The second trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine confirmed a casting rumor. Namely, that the film’s chief villain, played by Emma Corrin, is Cassandra Nova. However, despite being one of the most powerful X-Men villains, she remains rather obscure outside of comics.
The Origins and History of Cassandra Nova
Created by writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely, Cassandra Nova first appeared in 2001’s New X-Men #114. She was first introduced as the evil twin of Professor Charles Xavier. However, that is a vast oversimplification of her true nature.
In technical terms, Cassandra Nova is a Mummudrai, or “anti-self.” According to the Shi’ar, Mummurrai are psychic parasites born of the astral plane, created whenever a new soul is born. They exist as a dark counterpart to the person who inspired their creation, and seek to destroy them.
Most Mummurrai die young, as they are too weak to influence their hosts. Sadly, Cassandra Nova was a rare exception, who had enough power to attempt to kill Charles Xavier in the womb. He was able to fight back, however, seemingly slaying his “twin sister.”
Unfortunately, she survived their battle. Worse, she was able to form a physical body after becoming entangled with Professor X’s psyche. It took several decades, but she eventually emerged with all his telepathic powers and more. She immediately set about destroying his life’s work, ravaging both the Mutant nation of Genosha and the Shi’ar Empire.
Cassandra Nova has proven remarkably hard to kill, despite repeatedly having her physical form destroyed. She has also proven adaptable, contriving new and increasingly inventive schemes to destroy the Mutants of Earth. One notable scheme was her creation of the Sentinites – nanite Sentinels capable of altering a human’s brain chemistry to make them hate Mutants as much as she did.
Most recently, Cassandra Nova reemerged in the Mutant nation of Krakoa, where she was allowed to join Kate Pryde’s Marauders. However, this was only allowed as part of a plan, formulated by Pryde and Emma Frost, to destroy the Mummudrai once and for all. She was left stranded 2 billion years in the past and has yet to reemerge.
The Powers of Cassandra Nova
As a Mummudrai, Cassandra Nova is able to copy the DNA of other beings and construct a physical body to contain their psychic essence. Once housed in a body, she can alter their body’s DNA and the genetic code of other beings. This enabled Cassandra to awaken a secondary mutation in the White Queen, giving her the power to transform her body into organic diamond.
By copying the DNA of Charles Xavier, Cassandra Nova became one of the most powerful telepaths on Earth. However, she went a step further, using her Mummudrai powers to access the full spectrum of latent psionic powers in Xavier’s DNA. This included telekinesis and astral projection abilities far in excess of Xavier’s natural abilities.
The Weaknesses of Cassandra Nova
Thankfully, for all her psychic power, Cassandra Nova is just as vulnerable to telepathic manipulation as anyone else. This was proven during her battle with Jean Grey and her X-Men: Red team during the battle with the Sentinites. Reasoning that she could only do so much to battle the hate virus Nova had created, Jean Grey reprogrammed the psychic nanite to give Cassandra the sense of empathy she had always lacked. This inspired her to disable the Sentinites and ask the X-Men for a chance at redemption.
Beyond that, Cassandra Nova is arrogant and prone to underestimating her enemies. She often fails to plan for resistance to her plans, failing to see how anyone could possibly stand against her. This may ultimately be how Deadpool defeats her in the movie, because few take Wade Wilson seriously as a threat until it is too late.
Deadpool & Wolverine arrives in theaters on July 26. 2024.
