On the alien planet of Xandar, there is no greater champion than Nova himself. The mantle of Nova has been passed to a select few individuals, including Richard Ryder and Sam Alexander. No matter who has the title, it carries with it some amazing powers that are more than a match for many of the universe's foes.
Nova is imbued with the Nova Force. The Nova Force is an energy source that all members of Nova Corp wield. Nova, however, controls the full extent of the Nova Force's powers. Here are all of Nova's powers, ranked.
RELATED: 10 Nova Stories We Hope To One Day See In the MCU
10 Stamina
When the Nova Force is coursing through your veins, it completely augments the user's musculature. This allows Nova's muscles to acquire less fatigue and stay activated for extremely long physical activities.
Nova has even been known to stay physically active for entire days before the fatigue gets to him. Nova often must travel long distances when flying from planet to planet and with his enhanced stamina he has the ability to travel for days on end.
9 Accuracy
Often when aiming his blasts of energy, Nova needs to be accurate. If he misses by just an inch, he could cause untold damage to any bystanders. Such powerful energy as the Nova Force must be used wisely and he simply cannot risk endangering the lives of innocents.
That is why one of his more underrated and important powers is pinpoint accuracy. With the Nova Force flowing through his veins, Nova is able to shoot his energy blasts to an accuracy within millimeters. Such an aim is only seen in the Marvel universe among characters such as Hawkeye and Bullseye.
8 Durability
The Nova Force also offers Nova an enhanced resistance to injury. He can fall great distances, resist gunfire and withstand high levels of blunt force. Nova's body can also survive in environments of extreme pressure and extreme temperatures on both ends of the spectrum. Nova often needs to fly through space and using the Nova force he can do this without having to worry about the dangers of deep space.
This Xandarian champion has also shown quite an ability to resist powerful attacks. He has taken full-on blasts from powerful enemies such as Annihilus and Galactus. Few beings in the universe would be able to survive such attacks.
7 Healing Factor
Although it is nearly impossible to hurt Nova, he does get injured from time to time. On these rare occasions, his impeccable healing factor kicks in. Nova can harness his Nova Force and consciously direct it towards healing any sort of injuries he has sustained in battle.
Although this power is quite extraordinary, it does have its limits. During one of his more intense battles, the Richard Rider version of Nova lost his right arm. Although he can heal many injuries, Nova cannot regrow lost limbs.
6 Flight
One of the most important powers at Nova's disposal is flight. Through harnessing the Nova Force, he can propel himself not just through the air but also through the vastness of space.
Even more impressive than that, Nova can also fly through hyperspace. He often does this while traveling through space, as it makes it much easier to get from one end of the galaxy to the other.
5 Speed
During flight Nova can move at tremendous speeds. Moving faster than the speed of light, Nova makes easy work of interplanetary travel. These speeds are so great that he actually would cause harm if he traveled that fast within any planet's atmosphere. So Nova actually has to limit his speed unless he's out in space.
When on foot, the Nova Force also grants it's champion great running speeds. While it has never been explained exactly how fast Nova can go, he can definitely run at several hundred miles per hour.
4 Strength
While channeling his power, Nova can increase his strength to untold limits. Although the full extent of this power has never been shown, Nova has proven capable of fighting cosmic beings such as the Silver Surfer. The Silver Surfer is one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy, and taking him to an even stalemate is no joke.
On another occasion, during the Annihilation Wave storyline, Nova was able to use his strength to defeat Annihilus himself. Nova eventually even tore the cosmic villain inside out.
3 Energy Projection
Nova's most notable ability is his energy projection. By manipulating the Nova Force, this hero can fire a variety of powerful attacks. By focusing this energy to a certain degree, Nova can release it in the form of powerful gravimetric pulses and beams. These beams usually emit from his hands, but sometimes he chooses other parts of his body, such as his chest, to fire from. These beams can be extremely deadly. On one occasion, Richard Rider used this power to completely lobotomize Ego the Living Planet.
In addition to the powerful beams, Nova can release electromagnetic discharges. These discharges serve as a sort of antigravity field that nullifies gravity in a particular area.
2 Hyperspace Portals
Perhaps the most interesting use of Nova's vast amount of energy is to create hyperspace portals. These portals allow transport between to points in space. Although Nova can fly and run at incredible speeds, he can simply bypass all that effort by creating a portal and simply walking through.
Such an ability is extremely useful when the hero needs to escape an opponent/ disaster that he is not fast enough to run away from.
1 The Worldmind
Nova's strangest and possibly most useful power is his access to the Worldmind. The Xandarian Worldmind is a collective of all the knowledge passed down through Xandarian culture. Nova can use this knowledge as a sort of supercomputer, giving him access to thousands of years of priceless knowledge about the universe.
This power comes with a variety of applications. Nova can download complete profiles of his enemies, access highly protected computer networks and detect a variety of threats or other information. If need be, the collective can even take control of Nova's body while he sleeps.