Sam Alexander (Marvel)
Sam Alexander is a male comic character who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Sam Alexander
Six months prior, he saw his father as a drunk who made up stories about being a galactic space hero called a Nova rather than get his life together. Sam came to resent his father and was embarrassed by his life as a janitor at his school where his class fellows made fun of him. One day, he was angry with Jesse when he got suspended because his father did not turn up at work. However, Sam found his father missing along with the helmet where he believed Jesse was intending to leave town. He attempted to find his father only to fall off his skateboard leading to him being admitted into hospital. When he regained consciousness, he was shocked to discover Gamora and Rocket Raccoon in front of him with a Black Nova helmet of his father with Sam learning that all the stories Jesse had told him were true. (Nova v5 #1) Sam came to panic at the encounter with the two and fled only to return to find them gone. He discovered his fathers helmet at the hospital which he initially attempted to throw awa as junk. This was until he saw it emitting a light and when he wore it he transformed into Nova. He then encountered a recording of his father who told Sam that he was sorry and that the Nova helm was him to use. Afterwards, Sam tried to come to terms with the fact that his father told the truth and wore the helmet leading to his transformation into Nova. He tried to control the powers of Nova which briefly saw him crash into the Moon. (Nova v5 #2) Upon arriving on the Moon, he encountered Uatu with the silent Watcher showing Sam a fleet of Chitauri heading towards Earth. Sam returned to Earth’s surface after bidding the Watcher farewell with him attempting to find answers about himself. At night, he was visited by Gamora and Rocket Raccoon who stated that they knew his father Jesse with them being the last to see him as he had given them instructions to give his helmet to Sam. They informed Sam that he was the las Nova as Richard Rider had fallen and the Nova Corps was no more. Thus, they prepared him for the coming danger by training him as they owed his father. The two told him that the Chitauri were coming with them possessing the Ultimate Nullifier that they intended to use on Earth. Sam revealed to them that the Watcher had showed him the threat and he had their coordinates with Gamora and Rocket deciding to stage a pre-emptive strike. (Nova v5 #3) Sam was to serve as a scout but he instead lay in wait for the Chitauri to find him in order to infiltrate the alien mothership. Once inside, he was attacked by their leader Titus who was a former comrade of his father. Titus claimed that Jesse Alexander had betrayed them leaving him behind. The felinoid alien stated that he forged an alliance with the Chitauri as a result as they had reassembled the Ultimate Nullifier to make themselves the most powerful force in the universe. Sam managed to escape where he took the Nullifier with him as he returned to Earth hoping Rocket and Gamora would return. However, in his home town, Titus arrived where he threatened to destroy the settlement unless he was returned the Nullifier along with the Black Nova helmet of his father. (Nova v5 #4) He managed to recover his helmet and battled Titus whilst saving any bystanders from an attack by the villain. Sam took the rogue Nova into space around Jupiter where he threatened to use the Ultimate Nullifier. Titus then attempted to wrestle the device from Sam but this triggered a singularity that sent the rogue Nova along with the Chitauri elsewhere in the universe. The new Nova then proceeded to give the Ultimate Nullifier to the Watcher on the Moon for safekeeping as he returned back to Earth. (Nova v5 #5)
Nova asked his Mom if he could be an Avenger to which she initially rejected the idea. After a small speech by her, she finally decides not to stand in his way and that if he wanted to still fight crime then she would not be able to stop him. In his everyday school life, Sam was also having some trouble settling into regular life. When he found himself in a confrontation with school bully Karl, he forgot how normal he really was. 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 found it even more difficult to keep his secret identity from his crush, Carrie. (Nova v5 #6) 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 met up with Spider-Man. Spider-Man then gave him some advice about crime fighting. Following this advise, he went back to the skate park that he destroyed and tried to be a hero for the people who were burdened with the job of cleaning it all up. (Nova v5 #7)
Later on, he was in space when he came to discover that the Phoenix Force was on a direct path to Earth and destroying everything in its path. One of the worlds Sam attempted to warn was Birj during a time when Terrax was looking to take over his homeworld. The young Nova attempted to warn the people but Terrax attacked him and attempted to kill Sam. Despite his warnings, the former Herald of Galactus refused to listen forcing Sam to leave just in time to see Birj consumed by the Phoenix. Nova then made a direct path to Earth in order to warn the rest of the planet of the danger. (Marvel Point One v1 #1)
New Warrior
After the skate park was rebuilt, Sam had an encounter with 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 refused, however, after learning that they were good friends of Richard Rider, he agreed to see what it was like. (Nova v5 #8) 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. She offered Sam the choice of Brakk-Tar, meaning a battle without using any powers nor weapons. He agreed and went by her rules, until she called his mom a "cow". After insulting her and calling her a bully, he decided to not fight fair and used his powers to fight her. In a desperate plan to escape, Kaldera teleported herself back into Thanos' Ship and Nova followed. He won and Kaldera was sent off far away from Earth while Sam was reunited with his family and team members. (Nova v5 #9) In the wake of the Kaldera incident, Sam's arrogance grew, making up exaggerated stories of how he was granted the Silver Surfer's surfboard and then high-handedly defeated Doctor 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 were completely unnecessary. He also brushed off the newly reformed New Warriors as a bunch of nobodies who were 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 did not trust her. Carrie then ran away from Sam and he felt like everybody was suddenly changing. Sam was so angry that he flew to the moon to find Uatu, the only person who he felt comfortable talking to. After venting his frustrations and demanding any form of guidance, the Watcher showed 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 showed him how the Avengers neglected Richard Rider and the New Warriors needed him. Sam being put on the spot by Uatu realized his wrongs and went back to his mother and agreed to all her conditions and officially joined the New Warriors as a reserve member. (Nova v5 #10)
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 were talking about Sam's tendency to not show up to school. The principal also told her that the house won't be getting anymore money from her husband because he hadn'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. (Nova v5 #10) 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 had taken to his head. Sam then returned 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. 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.(Nova v5 #11) 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. (Nova v5 #12)
Avenger
Sam was among the heroes present during the battle against Red Onslaught after he used his powers to spread hate across the world. (Avengers & X-Men: AXIS v1 #1) Days later, Captain America called a meeting in the Avengers Tower and gathered all the heroes who were or had been Avengers. Informing the guests about the Red Skull's disappearance, Captain America told them that only somebody with Avengers clearance would be able to free him and everyone in the room was a suspect. Spider-Man's spider-sense triggered, and he quickly escaped Stark Tower through the window, yelling at Sam to fly them to safety, but they were attacked by Queen Medusa and Captain America. Spider-Man and Nova managed to escape with the help of Magneto. He then took Spider-Man and Nova to the Avengers Mansion, where Steve Rogers informed them about the effects of the inversion, including Kluh's rampage across Arizona. Without thinking, Sam took off to confront him. (Avengers & X-Men: AXIS v1 #5) Sam arrived in Carefree and engaged in combat against Kluh. Kluh attempted to bite off Sam's arm before being blasted up the nose. Irritated, Kluh hit Nova so hard he crossed the Atlantic and crashed head-first into the Eiffel Tower and continued his rampage. (Nova v5 #23) After learning that Sam's mother works at a local diner, Carnage took her hostage there in order to get his attention, but, tired of waiting, he decided to kill her. Sam arrived before he could do so and took him away from the diner to an empty area in order not to hurt anyone. While fighting, Nova tried to convince him that he wasn't Sam Alexander, but the maniac didn't believe him. After being wounded by the Nova Force, Carnage fled in order to heal as the police arrived. In the next day, already healed from his burns, Carnage attacked Sam again, this time at his school. (Nova v5 #26) While attacking Sam at school, Carnage saw another person as Nova flying around the area, thus making it impossible for the boy to be Nova. Enraged, Carnage followed the false Nova, but lost sight of her. He then started to attack innocent people to try and get Nova's attention, which he got. A new battle ensued between them both. Carnage was taken by Nova to the sky and then punched him into the parking lot below, the impact setting off the cars' alarms, dizzying Cletus and the symbiote. Realizing Carnage's weakness to high sounds, Sam threw Carnage into an Anthrax show nearby, a heavy metal band which Cletus was a fan of. As the symbiote screamed in pain, Cletus fled from there to the road, but was attacked by Nova again. He threw a car at Sam, who caught it midair, and took advantage of it to punch him. Ready to finish off his opponent, Carnage was hit by a truck. He was then tied in metal plates by Sam and left by his symbiote as he revealed he wanted to kill Nova because he wanted to erase any memory of his good deeds, from the time he had his moral axis inverted, from anyone who remembered it. He was left by Sam in Ryker's Island. (Nova v5 #27)
Whilst at school, he learnt that the Chitauri Warbringer had returned and was attacking New York with Sam turning into Nova to fight the powerful alien warlord. This saw him encounter Ms. Marvel with them later joined by the Avengers in defeating Warbringer. (All-New, All-Different Avengers v1 #2) After defeating their foe, Sam was invited to join the newest incarnation of the Avengers and to receive training on how to operate as a superhero. (All-New, All-Different Avengers v1 #4)
Champions
During the battle, Sam came to realise that the only way to stop the slaughter of the Chitauri was by defeating Warbringers faction as the soldiers only obeyed the commands of a stronger leader. With the aid of the Champions, they managed to defeat the alien warlord whereupon Sam commanded his warriors to stand down. Thanos was entertained by the event that he allowed the Champions to depart where they took the Warbringer to the Nova Corps to be imprisoned. Whilst there, the Corps confiscated Sam's Black Nova helmet as they deemed that he was not authorised nor trained to operate it. Thus, they took it from him and teleported the Champions back to Earth leading to Sam being depowered. (Infinity Countdown: Champions v1 #2)
He began to feel increasingly out of place among the Champions as he lacked any powers whilst their growing membership included more individuals with abilities. Whilst responding to an anti-Mutant protest by Worthington Industries, the mobile bunker came under attack from Kaldera who had returned to Earth in order to get her revenge against Sam. (Champions v3 #3)
Kaldera took him back to Earth where they tracked the Nova helmet to a former S.H.I.E.L.D. facility with Sam reuniting with it. After becoming Nova again, he used the Black Nova helmet to capture Kaldera and hold her long enough for the Nova Corps to arrive where they arrested her. Commander Adsit then asked Sam to return the helmet but he refused where he highlighted the fact that the Corps was unable to get it to function and that it only responded to him. This led to Adsit deciding that Sam can retain the helmet for now thus allowing Alexander to remain as Nova. (Champions v3 #8)
Overview
Personality and attributes
On account of his costume, he was sometimes referred to as the Black Nova. (Nova v5 #13.NOW)
Whilst growing up, he came to resent his father and the last thing he wanted to do was become like him. However, this changed after learning that he was a Nova with Sam stating that he would be lucky if he ended up half the man he was in life. (Nova v5 #5)
He enjoyed listening to dubstep music and watching SportsCenter on ESPN. (Avengers vs. X-Men: Infinite v1 #1)
Powers and abilities
Though an ordinary human, his power actually lay within the Black Nova helmet that belonged to his father. When worn, he became empowered with the abilities of a Nova Corpsmen giving him superhuman powers. The helmet was coded to Jesse Alexander and could be used by his family who possessed his DNA. Within it, recordings could be left so that another wearer could receive messages that played for them. (Nova v5 #2) The helmet was capable of protecting Sam with it giving him the power to fly and breath in space but it did not make him invulnerable. (Nova v5 #3) Through its connection to Nova energy, the helmet was able to respond to distress calls from the Nova Corps. (Infinity Countdown: Champions v1 #1)
Sam was capable of triggering a space jump from orbit to deeper within the solar system allowing him to move at a rapid pace. (Nova v5 #5)
He could encase larger objects such as starships within his forcefields and propel them through space. (Infinity Countdown: Champions v1 #1)
As an Avenger, he had been given an Avengers ID Card that granted him full security clearance. (Nova v5 #25)
Notes
- Sam Alexander as Nova was created by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuiness where he made his first appearance in Marvel Point One v1 #1 (November, 2011).
Alternate Versions
- In Old Man Quill v1 # (2019), an alternate version of Sam Alexander was shown to inhabit the world of the Wastelands located on Earth-807128. He was shown to had left for space where he eventually became the new Nova Prime of the Nova Corps in the timeline set 50 years in the future. From New Xander, he led the Corps as one of the last forces of resistance against the Universal Church of Truth that were conquering all of known space.
In other media
Television
- In Ultimate Spider-Man, Sam Alexander made his first appearance as a cast member in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Logan Miller. In "The Return of the Guardians of the Galaxy", Sam managed to further unlock the capabilities of the helmet giving him further abilities.
- In Guardians of the Galaxy, Sam Alexander appeared in the animated television series second season where he was voiced again by actor Logan Miller. His father Jesse Alexander served in the Nova Corps and wore the enhanced black helmet of a Nova Centurion where he told his family on Earth many stories of his adventures though none believed him. One day, he went missing but his helmet returned to his home on Earth where his son Sam wore it and witnessed all the recordings present within it thus showing that his father was telling the truth. The Nova Corps placed a large bounty on the return of the helmet with Rocket and Groot journeying to Earth to take it from Sam who used its power to fight them until further fighting was stopped by Star-Lord. It was then determined that the Guardians were to train Sam to be better able to protect himself with Drax teaching the boy. During this time, Sam's helmet detected a signal on Spartax which he investigated only to encounter Mantis who manipulated him into freeing the Universal Believers Patriarch namely J'son.
Video games
- In Marvel: Avengers Alliance 2, the Sam Alexander Nova appeared in the setting of the mobile video game.
- In Marvel: War of Heroes, the Sam Alexander Nova appeared in multiple playable cards in the video game.
- In Marvel Heroes, the Sam Alexander Nova appeared as a playable character in the MMORPG with Logan Miller reprising his speaking role
- In Marvel: Future Fight, the Sam Alexander Nova appeared as a playable character in the mobile video game.
Toys
Appearances
- Marvel Point One v1: #1 (2011)
- Nova v5:
- New Warriors:
- All-New, All-Different Avengers v1:
- Nova v6:
- Champions v1:
- Champions v2:
- Infinity Countdown: Champions v1:
- Champions v3:
- Old Man Quill v1:
External Link
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