Richard Rider

Revision as of 13:55, 18 June 2018

Nova Corpsmen Richard Rider in Nova v4 #36.

Richard Rider is a male comic superhero that features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Origin

Richard Rider in Nova v1 #1.

Richard Rider was the eldest son of Charles Rider and Gloria Rider with him having a younger brother named Robbie Rider. (Nova v1 #1)

He came to be a student at Harry Truman's High School where during this time he had a girlfriend named Ginger Jaye. During these years, he was regularly bullied by fellow student Mike Burley who was a rival for Ginger's affections. (Nova v1 #1)

Nova

At the time, his world was being approached by the dying Nova Corpsmen Rhomann Dey who sought a successor to defeat the villain Zorr. Thus, upon arriving at Earth's orbit, he randomly chose a denizen to continue the fight with this being Richard who was struck by energy that left him in a temporary coma. He was empowered with the abilities of the Nova-Prime with him being briefed remotely by Dey of the coming danger. Initially, he did not notice any overt changes to himself until suddenly he manifested the power of being a Nova Centurion. Whilst testing his powers, he received a police report and encountered the villains Zorr rampaging in the city. He struggled to fight the extraterrestrial conqueror whilst trying to save people that were in the way of his rampage. The villain was only stopped by Rhomann Dey used the last of his powers to slay his foe with him perishing in the process on-board his ship. Rider then resolved to continue operating as the superhero now known as Nova and to protect the people of Earth. (Nova v1 #1) He continued to operate as a hero whilst attempting to learn about his new powers leading to his first encounter with his own supervillains namely the Condor and Powerhouse. (Nova v1 #2) In his personal life, his father faced a lot of pressure from the community due to his role as a principal. Whilst as Nova, he encountered the crimelord Diamondhead who managed to evade capture by the Human Rocket. (Nova v1 #3) He next encountered Thor who had been infected by the abilities of the Corrupter causing him to attack Nova until he was freed whereupon the two heroes defeated the transformed supervillain. (Nova v1 #4) His fame led to writers at Marvel Comics wanting to make a version of him in their publications with Nova also battling the threat of Tyrannus who intended to use his Earth-Shaker robot to bring down cities on the surface to his underground realm. (Nova v1 #5) He later responded to an incident when he found out that the Condor and Diamondhead had formed an alliance together where they freed Powerhouse whereupon they captured Nova intending to use him against their enemy the Sphinx. Condor used his equipment to brainwash Nova after learning that he had powers and technology of alien origin but the changed Richard Rider ended up taking over their criminal gang. (Nova v1 #6)

New Warriors

He was abducted by the vigilante known as Night Thrasher who took Rider to the roof of a building and let him drop. This resulted in Richard tapping into the remaining Nova Force in him and restoring his abilities with him initially angry at Night Thrasher who confessed that he did not know if Rider still had his abilities. He revealed that he had tracked Richard in order for him to return to being Nova and joining a superhero team he was forming known as the New Warriors. (New Warriors v1 #1)

Annihilation

Rider was on Xandar when it came under attack from the extradimensional forces of the Annihilation Wave that had emerged from the Negative Zone. Their forces ravaged local space and devastated the ranks of the Nova Corps with Xandar left in ruins. An unconscious Richard Rider was contacted by the Xandarian Worldmind as he was the sole surviving Nova on the ruined planetoids. Rider was tasked with going to the hub to recover the Worldmind which downloaded itself into his body along with the Nova Force. Richard was at first hesitant in taking the power of the Nova Force after what happened to Garthan Saal but the Worldmind assured him that it would regulate its output. This left Rider the holder of the remaining legacy of Xandar with the Worldmind directing his actions though he retained his own will which initially caused him to lash out against the Annihilation Wave despite the artificial intelligence's warnings to avoid further conflict. Whilst on the Orienta shard, he encountered Drax and his companion Cammi who were among the only survivors of the planetoid. (Annihilation: Nova v1 #1)

Return

Overview

Personality and attributes

Nova Prime in Nova v4 #11.

He came to be referred to as the Human Rocket on account of his speed. (Nova v1 #2) Rider was designated as Nova Corps Operative 11249-44396. (Annihilation: Nova v1 #1)

Before getting his powers, he developed a kind of inferiority complex as he felt everyone else was more successful than him. (Nova v1 #1)

After gaining his powers, he became committed to using them to helping others and not himself along with not using them for stupid purposes as he felt he was empowered for a reason namely to be a hero. (Nova v1 #1)

Rich's father Charles Rider was a principal at a high school. It was known that his father had a temper though he loved his children. His father was said to not tolerate fighting in the house and did not want to see his son behave as a ruffian. He was expected his sons to obey a command that he had given them. Richard's mother Gloria Rider operated as a civilian dispatcher at the police department. His younger brother Robbie Rider was noted for his affinity towards the sciences. (Nova v1 #3)

At high school, his girlfriend was Ginger Faye who found Richard to be cute and always offered support to him whether it was silent or more overt help. (Nova v1 #5)

A catchphrase he was fond of saying when he was surprised as "Blue Blazes!". (Nova v1 #2)

Powers and abilities

Among the things transferred to him included advanced knowledge which allowed him to solve equations even though he never the answer to such questions at high school. The power of being a Nova Centurion allowed him to fly through the sky and space at high speeds. It also gave him increased strength and endurance with the ability to handle blows that could fell an ordinary human being. Nova's helmet was capable of taking into numerous communication frequencies such as police bands allowing him to discern disturbances in an area. (Nova v1 #1) The helmet was built to recycle air supply preventing the user from being drowned and allowed for deep space operations. (Nova v1 #4)

Whilst travelling at Nova-Speed, he was noted for being incredibly fast for ordinary opponents. (Nova v1 #2) He retained his powers both in and outside of his uniform where he maintained his enhanced Nova-Strength allowing him to effortlessly pick up heavy weights. He was also shown to be invulnerable allowing him to be unharmed by weapon fire with projectiles bouncing off his body whilst vehicles could be destroyed by smashing into his body. (Nova v1 #3) Projectile weapons were shown to simply ricochet off his body. (Nova v1 #5)

This manifested as a powerful high energy burst that projected outwards and was able to render super-powered beings unconscious within its range. (New Warriors v1 #12)

Notes

• The Nova Richard Rider was created by Marv Wolfman and John Buscema where he made his first appearance in Nova v1 #1 (September, 1976).

Alternate Versions

In other media

Television

• In Silver Surfer, a unnamed non-voiced character resembling the Richard Rider Nova appeared in the background of the animated television series in the episode "Learning Curve Part 1".

Video games

• In Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, the Richard Rider Nova appeared as a playable character in the crossover fighting video game where he was voiced by actor Troy Baker.
• In Marvel Heroes, Richard Rider as Nova appeared as a playable character in the MMORPG video game where he was voiced by actor Troy Baker.

Appearances

• Nova:
• New Warriors:
• Annihilation:
• Annihilation: Nova:
• Nova:
• Infinity Countdown:

External Links

• Wikipedia Entry

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