"He discovered that there were universes stacked on top of his own..." The subject of this article comes from an alternate universe connecting to the main timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The "Nova Corpsman Nebula" Universe is an alternate reality where Nebula was left for dead in the wake of Thanos' murder at the hands of Ronan, eventually being rescued by the Nova Corps.

History[]

Ambush on Thanos[]

Nebula and Gamora were adopted by Thanos, being raised by him as soldiers. Whenever Nebula failed a task, Thanos would replace a piece of her with a cybernetic. In 2014, Thanos was attacked by Ronan the Accuser, a former ally, who successfully killed him along with Gamora, leaving Nebula floating alone in space. However, the Nebula was rescued by Irani Rael and the Nova Corps; she later went on to join them.^[1]

Battle of Xandar[]

Ronan the Accuser traveled to Xandar in the Dark Aster and attacked Xandar. He crippled the planet's defenses, forcing Nova Prime to enclose Xandar in the Planetary Shield to prevent the Dark Aster from reaching the ground. With this act, all Xandarians were cut off from the rest of the galaxy for the set time for the shield to remain closed, 50 years.^[1]

Dark Days[]

Deal with the Devil[]

Five years later, Xandar had become dark and dangerous due to five years of isolation, leading Irani Rael to make a deal with Ronan the Accuser: she would acquire the Xandarian Mainframe Core source codes and let Ronan and his warship in, surrendering to his forces. However, only a cyborg could access the codes, so she planned to trick Nebula into getting them for her.^[1]

Yondu Udonta's Death[]

Nova Corpsman Nebula went to the scene of the murder of Yondu Udonta, where she found him lying on the ground with a bullet hole in his back. As Nebula had previously allied herself with Udonta, she felt bad that he had been killed. Garthan Saal then arrived at the scene and told Nebula the real cops were there. Saal mocked Nebula about her past in the Black Order and told her to stay away from the case, prompting Nebula to conduct her own investigation.^[1]

Investigating[]

Nebula went back to the crime scene once the Nova Corps had finished cleaning up. She projected an auditory hologram from her eye of Yondu Udonta whistling, causing the Yaka Arrow, which was stuck in some scaffolding, to respond to the sound and shoot towards Nebula. Nebula caught the arrow inches away from her face and began walking away, but the tip of the arrow began glowing green. She pressed the tip, unveiling a green sphere of schematics.

Realizing that Udonta died protecting the schematics, Nebula searched for a match in all databases, to no avail. She was then contacted by Nova Prime, who instructed Nebula to switch to a secure line before informing her that she thought there was a conspiracy afoot to let Ronan the Accuser into Xandar, and that whatever Udonta was protecting was a key. Rael then told Nebula to uncover the plot using any means necessary.^[1]

Visiting Howard's Casino[]

Nebula went to Howard the Duck's Casino and showed the schematics to him. Korg recognized them as source codes for the Planetary Shield, leading Nebula to conclude that someone was trying to take down the shield, effectively bringing down Xandar's last defense allowing for an invasion to occur. Nebula decided she needed to reach the Xandarian Mainframe Core to prevent that from happening.^[1]

Freeing Yon-Rogg[]

Nebula traveled to the Xandarian Correctional Facility to free Yon-Rogg, as he knew his way around Xandarian security. Ironically, she had been the one to arrest and imprison Yon-Rogg. Surrendering her weapons, she navigated to Yon-Rogg's cell and broke him out. A security robot attempted to stop the two, but Nebula made quick work of it and stole its tablet before dashing to the main area of the prison. Security on the higher railings pointed guns at them, but Nebula used the robot's tablet to free all prisoners in the facility, inciting a riot. She and Yon-Rogg used the commotion to escape to her ship.^[1]

Betrayed[]

Arriving at the location of the Xandarian Mainframe Core, Nebula and Yon-Rogg broke through the vents and slid down a maintenance shaft before the latter stopped suddenly. He explained there was live wire exposed and that needed to get out, but they eventually made it to the chamber containing the core. Once Yon-Rogg successfully picked the lock, the place began to flood, but the two swam through a vent into the chamber, where the water began to recede.

Nebula walked up a staircase to the core and placed her hand on it, granting her authentication. She then connected the core's cables to her head and began erasing the source codes; however, she also put a twist on the codes as she knew Yon-Rogg and Nova Prime were conspiring against her. Suddenly, Yon-Rogg stuck a flash drive in Nebula's head, extracting the source codes and rendering Nebula immobile. Water began filling the chamber again, but Nebula was able to barely escape through another vent, making it outside.

When she came to, she saw Yon-Rogg and Nova Prime standing over her. Nova Prime explained her plan and deal with Ronan to Nebula before ordering Garthan Saal to kill Nebula. When she tried to get up, the Nova Corps beat her up and shot her multiple times. However, she managed to punch her way through and jumped off the facility hundreds of feet to the ground. She then slowly made her way through riots against the Nova Corps to get to Howard's Casino.^[1]

Assembling a Team[]

Nebula made it to Howard's Casino, where she was helped by Howard, Korg, Groot, and Miek. Nebula insisted she was fine, although the circuitry in her head was exposed and she passed out. Howard and Korg managed to boot her up again, and she asked the former to provide her with some weaponry. At first, he claimed he did not have anything like that, but complied when Nebula informed him Irani Rael could take away his liquor license. Nebula also donned the Yaka Arrow Controller and the assembled team posed together.^[1]

Battle at the Nova Corps Headquarters[]

The team arrived at the Nova Corps Headquarters and dispatched many guards, with Nebula puncturing some with the Yaka Arrow. They then made their to the main room, where Irani Rael, Yon-Rogg, Garthan Saal, and the Nova Corps stood. Rael input the access codes into a computer, opening the Planetary Shield and letting Ronan the Accuser and the Dark Aster into Xandar. However, the shield suddenly reversed directions, closing on and destroying the Dark Aster and killing Ronan.

Rael asked what Nebula had done, and she explained that she had foreseen Rael and Yon-Rogg's betrayal and had put a twist on the codes to make the Planetary Shield close if it was opened. Enraged, Rael ordered the Nova Corpsmen present to kill everyone. Korg smashed Saal and Yon-Rogg together, disposing of them, while Nebula chased after Rael, who was attempting to escape in a Star Blaster. Nebula jumped onto the side of the ship just before Rael took off. Rael attempted to shake Nebula off, but her reckless maneuvers caused her to crash.

Rael was flung out of the ship but managed to hang on to the side of a building. Nebula landed on the building and showed her mercy, sticking out her hand to pull her up, but Rael instead tried to shoot Nebula, missing and falling to her death. The Planetary Shield then opened again and the sun shined on Xandar. Howard the Duck walked up alongside Nebula and congratulated her on her victory, noting that the planet was getting its life back and dubbing her Super Nova. Nebula joked that Howard also got to keep his liquor license, to which Howard quacked and replied what they had done was not bad for a night's work.^[1]

Residents[]

• Nova Corps
  • Nebula
  • Irani Rael †
  • Garthan Saal †
• Howard the Duck
• Korg
• Groot
• Miek
• Thanos †
• Black Order
  • Gamora †
• Yon-Rogg †
• Ravagers
  • Yondu †
• Ronan the Accuser †
• Mindy

Landmarks[]

• Sanctuary
• Xandar
  • Howard's Casino
  • Nova Corps Headquarters
  • Xandarian Correctional Facility

Trivia[]

• In the Nova Corpsman Nebula universe, there is a larger period of time between Thanos' death and the Battle of Xandar than the main universe of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's counterparts of the events in Guardians of the Galaxy.
• The visual style of the Nova Corpsman Nebula universe as depicted in What If... Nebula Joined the Nova Corps? was inspired by the movie Blade Runner.^[2]

Behind the Scenes[]

• The Nova Corpsman Nebula universe was created out of a desire to feature Nebula following Karen Gillan's performance as the Nebula from the Ravager T'Challa universe in What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?. The story was designed to keep its Nebula closer in personality to her counterpart in the main universe of the Marvel Cinematic Universe than to her counterpart in the Ravager T'Challa universe.^[2]
• The Nova Corpsman Nebula universe, in which Nebula is able to save Xandar and shines unexpectedly, was cited by A.C. Bradley as one of several universes in the second season of What If...? which were created to give herself and others hope amid the COVID-19 pandemic and rising political tensions due to the George Floyd protests and the then-upcoming 2020 United States presidential election.^[3]

Gallery[]

References[]

External Links[]

• Nova Corpsman Nebula on Marvel Database