Nova Corps


The Nova Corps is a fictional intergalactic military/police force appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Marv Wolfman, the Corps first appeared in Fantastic Four #205. They have since appeared in numerous other Marvel stories set in outer space and media adaptations, such as the animated TV series The Super Hero Squad Show and the 2014 film Guardians of the Galaxy, the latter of which is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Publication history

The team was created by writer Marv Wolfman. Richard Rider, the first member, appeared in The Man Called Nova #1. The Corps first appeared in Fantastic Four #205

Fictional organization history

The Nova Corps were originally a space military and exploration group for the planet Xandar. It consisted of 500 soldiers ranging in rank from Corpsman up to Centurion and its leader Centurion Nova Prime. The source of the Nova Corps power is called the Nova Force which is an unlimited energy generated by a living computer called the Xandarian Worldmind. The Nova Corps police the known universe, under the directive of the Pans World Treaty.
The Nova Corps and Xandar were destroyed three times: once by the alien Zorr, once by the space pirate Nebula, and once by the. They also had a costly war with the Skrulls.
During the Skrull's Secret Invasion of Earth, the Nova Corps were formed a fourth time to help Nova Prime Richard Rider defend the Project Pegasus building from the Skrulls. Their base of operations was inside Ego the Living Planet, rechristened "Nu-Xandar".
During the Kree-Shi'ar War, the Xandarian Worldmind starts recruiting new members to the Nova Corps without telling Richard. Upon learning that Ego the Living Planet is one of the Nova Corps, Richard speaks against this to the Xandarian Worldmind. Richard is stripped of his rank and discharged from the Nova Corps. After most of the new recruits are slaughtered by the Shi'ar's Imperial Guard, Ego is discharged from the Nova Corps and Richard is reinstated. Afterwards, Richard agrees to train the remaining recruits, which also includes his younger brother Robert.
During the war with the Cancerverse, Richard takes the Nova Force from the other recruits to use against Thanos. Richard apparently dies before returning it, leaving the Nova Corps powerless.
When the Phoenix Force returns to Earth in a lead-up to the Avengers vs. X-Men storyline, a new centurion named Sam Alexander arrives to help the Avengers stop it.
It was later revealed that there was a black ops version of the Nova Corps called the Supernovas.
During the Original Sin storyline, Sam learned from the eye of the murdered Uatu the Watcher that the membership of the Supernovas consisted of thieves and killers. He later discovered that although The Black Novas began with corrupt Novas stealing the Nova Force, they eventually became a sanctioned, special forces arm of the Nova Corps.
The Nova Corps is shown to be rebuilding itself, with new recruits and old members, in the 2017 volume of the 'All New Guardians Of The Galaxy'.

The Nova Force

The Nova Force is the source of power for Nova and the entire Nova Corps, generated and controlled by the Living Computers of Xandar called the Xandarian Worldmind. The amount of Nova Force a Nova Corp member can access is determined by their rank. The higher the rank, the more power they can access. It has been observed, such as the case of Garthan Saal, that some exposures to the Nova Force can induce madness and mental instability with prolonged exposure to extremely high levels.
The Nova Force can grant the recipient various abilities including superhuman strength, speed, reflexes, and perception. It also grants flight at faster than light speed, a healing factor, and energy powers. These energy powers include the ability to create an electromagnetic beam or a gravimetric pulse. It can also be used to create stargates. The link to the Worldmind allows the wearer to access enemy profiles, analyze an attacker's strengths and weaknesses, interface with computers, analyze energy signatures, create shields against mental attacks and receive transmissions from nearby sources.
As a corpsman, Richard Rider utilized some Nova costumes/battle suits designed by his New Warriors teammate Dwayne Taylor. These suits had various additional abilities. Other corpsman have been observed using traditional weapons, such as firearms.

Nova Corps ranks

The Nova Corps are ranks from the highest rank to the lowest rank:
NOTE: The Nova Corps has also been affiliated with groups known as the Champions of Xandar, and Supernovas.

In other media

Television