WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Annihilation: Scourge and a story in Incoming! by Matthew Rosenberg, R.B. Silva, Israel Silva and V.C.'s Travis Lanham, on sale now.
Annihilation: Scourge pushed Marvel's galactic landscape to the limit, as the Cancerverse took over the Negative Zone, tried to invade the Marvel Universe and turn everyone into ravenous zombies for the Many-Angled Ones. Marvel heroes such as the Fantastic Four even worked together with villains like Annihilus as desperate times called for desperate measures.
However, despite victory and this black plague being sent back into its home dimension, the Incoming! one-shot just revealed in the wake of this ordeal, one of the cosmos' biggest heroes has finally been broken: Richard Rider's Nova.
Rich has had quite a tumultuous past with the Cancerverse in particular. He defied death a few times before but the pain and suffering he experienced there was the worst he's ever known. Even though he's been through plenty of cosmic conflicts, he still has nightmares and PTSD from this fight. It's the fact he escaped and was eventually cured that brought the Cancerverse's hordes to Earth as they wanted him back, adamant he was their property and some sort of Chosen One. This is why the Silver Surfer, in a very questionable move, had Nova absorb the entire Cancerverse in order to protect his friends.
Sentry, reborn and redeemed after leading the Horde, then destroyed Rich, since this was the only way to contain the threat. With the breach to the Cancerverse sealed once more and Sentry policing it, it seemed all was well until the Annihilation: Scourge -- Omega finale revealed Annihilus brought Rich back to life, and this seems to be one of the major factors in why Rich is depressed and wants to stay away from Earth.
Incoming! focuses on a murder-mystery tied to a new alliance between the Kree and Skrull empires. As Jessica Jones and Carol Danvers uncover cosmic clues, the latter takes the info to the Three X's, a new team formed by Blue Marvel, Jimmy Woo and Night Thrasher. Realizing there's something a cosmic hero like Rich might know, Thrasher contacts Nova , but he discovers his friend isn't the same. Rich reveals that he's mentally lost after being resurrected by Annihilus, and he suggests that he could be staying away from home since he doesn't know if the bug king corrupted him.
As Thrasher tries to break through, Rich is dismissive and clearly despondent. As he takes on a mysterious armada, the Nova even sounds like he has a death wish and is going through the motions of being a hero in deep space. Rich admits that he's empty inside since the Nova Corps is gone, although he knows that Earth's young Sam Alexander is still around. Still, he has no interest in any sort of personal connection and refusing to come to Earth. He tells his former New Warriors teammate he's just trying to hold all of the cosmos together by himself.
Thrasher begs him to open up as he's worried, and when he asks Rich if he's okay, the cold truth spills out, "No... But when has that mattered?" As Rich wishes his friend good luck, this lack of compassion or empathy is uncharacteristic, and the shock and trauma he's been through have clearly had an effect on him.
As Nova goes on, he destroys the armada he was facing without hesitating, further hinting at the possibility that he could begin acting violently towards those around him. Hopefully. Rich's potential new role in the next Guardians of the Galaxy team will put him around his allies before he spirals down into a situation that he can't just fly back out of.