Xandar

Xandar is a fictional planet appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The planet is depicted as being in the Tranta system in the Andromeda galaxy. It is best known as the home world of the Nova Corps, an intergalactic police task force. Xandar is also the home planet of Firelord and Air-Walker, former Heralds of Galactus as well as the super-villain Supernova.

History

Blown apart in an attack by the Luphomoid Zorr, Xandar is saved from complete destruction by the timely intervention of the Watcher, who assists the Xandarians in creating a network of interconnected domed cities out of the largest remaining pieces of the planet.

The planet is later nearly destroyed by the Skrulls. Later still Nebula destroyed the planet and the Nova Corps. The Nova Corps were resurrected by Richard Rider aka Nova who used the Nova Force power to reboot the Xandarian Worldmind computer which proceeded to clone the dead Xandarians including Adora their Queen.^[1]

The war-torn planet is, once again, completely destroyed, and the Nova Corps decimated at the hands of Annihilus. Rider stands as the last surviving Nova Corps member following the massacre. The collective hive mind which resided in Xandar's core, an entity known as the Xandarian Worldmind, also survived and is now housed within Rider's newly modified uniform, which has also been enhanced to assist him in containing the full measure of the Nova Force.

For a short time, the living planet known as "Ego" became a temporary home for the corps, known as "New Xandar." This was short lived, as it was revealed Ego's intelligence was gradually returning and was attempting to corrupt the newly re-formed Nova Corps.^[2]

The Nova Corps

The Xandarian Nova Corps were originally Xandar's militia and had 500 members. After their planet was devastated by Zorr and restructured into a network of inter-connecting domed cities the Xandarians guided by the Worldmind became a more proactive peace keeping force helping stop threats in the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies.

The Nova Force originally consisted of Xandarians empowered by the Xandarian Worldmind. After the planet's original reconstitution other races were invited into the ranks of the Nova Corps.

The Nova Corps military ranking consists of:

• Corpsman
• Millennian
• Denarian
• Centurion

The highest-ranking officer and overall leader of the Nova Corps is the Centurion Nova Prime. Over the years this position has been held by Xandarians such as Tanak Valt, Rhomann Dey, Garthan Saal and most recently by the human Richard Rider.

The Worldmind

The Worldmind also known as the Living Computers of Xandar is a collective artificial intelligence that is composed of the brains of the deceased citizenry of Xandar, thus preserving their knowledge. The Worldmind generally made the decisions as to the day-to-day operations of Xandar and the deployment of the Nova Corps. The Worldmind was not only the repository for all Xandarian knowledge and culture but also that of the Nova Force which is used to empower the members of the Nova Corp. In spite of making the majority of decisions for the populace, the planet was officially ruled by Queen Adora and her husband Tanak Valt who was leader of the Nova Force. The Worldmind was protected by Xandarian officials known as Thorans. Thoran Rul who was the prime Thoran would mind meld with the Worldmind to protect it from destruction at the hands of the Skrulls. The villain known as the Sphinx would later attempt to drain the Worldmind computers in an attempt to find a way from preventing his foretold destruction at the hands of Galactus. After the Sphinx's defeat at the hands of Galactus, The Worldmind and Xandar were repaired with the help of Richard Rider's power. Richard Rider was depowered and sent back to earth. Richard Rider fell into a deep depression, dropped out of college and proved incapable of holding down a full-time job.

The Worldmind went offline during Xandar's second destruction when the Corps fell to the might of Nebula (alleged daughter of Zorr and claimed to be granddaughter of Thanos) and her forces. At that time only a couple Xandarians survived and what was thought to be the entirety of the Nova Force was bestowed upon Garthan Saal who later become known as Supernova. After a confrontation with the Avengers and Fantastic Four, Garthan Saal used a time machine to go back in time in search of Nebula. Later Night Thrasher would throw a powerless Richard Rider off a roof which triggered a resurgence of his Nova Force powers. Months later Garthan Saal would sense Richard Rider had regained the use of the Nova Force and traveled back to earth to drain Richard Rider of his powers. The first attempt to do so left Richard Rider dead until he was resurrected by Air-Walker (a former Xandarian whose sentience had been uploaded into a robot and had once been a herald of Galactus). The second attempt to do so left Richard Rider and not Garthan Saal in possession of the entirety of the Nova Force. With the full power of the Nova Force Richard Rider relinquished the power to reboot the Xandarian Worldmind. Once rebooted the Worldmind began cloning the dead citizenry of Xandar.

When Xandar was destroyed for a third time by the Annihilation Wave the Worldmind downloaded itself and all of the Nova Force into Richard Rider, the only known survivor of the Nova Corps. The Worldmind regulated Richard Rider's brain functions to prevent him from going mad like Garthan Saal originally had. His original goal was to find a new location to reconstitute itself and the Nova Corps. He and Ricard Rider would often clash because Richard Rider's heroics often endangered the Worldmind but the Worldmind also proved insightful and the two eventually forged a good working relationship. The Worldmind was instrumental in helping Richard Rider fight off the influence of the Phalanx.

The Worldmind became corrupted after a battle with Galactus and began to plot to reconstitute the Nova Corps behind Richard Rider's back. The Worldmind would eventually upload itself into Ego the living planet. The Ego/Worldmind gestalt began recruiting and brainwashing various humans and non-humans and inducting them into the Corps ranks, including Richard Rider's younger brother Robert Rider. Richard Rider became distrusting and defiant of the Worldmind and was eventually punished by having his powers drained. Given the quantum bands by his friend Quasar, Richard Rider confronted the Worldmind and purged it from Ego the Living Planet.

The Worldmind's damage would later prove to be too much to handle. Richard Rider now has the voice of the deceased Ko-Rel in his head which serves as a proxy in the place of the Worldmind. Ko-Rel had been a Kree officer who had been empowered and deputized as a member of the Nova Corps by the Worldmind when Richard Rider had been corrupted by the Phalanx. Ko-Rel was murdered by Richard Rider's former lover Gamora who had also been corrupted by the Phalanx.

Worldmind was involved with the Nova Corps battle versus the extra-dimensional threat of invasion at the hands of an alternate universe known as the "Cancerverse". During this fight, Richard Rider once again took the full power of the Nova force into the extra-dimensional gap known as "The Fault" and entered the Cancerverse along with several other heroes, including Star-Lord, Drax the Destroyer and Thanos. During the battle Rider and others became trapped in the Cancerverse, apparently sacrificing themselves to end the threat of the Cancerverse and Thanos. In the aftermath of this battle, the worldmind was said to be stuck "rebooting" and non-responsive. Additional Nova Corpsmen left behind in the Marvel Universe lost the Nova Force power. The current status of Worldmind and the former powered corpsmen is currently unknown.^[3]

List of Xandarians

• Suzerain Adora
• Tanak Valt (Nova-Prime)
• Thoran Rul (Protector)
• Rhomann Dey (Nova, entrusted his powers to Richard Rider)
• Rieg Davan (Powerhouse)
• Garthan Saal (Supernova)
• Pyreus Kril (Firelord)
• Gabriel Lan (Air-Walker)
• Master Xar (Co-Creator of H.E.R.B.I.E.)

In other media

Film

For the 2014 film Guardians of the Galaxy, London's Millennium Bridge was used to double as a location on Xandar.^[4][5] In the film the Nova Empire, of which Xandar is the capital planet, signed a peace treaty with the Kree Empire, ending a long war between the two sides. However Ronan the Accuser does not honor the peace treaty. Ronan obtains an Infinity Stone and attempts to use it to destroy the planet, but the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Nova Corps and the Ravagers work together to defend the planet. The Dark Aster, Ronan's ship is destroyed when Rocket crashes the Guardian's ship, the Millano through its command deck, causing it to crash on Xandar. The Guardians then use the power of the Infinity Stone to destroy Ronan and save Xandar.

References