She Takes Sibling Rivalry to Extremes
Nova: “They say you can’t control what a person thinks… they say you can’t control what’s in a person’s head… they say this because they’re unimaginative, weak-willed sheep. I am Cassandra Nova. And I can control what’s in a person’s head. I can make them see red.”
X-Men: Red
A woman examines several monitors. She sees that The Avengers have broken up a Mutant trafficking ring. One-time X-Man Dazzler is being interviewed about her new album. Magneto is petitioning for Mutant-led Genosha to join the U.N. The woman’s blood boils when she hears concerned citizen Charles Xavier calling for Mutants and humans to coexist. That bastard.
The woman clenches her fists as a tangible wave of psionic energy ripples through her lair. Objects fly as she forces down her rage. She walks to a scaffold and looks out at three giant metal abominations being built. Soon, they will be ready. Cassandra Nova smiles. Let Xavier speak of peace. She prepares for war.
Cassandra Nova is one of the X-Men’s strangest foes. Her origins are bizarre even by superhero standards, and her crimes appall other supervillains. So who is she? How is she so powerful? What is her connection to Professor X? Let’s find out.
Scene Select
Prenatal Predator: Cassandra Nova’s Backstory
Nova: “Mandela said ‘People must learn to hate.’ And yes, I admit I’m paraphrasing here, leaving out a lot of lovey-dovey inclusion stuff, but he was right. People must learn to hate. I’m going to be their teacher.”
X-Men: Red
Cassandra Nova debuted in New X-Men #114 in 2001. She was created by Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly to be Professor X’s exact opposite.
The Marvel Universe is home to Mummudrai, psionic entities representing the exact opposite of a living being. A mummudrai named Cassandra Nova attached itself to Charles Xavier, taking the form of his twin sister as they gestated in Mrs. Xavier. Cassandra tried to strangle her brother in utero, but she was killed by his telepathic blast.
Cassandra’s essence survived the attack and recuperated in the Astral Plane. She grew strong enough to manifest as a collection of cells on a sewer wall, growing into a humanoid over decades. Damage from the blast made Cassandra believe that she was still in the womb and everything except Charles and herself was an illusion.
Years later, Cassandra revived a dormant Mutant-hunting Sentinel factory. She manipulated the caretaker’s bigotry to gain control and created three deadly Wild Sentinels to eradicate Mutantkind. After killing the caretaker, Nova was finally prepared to wreak vengeance on her brother with three perfect weapons.
E is for Extinction: Cassandra Nova’s History
[Cassandra is grinning, despite being held at claw-point]
X-Men: E is for Extinction
Wolverine: “It’s too late. Look around, this place was making ‘em bigger and better, and the only thing Sentinels like to do bigger and better is kill Mutants! […] What else did this psycho do that she thinks is so funny? Where did she send those Sentinels?”
Cassandra Nova leaked the Sentinel factory’s location to The X-Men. They destroyed the facility and captured her, but had fallen for her feint. The Wild Sentinels were sent to the Mutant-led nation Genosha and killed more than sixteen million Mutants without the X-Men to stop them.
While the X-Men reeled from the genocide, Cassandra Nova broke free and tried to kill Professor X. She failed and Genosha survivor Emma Frost snapped her neck. Unknown to the X-Men, Nova swapped her mind with Xavier’s the instant before she died. She then masqueraded as her brother, adding salt to the wound by publicly outing him as a Mutant.
Cassandra traveled into space to find Xavier’s wife, Queen Lilandra of the Shi’ar Empire. She used her disguise to steal Lilandra’s body and took control of the empire. The X-Men freed her and restored Xavier (whose mind had survived in the Astral Plane) to his body. Order restored, they trapped Cassandra in an illusion meant to rehabilitate her.
Sinister Psionic: Cassandra Nova’s Powers and Personality
Nova: “It’s a special feeling, isn’t it? Behind the mask of liberal respectability, with its safe opinions, we all hate the mutations, Don’t we? How can it be murder when they’re germs or vermin?”
New X-Men #115
Mummudrai can alter their DNA on the fly, allowing Cassandra to rebuild her body from scratch. They can also astral project and possess victims. Gestating with Xavier allowed Nova to copy his genetic structure and use his telepathic powers, which are some of the strongest on Earth.
Cassandra Nova combined mummudrai DNA alteration with Xavier’s genes to give herself powers that he might have developed. Her profile includes telepathy, telekinesis, mind control, phasing, psionic blasts, and the ability to forcibly speed up a target’s evolution. Nova is also a skilled actor, once hiding from several powerful psychics for days after stealing Xavier’s body.
Cassandra Nova personifies the opposite of Charles Xavier’s ideology. She’s bigoted, sadistic, genocidal, and believes that they are the only two beings that matter. Phoenix once used her powers to force empathy onto Cassandra, but that only made her enjoy her crimes more.
The Actors Who Play Cassandra Nova
Emma Corrin – Deadpool and Wolverine
Didya Get All That?
Professor X’s little sister is a big problem
Image; Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova in 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios’ DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE. Photo by Jay Maidment. © 2024 20th Century Studios / © and ™ 2024 MARVEL.
Jared Bounacos has written for Movie Rewind since 2016.
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