation wave, Rider takes command of the United Front, a loose collaboration of freedom fighters determined to stop Annihilus. With the aid of Phyla-Vell, Rider eventually defeats Annihilus in combat, effectively halting the wave of destruction.
- See also: Civil War (comic book)
While battling the Annihilation Wave, Rider remains unaware of the civil war raging between heroes over the Superhuman Registration Act. Upon returning to Earth after the defeat of Annihilus, Rider is confronted by Iron Man who offers him the chance to register as a hero with the United States government. Rider ultimately refuses the offer and soon leaves Earth in an effort to continue patrolling the universe.
After leaving Earth, Rider receives distress calls from all over Kree Space. Arriving at Hala, capital planet of the Kree Empire, Rider encounters the Phalanx-possessed Kree Sentries. After sustaining damage from the Phalanx-possessed Kree Sentries, Rider opens a stargate in an attempt to escape Kree space and find some back-up. The Phalanx had by then erected a huge energy barrier around Kree space and Richard did not successfully abort the stargate before impacting the barrier. Crashing on a distant planet, Richard Rider's charred body rests in a crater while the Worldmind uploads itself into Ko-Rel, a Kree commander investigating the crash site. After deputizing the leader of the Kree force that had crashed on the same planet a year ago into the Nova Corps to protect him, now Worldmind's Nova Prime, Rider's body is brought to their ship as he heals. Unfortunately, the Phalanx attack the ship, drawing away Nova 0001, despite Worldmind's protestations. In the diversion, Gamora (Nova's lover during the Annihilation Wave) who has been infected by the Phalanx, sneaks on board and infects Richard herself. The Worldmind then tells Nova 0001 to kill the Nova Prime. During the battle Nova 0001 is wounded by Richard and Gamora stabs her from behind, apparently killing her. Nova's conscience comes back to wake him up as the remaining energy from Nova 0001 was restored to him. Nova breaks free from the Phalanx's hold and flees to a Neutron star to form a stargate to exit Kree space. As Nova is sucked in he drags Drax and Gamora with him. Nova is spit out into unknown space as well as Drax and Gamora...He wakes up in a creepy place which looks like a spaceship and wanders in the corridors until he meets The Luminals, protectors of the planet Xarth Three. But, one of them becomes a zombie and Nova fight them but must run away from the fight. He then meets Cosmo the talking Russian dog. Thanks to the dog, Nova understands that the creepy place is actually a severed Celestial head floating at the end of the universe. The place is called the RIP where all space and matter and time and energy runs out. Nova and Cosmo must now fight the zombified Luminals and a mysterious enemy called Abyss.
In the alternate future of Earth X, Nova resides in the afterlife. He and two other deceased heroes lead an initial charge against Mephisto, whose plans involve the death of all living beings. They are swiftly defeated, though the remaining heroes later make another attempt.
Nova is featured as one of the more realistic heroes in the Marvel Zombies one shot Dead Days. Unable to overcome his fear and horror of the slaughter occurring around him, he fails to act in his own defense when Spider-Man attacks him. Fortunately for Nova, Daredevil intervenes, but is bitten when Nova is too shocked to assist. He and The Mighty Thor are rescued by the Fantastic Four and united with the other surviving heroes on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. Nova panics further when Nick Fury formulates a desperate last stand defense, citing that this was nothing like previous global threats;and that the world was as good as dead. Regardless, Nova helps in the battle until he is bitten by Ms. Marvel. As a zombie, he participates in a failed attack on Doctor Doom's castle, in an effort to get at the humans inside. A zombie version of Nova can be seen in the Marvel Zombies limited series, being shredded by a hail of metal fragments hurled by Magneto.
He is still mobile when a swarm of zombies attack and attempt to consume the Silver Surfer. During the incident, Zombie Hulk crushes Zombie Hercules when the latter attempts to steal the Silver Surfer's head. Nova backs away, saying "On second thought, you keep that, big guy". He is later killed by the cosmic zombies.
Richard Rider appears frequently in the Spider-Girl series, which is set in an alternate future. The MC2 Nova (co-created by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz) first appeared in Spider-Girl #7 and wrongly believed Spider-Girl was a super-villain since she was fighting Darkdevil at the time. After a brief battle, Nova would later realize his mistake.
Over time, the MC2 Nova has attempted to tutor and lecture Spider-Girl on the importance of being a super-hero. However, his arrogance and lack of patience with younger heroes causes his lessons to be largely ignored. However, the fact that Nova was a founding member of the New Warriors gave Spider-Girl the inspiration to form a new MC2 version of the Warriors.
By the time of the series, Nova has served as a temporary Avenger. He also appears in the Last Hero Standing and within the Avengers Next limited series. Nova also assisted in the battle against Galactus in Last Planet Standing. The Nova in the MC2/Spider-Girl future is eventually confirmed to be Richard Rider in Avengers Next #2. His attitude toward Spider-Girl is often arrogant and dismissive, bordering on the contemptuous; but later he becomes impressed toward her, after her surviving a battle against the Avengers' enemy Seth.
The MC2 Nova uniform closely resembles the original Centurion Nova Prime uniform worn by Rhomann Dey (the Xandarian who gave Rich Rider his powers) and worn by Rider during Nova's first and third series. The only difference is the original three starburst configuration has been changed into a single large starburst. The single starburst is similar to the starburst on the back of the original Nova uniform.
The MC2 Nova has his headquarters located onboard the Nova Prime Starship. The starship resembles the ship used by Rhomann Dey to pursue Xandar's destroyer, Zorr, to Earth and later used by Nova to fight the Skrulls during the Skrull/Xandar War. Whether this is the same starship as Dey's or a new one based on the original design is unknown. The MC2 Rich Rider uses the Nova Prime Starship to monitor Earthbound threats from space.
Nova derives his powers from an energy source called the Nova Force, which all Nova Corps Centurions wield. Nova's small measure of the Nova Force gives him superhuman powers including flight, enhanced strength, speed, and durability, as well as the power to absorb energy directed against him and release it as gravimetric pulses and beams, either from specific parts of his body or from his energy body surface.
Nova wears a standard Xandarian StarCorps uniform, designed to accommodate his powers without being damaged by them. In addition, the uniform has a built-in life support function that can sustain Rider under the most extreme environmental conditions, including acting as a space suit by locking off the mouth and eyes of the helmet. The helmet can also pick up radio transmissions, as well as overlay a visual heads-up display for tracking energy signatures. Nova's helmet has a rigid construction and shape when worn, but becomes as malleable as cloth when it is not, allowing Rider to hide it in his civilian clothes when desired.
Rider can also alter the appearance and nature of his uniform to suit his needs. However, as Rider learns the hard way, the StarCorps keeps a strict dress code. When he makes major cosmetic changes to his uniform after rejoining the New Warriors, Nova is summarily ordered to conform to standard.
Nova's uniform is not only extremely malleable; it is also designed with specific weapons and functions to aid Rider in his role as a Nova Corps Centurion. Among these features are an electromagnetic discharge that can nullify gravity and access to StarGates that allow him to enter hyperspace, where he can move at velocities exceeding the speed of light.
During Annihilation, Rider's uniform is altered and enhanced to house the Xandarian Worldmind and aid him in containing the Nova Force. As host to the entire Nova Force, which was previously used to empower all members of the Nova Corps throughout the universe, Rider is now possessed of tremendously augmented strength and durability as well as near limitless quantities of energy.
In addition to the Nova Force, Rider's body currently houses the Worldmind, the entire culture and history of the Xandarian culture as well as the individual minds of thousands of years of dead Xandarians. The consensus voice of the Worldmind can speak directly to Rider, and has demonstrated the following capabilities:
- Downloads profiles of opponents directly into Rider's mind[2]
- Detects nearby energy surges, including those used in teleportation[2]
- Can assume control of Rider's body as he sleeps[3]
- Access other computer systems, including heavily-protected terrestrial computer networks (such as S.H.I.E.L.D. records)[3]
- Analyze attackers, including detecting adrenaline surges in their bodies[4]
- Detects approaching superhumans with energy-based powers (like Penance)[4]
- Enables Rider to hack into satellite TV broadcasts, and transmit his voice and image to individual TV sets[4]
- The Man Called Nova (vol. 1) #1-25 (September, 1976 - May, 1979)
- New Warriors (vol. 1) #1-75, Annual #1-4 (July, 1990 – September, 1996)
- Nova (vol. 2) #1-18 (January, 1994 - June, 1995)
- Nova, The Human Rocket (vol. 3) #1-7 (May, 1999 - November, 1999)
- New Warriors (vol. 2) #0-10 (October, 1999 – July, 2000)
- New Warriors (vol. 3) #1-6 (July, 2005 - December, 2005)
- Annihilation: Prologue #1 (May, 2006)
- Annihilation: Nova #1-4 (June, 2006 – September, 2006)
- Annihilation #1-6 (October, 2006 – March, 2006)
- Nova (vol. 4) #1-current (April, 2007 - current)