Richard Rider, a student at the fictional Harry S. Truman High School in Hempstead, New York, is chosen at random by the alien Rhomann Dey, last surviving Nova Centurion of the planet Xandar's elite Nova Corps, to inherit his power and succeed him in the rank of Nova Prime following the destruction of his world by the intergalactic pirate Zorr. Having been mortally wounded in the battle that tore Xandar apart, Dey succeeds in tracking Zorr to Earth, but is unable to exact vengeance due to the extent of his injuries. At death's door, Dey has little choice but to transfer his power to an unsuspecting human on the planet below, praying that whomever he finds will take up his cause.

Rider gains increased strength, a degree of invulnerability, the power to fly, and a uniform with a sealed life support system, but little instruction on how to use these new powers. Overjoyed, Rider eagerly takes up the life of a superhero, fighting costumed supervillains in New York and gradually learning how to control his new abilities. Calling himself Nova, he makes arch-enemies out of street level thugs and cosmic level threats alike, fighting villains such as Condor and Powerhouse, Diamondhead, the Corruptor, and the Sphinx. Nova also teams with Spider-Man to capture Photon, who had killed Richard Rider's uncle, Ralph Rider, before ultimately choosing to reveal his secret identity to his family.

Discovering Dey's Nova Prime Space Ship, which has been invisibly orbiting Earth for several years, Doctor Sun and the Sphinx lead Rider across the stars and to the newly reconstructed planet Xandar, the same world where his great powers originated. Traveling with them as well are Powerhouse, Comet, and Crimebuster. Engaged in bitter war against the Skrulls, the Xandarians form the Champions of Xandar, pressing Rider into over a year of service protecting their territories from attack. Nova and the Champions of Xandar fight alongside Rom the Space Knight to eventually defeat the Skrulls, though Xandar itself is left nearly defenseless in the aftermath. Tiring of life so far from home and hoping to rejoin his high school friends, Rider requests to be released from his duties on Xandar and return to Earth. When he is told he must relinquish his powers in order to do so, Rider reluctantly agrees.

For a time, Rider lives a relatively quiet life, flipping burgers as a cook at a fast food restaurant and barely making ends meet due to his disrupted education. He spends his time trying to pick up the pieces of the life he had left behind, all the while wishing he could find a way to regain the powers he has lost. To that end, he makes some unproductive inquiries such as consulting Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four to see if that is possible. Unknown to him, during this period, the planet Xandar is utterly destroyed in an attack by the space pirate Nebula.
 

 
 
                                                       
  

                                                       
 

Page Updated:  Oct. 29th, 2023
I unpacked a few Nova Marvel trading cards in the 90s (looking for better character cards)... but even as a Marvel fan, I never cared much for Nova. I think you'd have to be a pretty big Marvel fan to care much about Nova's appearance in Ultimate MVC3... especially considering the characters he "replaced" in the series. I would even make the assumption that the majority of gamers never even heard of Nova until Ultimate MVC3. In my opinion, Nova's MVC3 appearance was kinda 'meh' and boring. His fighting style is straight forward but has a very "been there done that" vibe, especially for MVC. Some of Nova's normals are alright, but his generic beam supers and super moves (which already resemble other characters' supers) are just boring. I could think of countless other more exciting & charismatic Marvel characters who would've suited UMVC3 and MVCI infinitely better. Lastly, Nova's voice in UMVC3 is just plain annoying, especially during combos. Nova: "Like thaaaat? ...Like thaaaat? Like thaaaat?" Ugggh. No... I actually don't like that very much.
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