Original series
When the last surviving member of the planet Xandar's elite Nova Corps, Rhomann Dey, is dying, he selects New York high school student Richard Rider to replace him.[8] Rider is given the uniform and powers of a Nova Centurion, but little instruction on how to use them. Calling himself Nova, Rider becomes a superhero, fighting costumed supervillains such as the Condor, Powerhouse,[9] Diamondhead,[10] the Corruptor,[11] and the Sphinx,[12] and teaming with heroes such as Spider-Man[13] and Thor. He initially hides his identity, but later reveals it to his family.[14]
Rider discovers Dey's spaceship orbiting Earth and uses it to journey to Xandar with Doctor Sun, Powerhouse, Comet, the Crimebuster and the Sphinx,[15] where they join the Xandarians' war against the Skrulls.[16] With the help of Rom the Space Knight, the Skrulls are defeated. Wanting to return to Earth, Rider is released from his duties on Xandar and relinquishes his powers.[17]
The New Warriors
Upon his return to Earth, Rider struggles to readjust due to his failure to complete high school. Unknown to him, Xandar is destroyed in an attack by the space pirate Nebula.[18] With the help of Night Thrasher, Rider regains his powers and joins the New Warriors superhero team,[19] where he becomes close friends with Speedball. Richard briefly dates Yale student Laura Dunham and teammate Namorita.[20][21]
Rider encounters Garthan Saal, a former Nova Corps Centurion who had been driven insane by absorbing too much of the Nova Force, the source of power for Nova Centurions. Saal seeks more power so he can restore Xandar to its former glory. He strips Rider of his powers and transports him to Xandar. Saal is defeated. Rider witnesses the reformation of the Nova Corps and receives the rank of Centurion Prime.[22]
Annihilation
Nova briefly travels the U.S. with the reformed New Warriors as part of a reality television show.[27] Rider leaves the group when he is summoned to Xandar alongside the entire Nova Corps, which has been fully mobilized to respond to the Annihilation Wave, a force from the Negative Zone led by Annihilus. The wave decimates Xandar and the corps in a surprise attack.[28] As the only surviving centurion, Rider makes contact with the Xandarian Worldmind, a living supercomputer that oversees Xander and regulates the Nova Force. The Worldmind uploads itself and the entire Nova Force into Rider, greatly enhancing his abilities.[29] During the Annihilation War, Rider takes command of the United Front, a loose collaboration of soldiers. In a nearly year-long campaign, Rider resists the Wave's advance across the galaxy until the United Front suffers a swift defeat. He leads a small team into the Wave's conquered territory and eventually engages Annihilus in personal combat, killing him.[30]
After the Annihilation War, Rider returns to Earth to rest. However, finding out that his pleas for help in the Annihilation War were ignored by Earth's superheroes because of a
Post-Annihilation
Attempting to aid the Kree against an assault from the Phalanx, Rider is wounded and crash-lands on a sparsely populated Kree outpost.[32] While Rider's unconscious body recovers, Worldmind deputizes a local Kree commander, Ko-Rel, to guard him. Rider is infected by the transmode virus and joins the Phalanx.[33] Now tasked with killing Rider before the Worldmind falls into enemy hands, Ko-Rel attacks him, only to be killed by Gamora in retaliation. Upon her death, her fraction of the Nova force returns to Rider and enables him to overcome the transmode virus. He flees Kree space pursued by Gamora and a Phalanx-controlled Drax.[34] Seeking a cure for the transmode virus, Rider eventually arrives on Kvch, home planet of the Technarchy. Rider enlists the help of the mutant Warlock and his son Tyro, who cure Rider, Drax, and Gamora of the transmode virus. The five return to Hala to engage the Phalanx.[35]
Realm of Kings and The Thanos Imperative
A lost Nova Corps ship appears from a tear in space-time known as the Fault. Onboard is Zan Philo, a long-missing Nova Centurion who is assigned to train the new recruits.[46] Later, Rider and Darkhawk find themselves inside the Fault, where they are called to do battle for the Sphinx against his younger self. Because of the unstable timestream inside the Fault, Nova is able to return with Namorita, his old girlfriend who had died a few years earlier.[47] Rider returns to Project Pegasus, where he confronts an alternate Quasar who originates from the Cancerverse, a universe within the Fault.[48]
Catching up to the alternate Quasar, Rider returns to the Fault to see the Universal Church of Truth rip it wide open.[49] Assisted by others, he confronts Lord Mar-Vell, the evil alternate version of Captain Marvel, but cannot stop him.
Return
The latest Nova, Sam Alexander, locates the Xandarian Worldmind.[52] Rider's consciousness awakens within the Worldmind during the encounter. It is later revealed that Rider and the Worldmind survived the closure of the Fault and remain trapped in the Cancerverse. Using the Nova Force, Rider manages to escape the Cancerverse, returns to Earth to visit his mother,[53] and learns that his father has died.[54] He encounters Alexander and they begin working together. However, in his escape, Rider has become a portal to the Cancerverse, which repeatedly attempts to invade Earth through him. Rider returns to the Cancerverse in hopes of closing the portal and thus saving his own universe.[55] Despite his resistance, he is co-opted by the Cancerverse, but is freed by Alexander, who has followed him. The two escape the Cancerverse once more, using the Cosmic Cube carried by Thanos' Cancerverse doppelganger. Rider and Alexander resume their lives and relationships on Earth while continuing as Nova Corpsmen.[56]
