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Nova Corps
In General
- Red Shirt Army: The Nova Corps have the unfortunate tendency of dying in droves whenever a major crisis hits the Cosmic corner of the Marvel Universe. Annihilation and War of Kings being good examples.
- The Remnant: By Guardians of the Galaxy (2020), the only active corp members are Richard Rider and, maybe, Sam Alexander. No word of the other corps members that were deputized but never seen killed.
Richard Rider
- Abusive Parents: While his relationship with his father was always strained, the 2020 series reveals that one particular rant when a young Richard asked him for help with his homework really affected Rich deeply. As a result, he feels guilty about seeking help from others.
- The Ace: After the Annihilation War, he was considered this by Marvel's cosmic characters.
- Alliterative Name: Richard Rider
- Aloof Big Brother: For his brother Robbie. It took Richard some time to realise this, though.
- Alternate Company Equivalent: To Hal Jordan. Both are everymen brought into a Space Cop organisation and who end up fighting in large cosmic battles rather than performing everyday superheroics.
- Big Brother Instinct: Both to his actual brother Rob, and to Sam Alexander. Failing to save Rob from the Fraternity of Raptors was a key factor in him becoming a lot more bitter and cynical in recent years.
- Big Brother Mentor: Averted towards his actual brother. Rich was initially against Rob joining the Corp due to the dangers he'd be exposed to. He eventually let him stay on in a mission control role until he received enough proper training to go out on field missions. Played straight towards Sam Alexander who he tries to act as a big brother figure towards while showing him the ropes. Especially after learning about his Disappeared Dad.
- Break the Badass: The events of 2019 do a serious number of his mental well-being. Losing your brother, dying, and being revived by your worst enemy will do that to you.
- Broken Ace: By the time Richard finally joined the Guardians, he was extremely battle weary after witnessing the new Nova Corp's extermination at the hands of the Universal Church of Truth and barely holding off the second Cancerverse invasion shortly afterwards. He even comments that many who once looked up to him are starting to view him as paranoid when he warns them about new cosmic threats. Eventually Hercules convinces him to see a therapist on Halfworld.
- Catchphrase: "Blue Blazes!" Used because his father disapproved of Rich swearing.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: After Annihilation, Rich spent several weeks going around the universe answering any and all distress calls he could, refusing to take any rest. It took nearly flying into a black hole to convince him he probably needed to take a time out.
- De-power: Happened at least twice. The last time with bad consequences – Richard found out he was using his powers for so long that without them he was dying.
- Determinator: He's nigh-unstoppable once he gets going. It usually takes dying to make him lie down (and that's assuming it'll stick).
- Detrimental Determination: His determination can often work against him. Rich is nigh-incapable of stopping, for good or bad, no matter how many people might be screaming at him to stop.
- Fantastic Racism: He hates bugs. That he fought on the front lines of the Annihilation War has something to do with that.
- Fish out of Water: Post-Annihilation, he's generally played this trope towards mainstream Marvel superheroes. Since he's often dealing with bigger threats in space, he's largely disconnected from Earth's superhero community, though relations are a bit better these days (having gone phenomenally sour after Civil War - Rich was unsurprisingly deeply unimpressed by the navel gazing in comparison to the Annihilation War), the fact that he's generally disengaged from its Earth-centric outlook and squabbles means he's preferred to deal with the galactic community.
- Flying Brick: He calls himself Human Rocket for a reason.
- Freudian Excuse: At least some of Rich's issues can be put down to a strained relationship with his dad, which can alternate from "loving but insanely distant" to emotionally abusive. Add to that both of Rich's parents were highly intelligent and successful, and his younger brother a bonafide genius, Rich grew up feeling like an unaccomplished nobody, until Centurion Dey came along.
- Gondor Calls for Aid: He put together the new Guardians team as the reborn gods of Olympus began their destructive crusade, knowing most of the universe's other heroes were still recovering from the second Cancerverse invasion.
- Gravity Master: One of the many uses of the Nova Force.
- Heroes Love Dogs: Takes an immediate shine to Cosmo when he first meets him.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: At certain points in his life he's had this dynamic with several other heroes, ranging from former New Warrior teammates like Darkhawk to fellow cosmic heroes such as Star Lord & Quasar.
- Heroic Sacrifice: At the end of The Thanos Imperative, he and Peter Quill apparently die sealing Thanos in the Cancerverse.
- Back from the Dead: He returns at the end of Nova volume 6 though he's secretly a half dead Cancerverse zombie. He makes a full return to life at the end of volume 7
- He pulls another one in Annihilation Scourge to stop the Cancerverse's second invasion. However he is almost immediately brought back to life in the same book.
- Humble Hero: Half the time, Rich honestly doesn't seem to realize just how big a deal he's become, downplaying or brushing off his impressive accomplishments. During a New Warriors reunion with Justice and Firestar, both of whom have been Avengers themselves, they tease him for treating a fight with the Silver Surfer as no big. However, in Ewing's Guardians of the Galaxy the dark side of this is pointed out, that Rich's refusing to take credit isn't just humility speaking, but his own low opinion of himself.
- Interspecies Romance: With Gamora and Namorita.
- Kid Hero: What he started out as, a regular high-school teenager given superpowers. During the 90s, he briefly took to calling himself Kid Nova, but what with everything he's gone through, "kid" is a term that definitely doesn't apply to him.
- The Lancer: Richard served this role on the New Warriors, being the one who most consistently butted heads with Night Thrasher. This was somewhat understandable given their first meeting had Night Thrasher dropping Richard from a great height to make him reactivate his powers.
- The Leader: During and post Annihilation whenever a cosmic event threatens the universe, Rich will more often than not take the reins of the defense effort, with little to no objection from the other cosmic powers. He was also this to the Nova Corps up until his "death".
- Legacy Character: Became Nova after Rhomann Dey.
- Lightning Bruiser: He doesn't call himself the Human Rocket for nothing.
- Living Legend: Leading an intergalactic war from the frontline tends to give people a reputation.
- The Nicknamer: Nova is fond of giving nicknames to his friends such as "Super-Tights" for Justice, "Toothpick" for Speedball and "Nita" for Namorita.
- Never Accepted in His Hometown: After Civil War, Rich's name on Earth was damned by association with the New Warriors. Something of a let down to go from being adored in space to having rando schlubby cops calling him a "baby-killer". Even after that was forgotten, since most of Rich's deeds are in space, he's usually remembered as one of the New Warriors.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Everyone in space has heard about his fighting in the Annihilation War, and what he did to end it. Namely, ripping Annihilus inside out.Cosmo: I would have gone for throat, but then I am being dog.
- Parental Substitute: When he and Sam shared a series, he acts as a father figure to Sam. In the 2020 Guardians of the Galaxy series he even states that he views Sam as a kid brother to him.
- Respected by the Respected: After Annihilation, pretty much everyone respects him, and with damn good reason, with even the Arakkii - who know better than most what it's like fighting a Forever War against an implacable enemy - honoring him by saying "he stood when all others fell."
- Ridiculously Average Guy: Considers himself this, and was even chosen to be Nova for this very reason.
- Senseless Sacrifice: He and Star Lord supposedly sacrificed themselves to seal Thanos away in the Cancerverse. Then Star Lord and Thanos got out. Then it turned out the Cancerverse still survived, meaning Rich's sacrifice was kind of entirely pointless.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Thanks to all the crap he's gone through, Rich has some severe PTSD.
- Superhero Sobriquets: “The Human Rocket”
- Super-Speed: He may be the fastest thing in the Marvel Universe, when he bugs out even Cosmic Ghost Rider (an especially powerful Herald of Galactus) tells his team-mates that he can't catch up to him.
- There Are No Therapists: Just the crap he went through in Annihilation should've been enough to get him sent off to a therapist, but by the end of 2019 it's even worse. Actually averted in Guardians of the Galaxy (2020), when he actually does go to a shrink, if reluctantly.
- Took a Level in Badass: During Annihilation, Rich gains the entirety of the Nova Force, allowing him to become one of the most physically powerful beings around.
- Took a Level in Cynic: Everything he went through in the 2019 books really did a number on his worldview. After Annihilation Scourge, he almost instinctively responds to others showing optimism with bitterness and pessimism. Guardians tones it down a little, but he's still pretty sour about some things, such as humanity. He pretty much chastises Quasar for his general optimism in the aftermath of Scourge and makes similar comments to Noh-Varr. This gets worse after Star-Lord's death shortly after he joins the Guardians of the Galaxy.
- Took a Level in Kindness: He was an ass during his early New Warriors days, constantly arguing and badmouthing his team-mates while constantly hitting on Namorita. He was still very bitter initially after years of working dead-end jobs and was also acting macho to compensate for being a bit of a light-weight in power levels. He becomes a lot nicer and nobler after time.
- The Unfavorite: Not too bad as of late, but being almost painfully average in a family of geniuses and prodigies certainly gave off this vibe with his father. Interestingly, both he and his brother envied the other for their gifts.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: A threat of having all the Nova Force in him was that Rich could have gone mad from the stress, as happened to the last guy who tried it, Garthan Saal. Aside from a very brief moment of rage (which the Worldmind attributed to the fact that he was working for weeks without any rest), Rich never showed any signs of madness, which was later attributed to just being too human to go nuts.
- World's Best Warrior: Between stopping both the Annihilation Wave & The Cancerverse Incursion, Rich has been heralded by the cosmic population as the greatest Nova Corpsman ever produced.
- Worthy Opponent: He's one of the few people who genuinely impresses Annihilus, following the famous ripping-his-guts-out moment.
- You Are a Credit to Your Race: His achievements have earned him the respect of even those who otherwise despise humans. This was one of the primary reasons he was chosen over Carol Danvers - who's well enough respected in her own right, but not in the way Rich is - to represent Earth in the post-Kree-Skrull Alliance Galactic Conference. While another very pertinent one that's brought up is the fact that she's half-Kree and briefly signed on with the Alliance as the new Accuser wielding the Universal Weapon of Ronan himself during the events of Empyre (and her successor is her half-sister), Richard is the cosmic community's default with good reason.
- You Are in Command Now: After dealing with the Olympians and the Nova Corps' decimation, Rich becomes the new leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Sam Alexander
From there, he steadily branches outward, slowly embracing his role as the new, and at the time, last, Human Rocket, with the universe throwing everything it can at the young teen to hamper him, body and mind.
Sam eventually builds up enough feats to his name to be initiated as a member of the Avengers, an offer he takes up on post-Secret Wars, although he eventually left following disagreements with the rest of the team. He was also a member of the latest incarnation of the New Warriors, though he since refers to himself as an "honorary" member after the series ended. After these stints, he became a founding member of the Champions.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Unlike in Ultimate Spider-Man, where Sam is prone to being a Jerkass early on, this Sam is quite a bit nicer.
- Affirmative-Action Legacy: Half-Latino taking the spotlight as the new Nova after Richard Rider's Heroic Sacrifice.
- Alternate Company Equivalent: To Kyle Rayner. Both are young minorities note taking up the job of their legendary white predecessor, largely acting on their own while their predecessor was part of a larger organisation, and focus more on down to Earth situations.
- Bearer of Bad News: Nova Volume 5, Issue 29; he felt sorrow over delivering the news on demise of Richard Rider to his parents.
- Berserk Button: DO NOT threaten Sam's family ever. Best to avoid disrespecting them, too, for that matter.
- Never threaten to take Sam Alexander's helmet.
- Big Brother Instinct: To Kaelynn.
- Book Dumb: He might be a creative strategist, but Sam is fully aware that he's the least intelligent member of almost every team he's on.
- Born Unlucky: Whether this is an intentional parallel to Spider-Man or not, Sam's luck does tend to rival the infamous Parker Luck.
- Brought Down to Normal: Has his helmet confiscated in Infinity Countdown: Champions #2, which means he no longer has any powers. Leaves with Kaeldra, taking her offer to help him get his helmet back.
- Canon Immigrant: The second Nova, Sam Alexander, was created for the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series. He appeared in the comics first thanks to the lengthy production cycle.
- Character Development: Sam becomes less arrogant and more responsible in his actions as his tenure goes on. Similarly, the insecurities he harbors come to light and take new shapes as time goes on as well, from his the complex over his missing father, to whether he a good enough Superhero, to his feelings over the lack of respect he gets as a Superhero.
- Depending on the Artist:
- From before he became Nova to after and both in and outside of his uniform, Sam's height and physique (going from a short, slender kid with no real muscle definition, befitting of someone who's only exercise is casual skateboarding, to being taller and surprisingly cut and back again) waver depending on who is drawing his given appearance at the time. Sometimes drastically so.
- Similarly, Sam's skin complexion can and has changed depending on who is drawing him. As conceived for Ultimate Spider-Man (2012), Sam had a tan complexion (lighter than Ava's but darker than Peter and Danny's). In most of the comics/appearances that came before and after the show, however, he's drawn light-skinned/White. Though, even that's not 100% consistent, even if he's generally never drawn as dark as he was conceived to be. In Loveness and Perez's Volume of Nova, Perez drew Sam to be closer in complexion to his animated counter-part (with some inconsistencies still present, but just not as much). Additionally, during this time, this gave Sam additional visual distinctions from Richard, who was also a main character in that Volume.
- Dented Iron: In his original series, Sam tends to get beat up a lot. This reaches its apex where an encounter with an inverted Hulk leaves him with a broken arm and a concussion.
- Determinator: He may not be too smart, but he's stubborn enough to keep fighting through anything, even with Hulk-inflicted brain damage.
- The Ditz: Depending on the subject at hand. He grows out of this to some extent later on.
- Genius Ditz: According to his principal, he had checked out a morse-code book that was left in the library for 25 years. At the same time, Sam used that code to create an encoded message on a stranded ship attacked by aliens. In addition, his developing interest in Chess has inspired him into becoming a capable strategist.
- Expy: Sam Alexander is intended to be an homage to both Spider-Man and Nova's (Richard's) early years.
- Fantastic Religious Weirdness: Used this trope to decline membership into Avengers at first due to Thor being a Pagan god, which is against his possibly Catholic beliefs.
- Fish out of Water: When involved with the wider Cosmic Marvel side of things. Sam is generally more focused on Earth superheroics, in contrast to his predecessor. When the two meet and head into space, he's shocked to learn of the Annihilation War and such, and is visibly not comfortable hanging with Richard's friends.
- Future Badass: Several possible futures have shown Sam succeeding Richard Rider as the Nova Prime. The Wastelands version even inspiring the fractured remains of the Corps to make a final stand against Galactus which sadly is not successful.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Though not confirmed, the High Evolutionary believed him to be one.
- Leeroy Jenkins: During his stint as a member of the New Warriors. Also, he attacked Dark Phoenix Cyclops head-on at the end of Avengers vs. X-Men. This goes about as well as you'd expect it to.
- Out of Focus: Outside of his own books, he tends to get the shaft, focus-wise, especially within the Sam/Kamala/Miles trio that is formed post-Secret Wars. Becomes egregious when it ended up happening during the All-New, All-Different Avengers story arc that was supposed to be focused on and driven by Sam himself. Since the unfortunate cancellation of Loveness and Perez's run, Sam has been out of focus in the entire contemporary Marvel Universe. While he does appear in Champions, he's usually just... there. Coinciding with the end of Loveness and Perez's run was Marvel's focus on Richard Rider in their cosmic stories. See, also, The Unfavorite below.
- Too Dumb to Live: At one point, Sam thought it was a sensible idea to take off his helmet, the thing giving him his powers, while in flight.
- The Unfavorite: How he feels about himself in relation to his teammates in the All-New, All-Different Avengers line-up (something that even Richard has gone through at times). The various appearances of the trio of Sam/Kamala/Miles tend to lean towards implying this with whom the characters are shown to interact with and with how they are shown doing so.Some examples: This becomes very apparent at the celebration party for taking down the Celestial Destroyer prior to Civil War II; he was generally left out by the other teen heroes on his own team, completely forgotten by Rogue and Jean Grey, and completely ignored by Iron Man. His closest friend on the team is Kamala Khan, and even then, the two still spend most of the time bickering with each other, and Kamala spends just as much time with Miles as she does Sam even though Miles doesn't spend as much time with Sam as he does Kamala. Though by the time they found the Champions, he and Miles seem to have become close friends as they're seen being friendly and quipping with each other while the rest of their team either bickers or remains silent.
- Another of Sam's recurring plights that gets highlighted during Civil War II is how he lacks a mentor figure. Ms. Marvel has Captain Marvel and Tony (to a degree), Miles has both Peter and Tony (who were shown to have fought over his affections and attention at one point), but Sam doesn't have anyone. Until late in his first post-Secret Wars run and the following run where he frees and gains Rich as an actual mentor. But even that doesn't last when his book gets tragically Cut Short and Sam effectively loses his mentor because of it.
- His status as The Unfavorite comes to a bit of a head near the end of his first post-Secret Wars book. In Issue 9, he meets The Captain, who cynically tells Sam to suck it up on account of superheroing being a thankless and in turn pointless job. A couple of issues later, he happens upon his predecessor Richard, who, more encouragingly, tells him to suck it up because being a hero isn't about being noticed, but about doing what you know is right, even if it's hard. Though he may remain The Unfavorite outside of his books, it remains to be seen if he'll continue to feel like The Unfavorite once he teams up with Richard.
- And with Richard's full return, this pops up again as Cosmo flat out states that Richard is his favorite Nova while Sam is right next to him. Cosmo tries to clarify that they don't consider Sam a bad Nova, but compared to the guy who singlehandedly killed Annihilus (another point which comes up a lot) it's kinda hard for the galaxy not to play favorites. Rich attempted to console him when this happened, and it's almost made clear that, on Earth at least, Sam fits in better than Richard, who is more cosmic-bound.
- After the point wherein his most recent solo by Loveness and Perez is cancelled, he suffers this out-of-universe, pretty much dropping off the face of the contemporary Marvel Universe (comics or otherwise) outside of the Champions (2016), an ensemble book wherein he can only be allotted so much focus.
- While Sam did seem to be feeling better about his The Unfavorite treatment in-universe throughout the early and mid-Champions run by Mark Waid, Sam's status as The Unfavorite and his anxieties about that resurface under Jim Zub. Under Zub, Sam very quickly loses his Nova Helmet, confiscated under suspect means. With no way of getting it back (apparently, Sam or his allies/connections contacting Rich to help sort this out isn't an option), Sam begins to suffer from being the only powerless person on the team. And this time, he is noticeable more angry and less restrained in showing his feelings on the matter. The subsequent Weirdworld Story Arc plays on this, wherein Sam sans some of his memories is made to believe he is the son of the story's Arc Villain, Eshu, the Master of the World (and brother to a similarly memory-tampered Nadia). In Weirdworld, not only does Sam's other big anxiety-point get placated when he "gains" Eshu as a loving, encouraging father, he also gains the ability to control and manipulate the crystals of that world, along with a new powered persona, the Nova Knight, and costume to go with it. Of course, this just highlights, in a Lotus-Eater Machine kinda way, what kind of toll Sam is going through, and all those "additions" are gone when he's freed and the Story Arc ends.
- While it seemed like Sam internally was headed in a more positive direction after Weirdworld, post-Champions's renumbering, he still suffers from this. Now relegated as the expanded team's mobile base pilot, Sam's attempts to interact with his fellow team vets are greeted with getting coldly brushed off and locked out of his own room, getting yelled at for taking issue with that, getting left out of the loop more blatantly than before, being the Butt-Monkey of the newer members' training mishaps, and also having to fend off (read: dodge for dear life) one his old personal foes long thought dealt with who is totally after revenge. Where this is all going is anyone's guess, but the big takeaway is that Sam still hasn't shaken this Trope, nor his negative feelings about being under it.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Poor Sam. The kid's been through the ringer multiple times, in spite of his relatively short overall tenure. That the person he brought home thinking he was his father turned out to be a clone sent by the Chitauri to gain access to his helmet's power was a pretty big blow; the 8+ months spent with the clone has made it that much harder to find his dad's actual whereabouts from a trail long since gone cold. Couple that with the neglect he feels from both his All-New, All-Different Avengers teammates and the Superhero community at large, and it's no wonder Sam contemplates quitting.
- Pet the Dog: After finally meeting his predecessor, first through a personality back-up in the Worldmind, and second when Richard finally returns from his death, Rich gives Sam a much needed pep talk and encouragement while serving as a mentor figure.
- Goes back to being yanked again during Jim Zub's Champions (2016) run, where he has his Nova Helmet confiscated and suffers being powerless because of it. Then he gets re-powered a little after that, and once more gains fatherly recognition and a validated sense of purpose. But it was in Weirdworld, and he was being manipulated by Arc Villain Eshu, twisting and tainting all of the recognition and validation he received. Oh, and he lost the powers he learned to wield as soon as the arc ended, so he's back to being powerless and suffering because of it. On a more meta level, because his most recent solo was Cut Short, he functionally no longer has Richard as a mentor/father-figure, never mind how brief their time as a team and duo already was.
- Pet the Dog: After finally meeting his predecessor, first through a personality back-up in the Worldmind, and second when Richard finally returns from his death, Rich gives Sam a much needed pep talk and encouragement while serving as a mentor figure.
Rhomann Dey
- Death by Origin Story: Him dying is what allowed Richard Rider to become a Nova Corp.
- Human Aliens: Being a Xandarian, he was very similar to humans.
Ko-Rel
- Deadpan Snarker: She's very snarky. The Worldmind's copy of her personality is a font of snark unheard of.
- Green-Skinned Space Babe: She was a blue-skinned Kree and pretty good-looking, with more than one quip that the tight Nova uniform suits her.
- Mook Horror Show: Her perspective demonstrates just how nightmarishly powerful Richard has become with the full Nova Force, and despite the full advantages of the Worldmind, she's barely able to keep ahead of him for more than a couple of minutes and the Worldmind's entire plan is based on briefly stunning him for long enough to land the killing blow. (Un)fortunately, she's not a killer.
- Trauma Conga Line: Her last days of life suck. Gamora and the Phalanx murder her friends and crew, then she dies alone.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Lasts two issues, then Gamora shanks her in the back and she dies.
Fraktur
- The Big Guy: The biggest of the new Nova Corps recruits. And she's actually considered pretty short by her kind.
- Draconic Humanoid: Unlike Fin Fang Foom and other members of her species, she's bipedal and rather humanoid looking. Apparently she hasn't reached her mature form yet.
Irani Rael
- Rubber-Forehead Aliens: Rigellians are similar to humans with the exception of their skin-tone and larger skulls.
- Cool Helmet: Unlike other Nova helmets, hers shows her face.
Malik Tarcel
- Category Traitor: Being a Shi'ar Corpsman in a war the Shi'ar Empire started was not a good thing.
- Rank Up: He got promoted to Nova Prime.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: When last seen, he was a "guest" of the Shi'ar torturers, approached by... Garthan Saal? He hasn't been seen in the decade since...
Qubit
- Cephalothorax: His head seems to make up most of his body.
- That Reminds Me of a Song: Always trying to cite some example from his databanks, whether anyone wants to hear it or not.
Xandarians
Worldmind
The Xandarian sentient supercomputer. After the destruction of Xandar during Annihilation, it merged with Richard Rider to allow him to control the Nova Force.
- Assimilation Plot: It takes control of the mindless husks in the Cancerverse to form an army.
- Big Bad: Of Nova volume 7.
- Catchphrase: "It is critical you pay attention at this time." Usually when something incredibly bad is coming toward Rich.
- Deadpan Snarker: On occasion, but especially when dealing with the Phalanx infection. During the time it took on Ko-Rel's appearance and personality, sass increased by a dramatic amount.
- Fusion Dance: Between Worldmind and Ego.
- The Nth Doctor: The Worldmind has the uploaded minds and personality of every Nova Corpsman that ever lived. After its default persona is too badly corrupted by merging with Ego, it replaces it with one of Ko-Rel. After The Thanos Imperative, the Ko-Rel personality just sort of... disappeared.
- Sanity Slippage: Has suffered through this several times, the first when in attempting to help Rider control the Nova Force, Worldmind is corrupted himself. This led to a Fusion Dance between Worldmind and Ego. The second time occurs after being left in the Cancerverse by Rider and has to fight for its own survivial.
- Sophisticated as Hell: Usually tends to speak exactly as you'd imagine a living computer to speak, though not always.Worldmind: (on seeing the Negative Space Wedgie Knowhere sits outside of) My "funk" has also been taken to a new level.
- Tragic Monster: In Volume 7 It attempts to lead the Cancerverse for a second invasion of the main Marvel Universe because of the pain it felt from the deaths of every single being who was linked to it. Between the deaths of every single Corpsman in the Annihilation War and Richard's multiple deaths throughout the series (of which there were 3 or 4 up to that point) Worldmind wanted to create a universe free from the pain of death and loss and rapidly went off the deep end after that.
- Virtual Sidekick: It spends much of Volume 4 acting as Richard's personal AI assistant, aiding him in using the various powers of the Nova Force and providing tactical advice and intel on whatever situation he finds himself in.
Xandarians in General
The creator of Nova Corps along with Nova Force. Once a relatively peaceful civilization known for advanced science, they have been reduced to inhabiting domed habitation built from the shattered remains of their homeworld.
- Aliens Are Bastards: Perhaps the biggest exception to the rule as far as major alien races in the Marvel Universe go. Xandarians were by far one of the most amicable and least hostile alien races in relation with Earth. This extends to other relations as well as their military mostly serves as a peacekeeping force protecting anyone they find in need.
- Back from the Dead: An example involving entire species. After the Nova run, the entire race had been rendered extinct from a reprise attack by Nebula for her father's death. This all changed in New Warriors, where the World Mind was activated by the presence of Richard Rider's nascent Nova Force before utilizing it to clone Queen Adora before gaining full access to revive all of the population.
- Killed Off for Real: As of Annihilation, the entirety of Xandar along with the Nova Corps—except Richard Rider—were exterminated by Annihilus in the opening issue.
- Brain Uploading: The Worldmind is made up of memories and knowledge of deceased Xandarians. It later played a role in a New Warriors storyline, where the stored memories and genetic materials of Xandarians were used to clone an entire race after their extinction.
- Human Aliens: In fact, no known alien features can be seen among Xandarians.
- Last of His Kind: So far, Firelord (Pyreus Kril), Air-Walker (Gabriel Lan) and Supernova (Garthan Saal) are the only known living people who originated from Xandar. And since Gabriel is currently an android created by Galactus after the original died this is a lot more literal for Pyreus and Garthan.
- Proud Scholar Race: Their intellectual capability allowed them to develop the Worldmind along with the Nova Force, though they are also capable warriors.
- Shattered World: Until the planet's demise in Annihilation Wave, their home planet is now interconnected Domed Cities with intervention by The Watcher after Zorr the Conqueror's attack on their planet.
- Unexplained Recovery: Annihilation begins with what's left of Xandar getting blown to tiny, tiny pieces, and the remains either getting eaten by the Wave or falling into their sun. Come Sam Alexander's run, Xandar is entirely intact (that the issue showing this was written by Gerry Duggan, who retconned a lot of stuff relating to the Novas, might be a contributing factor).
Queen Adora
- Back from the Dead: She was first to be cloned when the planet's failsafe detected Garthan Saal and Richard Rider's Nova energy.
- Happily Married: She and her husband, Tanak, has been a close couple.
- The High Queen: Adora was portrayed as decent ruler, even through the hardship after Xandar was shattered into multiple habitable fragments.
- Hot Consort: She is an attractive ruler of Xandar, which is reinforced by her marriage to her husband Tanak Valt who is a de facto military commander.
- Took a Level in Badass: After the revival of the entire race, Adora had assumed as the Commander of the Nova Corps with her being imbued with Nova Force upon her cloning.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: During Annihilation, she didn't appear in the comics during the (final) demise of Xandarians and Nova Corps. Though the Worldmind's projections of its archives in Volume 7 of Nova showed her among the holograms of deceased Xandarians implies she's dead.
