Warning: contains spoilers for X-Men #5Sigh... The beloved X-Men have countless iconic villains for writers to choose from, but sometimes it feels like just a handful are consistently used. One terrifying and powerful mutant villain I think is being used too often is the monstrous Cassandra Nova, the evil twin sister to Charles Xavier. Since Nova's debut in Grant Morrison's New X-Men, I have loved the horror that the character brings to her stories... but I truly believe it is time for Marvel to retire Cassandra Nova for at least a decade.
The dangerous Cassandra Nova recently had a starring role as the villain in the MCUs Deadpool & Wolverine - masterfully brought to life by the talented Emma Corrin - and this role has made Nova more well known than ever before in her sordid comic history.
Recently, X-Men #5 - from writer Jed MacKay and artist Ryan Stegman - the two powerful mutant psychics Psylocke and Quentin Quire encountered Cassandra Nova in a new mutant's mind, revealing that the villain is a member of the new "pro-mutant" 3K organization. Sadly, Nova's over 20-year story arc just had an effective and emotional ending in Marauders... which makes me feel like her quick return cheapened that meaningful conclusion.
The X-Men's Darkest Villain Just Beat Marvel's Superman
Heroes Reborn's X-Men were saved by one of their darkest villains, Charles Xavier's forgotten sister Cassandra Nova who neutralized Hyperion.
Cassandra Nova Is Too Terrifying To Be A Regular X-Men Villain
Becoming a recurring enemy makes her less impactful
Cassandra Nova's debut and starring role in 2001s New X-Men #114 will forever be seared into my mind, because of the sheer terror and devastation the villain caused. Not only was Nova visually arresting - a clearly evil twin to the "heroic" Charles Xavier - but she was so evocatively a violent and sadistic sociopath, different from some of the X-Men's "goofier" or less serious villains. Cassandra Nova caused the largest mutant genocide in Marvel history, using an army of Sentinels to decimate Genosha and slaughter 16 million mutants in one fell swoop. Afterward, Nova terrorized the X-Men by taking over Xavier's body, outing him as a mutant, and nearly causing the complete destruction of the Shi'ar Empire simply because she hated her brother and anyone who associated with him.
Cassandra Nova's creator, the critically acclaimed writer Grant Morrison, originally intended for Cassandra Nova to experience true redemption, an ending that has been attempted with the villain on at least three separate occasions. Sadly, it seems that Marvel just can't let Nova go, and in my opinion, every time she reappears as a villain, it diminishes the initial horror that Cassandra evoked in me as a reader. Nova was the main villain in 2019s X-Men Red, which saw Jean Grey infect her with nanites that were meant to cause her to experience comion, but this "treatment" did not stick, because she was back to her old antics by the time of Marauders.
The X-Men Are Finally Solving a Decades-Old Mutant Mystery
Cassandra Nova is Charles Xavier’s “Mummudrai,” his evil twin, and her status as a mutant has finally been decided, with dire consequences for Krakoa.
Marauders ends with Emma Frost and Kitty Pryde - two of the living mutants most impacted by the Genoshan genocide - tricking Nova and trapping her 2 billion years in the Earth's past. It is unclear how Nova managed to survive and make it back to the present, but it certainly takes away from the impact of the punishment she received. It was revealed in X-Men (2024) #1 that Nova was back, and working with a mutant supremacist group known as "3K," who have discovered how to activate the X-Gene in non-mutant human adults. The issue uses the "Black Bug Room," a subconscious psychic prison of one's greatest fears, to re-introduce Cassandra Nova, again diluting the horror of the first Black Bug Room, experienced by Cyclops in New X-Men #116. Honestly, I am just not entirely sure why MacKay and Marvel decided to use Nova again so soon after her defeat in Marauders, and I wish they would have let the villain rest for much longer.
Hopefully, Cassandra's Role Will Continue To Develop Her Character
Turning Nova into a violent pro-mutant radical could become interesting
If Marvel is going to continue to use Cassandra Nova in their stories, they either need to use her incredibly sparingly - like literally once a decade - or they need to have true development for the character. Of course, Marvel will almost certainly never let Nova reach true redemption, since that would mean they couldn't use her as a villain any longer. I have been enjoying MacKay and Stegman's X-Men, so I am of course going to continue reading the series, and I truly hope that Cassandra is used effectively. Marauders saw Nova become a ferocious "pro-mutant" fighter, as opposed to her earlier hatred of mutantkind, and the new villainous organization 3K appears to be comprised of extreme mutants with a plan to "save" mutantkind, which could lead to interesting developments
X-Men Reveals a Mysterious New Group of Evil Mutants in Secret Bonus Scene
The X-Men relaunch's debut issue has introduced a major Big Bad, the mysterious mutant organization called 3K dedicated to a new mutant future.
Reading New X-Men was a revelatory experience for me as a young comic fan, and Cassandra Nova's key role as the main villain of Morrison's first arc has left an impression on me to this day. That is why I wish Marvel would have let Nova stay billions of years in the past for at least a few more years, so that her return would be truly shocking, instead of just making her another regular X-Men villain (or an MCU synergy byproduct). But, Cassandra's From the Ashes story is nowhere near complete, so I will patiently wait to see how Nova has returned from the past and what her plans are for the X-Men before ing any final judgment.
X-Men #5 from Marvel Comics is available now in stores.
