YMMV / What If…? S2E1 "What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?"

• Complete Monster:
  • Nova Prime, unlike her Sacred Timeline counterpart's goal of protecting her people, only has the goal of maintaining power. Disillusioned with the state of Xandar, Nova Prime makes a bargain with Ronan the Accuser to allow him to invade and ravage the planet, so long as she keeps her authority. Setting Nebula on a mission under the guise of saving Xandar, Nova Prime has Yon-Rogg betray her and leave her to die—also having Garthan Saal brutalize her when she reappears. Nova Prime then has Saal wipe out Nova Corp soldiers not in on the scheme to allow them to grant Ronan the means to breach Xandar, fully enabling the bloodbath that would ensue.
  • Yon-Rogg is Nova Prime's partner in the conspiracy to surrender Xandar to Ronan. Recruited by Nebula to help her retrieve the source code for the planet's shield generator, Yon-Rogg betrays her to painfully rip the code from her head before abandoning her to die—first to an explosion, then to the brutality of Nova Prime's corrupt cronies. Yon-Rogg proceeds to hand the codes off to Nova Prime so they can lower Xandar's shields, removing all opposition to Ronan's genocidal invasion.
• Magnificent Bitch: Nebula, a child of Thanos, keeps her mainline counterpart's efficiency while lacking the tragic machinations of her mental state. Joining the Nova Corps, Nebula aims to keep to the side of peace, a job she repeatedly holds to even when Xandar has been turned to a Wretched Hive. Investigating a plot of the possible threat of an invasion, Nebula uses both ingenuity and combat efficiency to advance, with her eventually breaking the criminal Yon-Rogg free and releasing the other prisoners to initiate a riot to allow them to escape. Despite being betrayed by Nova Prime and Yon-Rogg and almost killed, it's revealed their betrayal would've been for naught as Nebula had rigged the key that would've allowed Ronan to invade to instead backfire and destroy his ship.

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