Cassandra Nova
Cassandra Nova is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the X-Men. Created by writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely, Cassandra first appeared in New X-Men #114 (July 2001). Cassandra is a mummudrai, a parasitic life form born bodiless on the astral plane. The mummudrai that became Cassandra became telepathically entangled with the future Charles Xavier, who possesses vast mutant telepathic powers. This granted Cassandra some psionic powers herself, including the ability to exit the womb and create a body.
| Cassandra Nova | |
|---|---|
Portion of the splash page of X-Men: Red #4 (May 2018) Art by Tom Taylor (pencils), Mahmud A. Asrar (inks), Rain Beredo (colors). | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | New X-Men #114 (July 2001) |
| Created by | Grant Morrison Frank Quitely |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Cassandra Xavier |
| Species | Mummudrai |
| Team affiliations | Shi'ar Imperium X-Men (in Charles Xavier's body) Marauders |
| Notable aliases | Charles Xavier, The Immensity (by Shi'ar) |
| Abilities | Telepathy, Telekinesis, DNA Duplication, Spontaneous cell regeneration, Intangibility, Cosmic fire and infernal control, Immunity to magic and mimicry, Premonition, Mind and body exchange, Mind Control, Soul gathering, Dematerialization |
Cassandra is Xavier's ideological dark shadow, bent on destruction and genocide. She is most infamous for commanding an army of Sentinels to massacre 16 million mutants within the mutant homeland of Genosha. In 2009, Cassandra Nova was ranked as IGN's 50th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time, the only villain from the 21st century to make the list.
Nova will make her live-action debut in Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and portrayed by Emma Corrin.