Revision as of 11:33, 15 August 2014 by Dryankee17(Message Wall | contribs)(The regular Nova Corps is referred to as Gold Domes but the Supernovas were never called Black Domes.)
While searching for his missing father, Jesse Alexander, Sam fell off his skateboard and hit his head. When he woke he discovered Gamora and Rocket Raccoon standing over his hospital bed. They too were searching for Jesse and his Black Nova helmet.[1] After discovering Jesse's helmet, Gamora and Rocket Raccoon began to teach Sam how to use a Nova helmet. While training with Gamora and Rocket Raccoon, Sam flew to the moon. [2] There, he had an encounter with Uatu the Watcher. The Watcher then showed him an incoming Chitauri armada that was headed towards Earth.[3]
Sam was trained by both Gamora and Rocket Raccoon how to properly use his helmet in order to one day live up to his father's legacy. He was eventually able to beat them both and was deemed worthy to apprehend the Watcher's task. They sent Sam as a scout to gather information on the invading force. Right when he found the Chitauri, somewhere near Jupiter, they fired, leaving Sam "unconscious."[4] When the Chitauri went to extract Sam into their ship, he revealed to them he was faking and quickly sped off. He went through one of the enemy ships and found the Ultimate Nullifier. He took it and then attempted to run through the mothership, disabling all soldiers. He was thwarted by Titus, a former Nova and ally of his father. Despite what Sam's father had told him, Jesse left the Supernovas when they needed him most and many of them lost their lives because of him. Titus was shot in the eye and arm and then made a trade with Chitauri, his life for all the Nova's secrets and weapons. Sam was infuriated and radiated a light so powerful that it stunned Titus and many Chitauri and escaped to Earth.
Titus followed him there and was eventually stopped the Ultimate Nullifier. Sam had developed a friendship with Uatu and revealed to him that he is the only person he feels comfortable talking to. When Sam returned home he expresses his doubt of his fathers supposed death. Whom is being held captive by the Chitauri on another planet. [5]
Sam eventually arrived on Earth, though he accidentally crashed into a plane. Stunned, he crash-landed on the ground and was discovered by the Avengers (although Hawkeye mistook him for a different Nova).
Injured, all Sam could tell the Avengers was that "it" was coming, before falling into a coma. Unknown to him, a small portion of the Phoenix Force's energy was left on his uniform, which Iron Man analyzed and managed to confirm that the cosmic force was heading towards Earth.[7]
After he recovered from the landing, Nova joined the Avengers and the X-Men in the final battle against the Dark Phoenix. Although he too couldn't help to defeat the Phoenix, his bravery allowed him to be offered with a place in the Avengers by Thor.
On his way back home, Sam was ambushed by Diamondhead, who bore a grudge against Sam's predecessor Richard Rider and, by association, anyone in the Nova Corps. Though Diamondhead was easily able to shrug off Sam's attacks due to him lacking the power and experience that Rider had, Sam was ultimately able to fend off his aggressor by blinding him with a flash of light and leaving him stranded on a high plateau in the desert.
Sam Alexander reminiscing on his recent past as the Nova.
Nova asked his Mom if he could be an Avenger to which she initially replied no. After a small speech by her, she finally decides not to stay in his way and that if he wanted to still fight crime, she wouldn't stop him.
In his everyday school life, Sam is also having some trouble settling into regular life. When he found himself in a confrontation with school bully Karl, he forgets how normal he really is. In one instance, Karl threw a punch at Sam. Sam leaned back, dodging it, but fell on his back forgetting he couldn't fly. He finds it even more difficult to keep his secret identity from his crush, Carrie[8].
The same night that his mom talked to him about being Nova, he decided to go out for some fun by looking for villains in New York. While there, he meets up with Spider-Man. Spider-Man then gives him some advice about crime fighting. Following this advise, he goes back to the skate park that he destroyed and tries to be a hero for the people who were burdened with the job of cleaning it all up.[9]
Sam Alexander accidentally removing his helmet mid-flight.
After the skate park was rebuilt Sam encounters his crush, Carrie. Sam was caught off-guard when she told him that she knew that he was Nova. He then flew away in such a rush that he made a stupid mistake of accidentally removing his helmet mid-flight and fell straight out of the sky.
When he awoke from the minor coma he had suffered, he found New Warrior members Justice and Speedball trying to persuade him into joining their team. He initially refuses, however, after learning that they were good friends of Richard Rider, he agreed to see what it was like. [10]
His first "mission" as a member, didn't go so well. He faced a threat like no other, who threatened everything he loved. Kaldera, slave of Proxima Midnight, was sent to Earth to kill Sam because of his title as Nova. Like she offered many of her other victims, she offered Sam the choice of Brakk-Tar, meaning a battle without using any powers nor weapons. He agrees and goes by her rules, until she calls his mom a "cow". After insulting her and calling her a bully, he decided to not fight fair and use his powers to fight her. In a desperate plan to escape, Kaldera, teleports herself back into Thanos' Ship and Nova followed. He wins and Kaldera is sent off far away from Earth and Sam is reunited with his family and team members.[11]
Sam exaggerating the events of his time in New York.
In the wake of the Kaldera incident, Sam's arrogance grew, making up exaggerated stories of how he was granted the Silver Surfer'ssurfboard and then singlehandedly defeated Dr. Doom after he wiped out all the Avengers and X-Men with Mjolnir, Thor's hammer, to impress his mother and prove her restrictions on his dual life are completely unnecessary. He also brushed off the newly reformed New Warriors as a bunch of nobodies who are beneath someone of his talents. After that, his mom let both Justice and Speedball rest at his house until they could decide who else to recruit into their team, making him very annoyed. He became even more aggravated when his crush, Carrie, came over to confirm her suspicions about Sam being Nova. He was going to tell her she was correct until she cut him off and made it seem like Sam didn't trust her. Carrie then ran away from Sam and he felt like everybody was suddenly changing. Sam was so angry that he flies to the moon to find Uatu, the only person who he feels comfortable talking to. After venting his frustrations and demanding any form of guidance, the Watcher shows him visions of his predecessor Richard Rider and how he grew from an upstart hero like Sam, to a founding member of the original New Warriors, and to the hero of the Annihilation War. Uatu also shows him how the Avengers neglected Richard Rider and the New Warriors needed him. Sam being put in his spot by Uatu realizes his wrongs and goes back to his mother and agrees to all her conditions and officially joins the New Warriors as a reserve member.
Sam was later seen responding to a distress call, he rescued a starship from hostile forces and escorted them back to their homeworld. Meanwhile, Sam's mom and principal are talking about Sam's tendency to not show up to school. The principal also tells her that the house won't be getting anymore money from her husband because he hasn't been showing up to school either. While flying home Sam experienced some problems. He quickly sped up and began to become blind until he crashed into Earth.[12] Sam was then escorted to Doctor Kettlewell's office by his mother. Dr. Kettlewell assured Sam he wasn't blind, but was having optical migraines due to the amount of hits he has taken to his head. Sam then returns to school, only to get into another fight with Karl and wind up in the principal's office again. He was let off with a warning and returned to his next class when he started to experience his "blindness" again. He realized it was a map of some sort and shouted with joy, unaware of where he was at the moment. His teacher sent him to see Principal Philbin again. He realized detention wasn't working for Sam and instead made him join the chess team. Sam joined and sat through a "boring" lesson on pawns by Mrs. Schaefer and then left home in a hurry. The first chance he got, Sam flew off to find out what the map was for.
Sam Alexander viewing his map of lost Novas.
After tracking down one of the coordinates, Sam encountered the corpse of K'thol, a former gold dome. He was quickly attacked by alien spiders and was able to fend them off until he grabbed K'thol's Nova helmet. A message was sent to Sam about his cause of death and how these very spiders killed K'thol for no reason. Infuriated, Sam struck all the spiders down and continued on his journey to locate all other Novas and uncover the truth of the missing corps. Unknown to Sam, by playing K'thol's message, Nova bounty hunter, Cadivan, found him on his radar and started planning to attack him and add another helmet to his collection. [13] After tracking down one of Cad's Nova Helmets, Nova went face to face with man responsible for killing countless Novas. After being deemed unworthy of battling, Cadivan sent Sam away from his ship and within seconds Nova was tasked with intercepting a distress call.
Captain Skaarn
Sam finding the Novamobile.
After following the distress signal to its origin, Sam found a huge Nova ship that was being attacked by unknown ships. After disarming the ships, Sam boarded the spacecraft and was surprised to find no Novas. Instead, he found Captain Skaarn who was thankful for Nova coming and rescuing him and claimed to be in his debt so stood there to answer any questions he may had. Captain Skaarn also told Sam how his "battery" was fried and needed a jump-start to start moving again and then took Sam to see what the problem was. Sam was startled when he found another dead Nova, as the battery. The Nova was attacked by a microscopic infection and although his mind was dead, his body lived on. Captain Skaarn's Tinkerer was able to send an electrical impulse throughout the Nova's body, thus powering the ship, however, as his flesh decayed so did his ability to power the ship.
Nova powering the Novamobile.
Nova originally rejected the suggestion that he powered the ship, but after being swayed by Skaarn's "daughter", Jinin, he agreed to do it and was successful. After Sam left, Skaarn then gave Jinin her food for pretending to be his daughter, but tricked her by throwing her in his slave pit where they all attacked her for her food. Afterwards, Beta Ray Bill was revealed to have been on board Gron's ship and Captain Skaarn and his crew were evil and because Nova helped them and defeated the good guys, Beta Ray Bill swore to end Sam.[14]
After tracking Sam down to his school, Beta Ray Bill broke up a fight between him and Karl. Freaked out, Karl ran away and hit his head on a light pole. Taking his frightfulness as him knowing he did something wrong, Beta Ray Bill assumed he was the Black Nova whom saved Skaarn. While Beta Ray Bill was distracted Sam was able to put on his helmet and attacked Beta Ray Bill. File:Samuel Alexander (Earth-616) from Nova Vol 5 13.NOW 001.jpg
Sam fighting Beta Ray Bill
During their fight Sam realized Captain Skaarn was evil and swore to Beta Ray Bill he didn't know this and demanded he joined him to stop Captain Skaarn.
Sam, however, had to baby sit Kaelynn while his mother had her first day of work. So he got Carrie to do it for him while him and Beta Ray Bill went looking for Captain Skaarn.[15]
When asked by Sam where he was headed, Skaarn had previously said "nowhere", according to the young Nova who thought that the captain was not being forthcoming in his answer. Beta Ray Bill, though, realised that Skaarn was actually on his way to Knowhere, the scientific observatory built inside the severed head of a Celeistial at the end of the universe. Instructing Sam to stay put outside, Beta Ray Bill went inside looking for Skaarn. While bargaining for a giant War Bringer, Skaarn was confronted by Beta Ray Bill after shooting the War Bringer's owner. Threatening to kill his prisoners, the Korbinites, Beta Ray Bill agreed to withdraw. Outside, Sam battled and defeated a War Bringer after which he and Beta Ray Bill took Skaarn to his ship. Skaarn teleported Beta Ray Bill to another realm. Sam, however, managed to stay behind, by projecting an image of himself, tricking Skaarn into believing that he also was sent away. While trying to figure out a way to bring his ally back, Sam heard a voice inside his head that lead him to an injured Cosmo, the psychic dog that is in charge of security for Knowhere.[16]File:Samuel Alexander (Earth-616) from Nova Vol 5 15 002.jpg
They were too late.
After rushing the poisoned Cosmo to the infirmary, Sam managed to save him using the Nova Force. Sam then hurried to confront Captain Skaarn, who just thirty seconds earlier left Knowhere leaving behind three rogue Spaceknights, known as the "Disavowed of Galadoria". Planning to rob a secret weapons vault, the knights were to teleport directly into the vault using the Continuum Cortex while Skaarn launched an assault head-on. Sam fights the knights and teleports them to the Cortex' last used coordinates where Beta Ray Bill is. With Skaarn's assault on the vault still 8 hours away, Sam uses the Continuum Cortex to get back to Arizona, and his school, to avoid getting suspended. Back on Knowhere, Sam reunites with Beta Ray Bill and teleports to the vault, but realizing that they're too late, as Captain Skaarn somehow has managed to take over the vault.[17] While Beta Ray Bill tried rescuing the Korbinites, Sam took Skaarn on alone. After threatening Sam's world, Sam became enraged and gave Skaarn everything he had. He imagined Skaarn was Moffet and attacked to him until he believed he was dead. He took his sword and through into a dying star, thinking it would simply destroy it. After Beta Ray Bill heard this he quickly searched for it and recovered it before it fell into the wrong hands again. Sam then took the almost dead captain to Cadivan who in return gave him his helmet. Jinin who expected Sam to make money off the bounty hunter was very upset with Sam for doing that. She smacked him and claimed that he made a new enemy. Sam then went to the site where it all happened and made a tribute to the dead Nova who powered Captain Skaarn's ship.
Back Home
Kaelynn with the Nova Helmet.
Glad it was all over, Sam returned home only to be devastated with the news that his family will lose their home.[18] Sam tried to help his mom out with money in any way possible. He crafted a boulder made of a solid gold for her to sell, but his plan backfired when the boulder began emitting radioactive energy and ruining her crops. After constantly trying to help his mom, he agreed to watch Kaelynn while she worked. In his sleep, Kaelynn picked up his Nova Helmet and put it on. After making a large sound and breaking the wall, Sam calmed her down and took the helmet back. He was able to convince her that the wall was broken already and she hurried off to bed.
After his mom's return, they had a huge fight and Sam flies away in anger. His mom tried to warn him that the neighborhood watch was trying to catch him, but was too late to catch Sam before he left. Sam saved an oil rig from a bad fire and saved an old man and woman from imminent death before returning home. Sam and his mom exchanged secrets of the eviction notice on the house and that the neighborhood watch is after Sam and eventually made up. Sam told his mom that he knew that Jesse was alive and that next time he sees the watcher (who is dead) that he will find out where he is.[19]
While the High Evolutionary was capturing heroes from all over, he encountered Sam. He rendered Sam unconscious and was very pleased that he was able to catch a Nova.[20]. When Sam came to, the Evolutionary declared that a human Nova was his only chance at saving the purity of humanity.[21] The Evolutionary originally thought humanity was impure and should change, but realized it wasn't the problem. He reconfigured his first machine to change all impure humans to become pure and needed Sam's helmet's Worldmind to focus his machine on all life on Earth.
Sam and the High Evolutionary's conversation was cut short when they were interrupted by his Evolutionaries. They came with Scarlet Spider, Hummingbird and Water Snake, all unconscious. File:Samuel Alexander (Earth-616) from New Warriors Vol 5 3 001.jpg
"I am the help."
After mistaking Scarlet Spider for Spider-Man several times, Kaine was able to talk to the spiders in the High Evolutionary's base and get them free. Barely given a second to plan a strategy, the Evolutionaries attacked and Sam went off to go get help. Letting his ego get the better of him, Sam ditched his quest and came back claiming to be all the help they needed. [22] After being overrun with Evolutionaries, Justice and Speedball came, with new heroes Sun Girl and Mark. They quickly gained the upper hand, but lost it just as fast when the High Evolutionary rendered Sam unconcious. Sam being the only one who knew how his machine worked made them useless for when he activated it. Everyone on the team was quickly dying, except for Sun Girl, the only one without natural powers. She blasted High Evolutionary and his machine and saved the day and the High Evolutionary and his new side-kick, The Evolutionary retreated. Afterwards, Sun Girl was offered a place on the team and Sam went back home.[23]
Original Sin
After stopping Tomazooma the Avengers came to praise Sam and although he was happy to receive the thanks he was upset Uatu didn't come down to thank him. After being told by the Avenges he only just watches and doesn't interact at all a million questions came to Sam's head. He decided to go up to ask him these questions, but also had something else in his mind. The Watcher kindly invited Sam into his home, but he got side tracked at his armory. He then haves a pain coming through his helmet that he confessed occurs when he is in danger. He rushes to Uatu who shows Sam why he doesn't interact with people only watches.
Sam finds out his dad is alive.
After feeling like he wasted too much of Uatu's time he tells him he must go, but not before asking him if his father is alive. At first Sam is upset by the expected silence, but then Uatu tells him "He is alive." and Sam leaves with joy.[24]
Personality
Sam was a disbeliever, thinking his dad's stories of being an intergalactic policeman were nothing but nonsense and subsequently viewing his dad as a loser. Despite this, he still cared for his father. Sam, being only 15 years old, is still a child and acts immaturely in some situations. He also is very arrogant due to his powerful abilities.
His helmet grants him these powers and abilities because of its access to the Nova Force.
Universal Translation: The helmet can make any alien species language appear to him as English.
Cosmic Awareness: Sam's Nova helmet flashes him different colors to depict different scenarios. It also allows him knowledge of most situations going on near him.
Flight: As Nova, Sam is able to fly at great speeds.
Sam compiling the Nova Force into a ball and firing it at Kaldera.
Like most Novas, Sam is able concentrate the power of the Nova Force into a beam or a ball of energy and fire it from his hands.
Limited Telekinesis: While training with Gamora and Rocket Raccoon, Sam was able to move Rocket Raccoon's favorite gun with his mind. This power seems limited and he is the only Nova ever shown to use this power.
Superhuman Strength: Sam has access to the same strength as that of a centurion from the Nova Corps.
Abilities
Sam can speak some Spanish due to his mother using the language frequently. He has also started to teach himself Morse Code, though his understanding of it is still imperfect.
Weaknesses
When Sam's helmet is removed his powers go with it.
Although his helmet corresponds to the rank of Denarian in the Nova Corps, the rest of his costume corresponds to that of a Centurion, like other Supernovas.
Trivia
He enjoys listening to dubstep music and watching SportsCenter on ESPN.[25]
Sam also seems to be a fan of Snickers candy bars and "the Cardinals", which may be the Arizona Cardinals football team considering Arizona is the state he was born in.[25]
Jeph Loeb named Sam after his son, who had died of bone cancer at the age of 17.
Sam is very possessive of his Nova Corps helmet because when his father, Jesse, "died" all Sam had left was his helmet. He expresses the most care for it in Avengers vs X-Men #1 where his last conscious thought is that they can't take off the helmet, and in Marvel NOW Point One #1 where Diamondhead's comment about taking the helmet as a trophy is what pushes Sam to keep on fighting.
Nova fans are often referred to as "NovaNauts" and 'Novanators"
The Jean Grey School student Broo is a huge fan of Sam. Though his comment on Nova being his favorite superhero was made back when Sam was almost completely unknown, Broo was later seen completely fanboying over Sam when the two met. This means that Broo is either a huge fan of the Nova Corps in general, somehow knew about Sam prior to the events of Avengers vs X-men, or is simply confusing Sam with Richard Rider.
Amazing. It's everything dad talked about. The speed. The power. It is like being a human rocket! 
[src]
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