Who Is ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Villain Cassandra Nova? Marvel Comics History Explained

Cassandra Nova first appeared in Grant Morrison‘s New X-Men #114. She is known as Charles Xavier’s twin sister, but her origin is a bit more complex than that. Cassandra is not a mutant but a being of pure emotional energy known to Shi’ar legend as Mummudrai or the anti-self. According to the Shi’ar, everyone faces their own Mummudrai in the womb, which is the first experience of “the other” (New X-Men #126).

Cassandra, a being without form or substance, appeared to an unborn Charles Xavier and copied his DNA to create a body and become Charles’s twin. While still yet to be born, Charles’ powerful psychic mind detected the evil thoughts infecting him from the Mummudrai and attacked his new twin, causing Cassandra to be stillborn but survive as cellular matter. In this state, she spent decades clung to the wall of a sewer, rebuilding her body and learning to mimic human behavior with the ultimate goal of destroying her twin.

Cassandra Nova’s Powers Are More Than a Match for Deadpool and Wolverine

By copying Charles’s DNA, Cassandra not only created a body for herself but also copied the full spectrum of Charles’s X-Gene, meaning she not only possesses all the psychic powers of Charles Xavier but also powers he could have developed due to different or latent mutations to the X-Gene.

In the comics, Cassandra can easily infiltrate Charles Xavier’s mind and use his body as her own, as well as take out other powerful psychics, such as Jean Gray and Emma Frost. Using her enhanced psychic abilities, Cassandra Nova is able to create psionic armor around herself and focus it into energy capable of disintegrating Wolverine’s arm to his adamantium bones (New X-Men #116). She can also read and copy anyone’s DNA sequence, has a healing factor, and can phase her physical body through solid structures.

Emma Corrin Will Officially Portray Cassandra Nova in ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’

In this trailer, we see Cassandra Nova go head-to-head with Wolverine and emerge from a giant Ant-Man head, which she seems to be using as a base of operations. In this same scene, we also see some other actors from the X-Men franchise reprising their roles, such as Kelly Hu as Lady Deathstrike from X2, Jason Flemyng as Azazel from X-Men: First Class, and Aaron Stanford as Pyro from X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand, among a few others.

Cassandra Nova, being the anti-Charles Xavier, could be leading her own team of banished X-Men, which is why we see so many characters coming back from previous films, namely villains. This also would align with the comics, with Cassandra Nova taking the lead of the X-Men in an alternate-apocalyptic future controlled by Beast in the “Here Comes Tomorrow” event from Morrison’s New X-Men #151-155.

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Officially Brings the Mutant Duo into the MCU This Summer

Deadpool and Wolverine will have their hands full dealing with Cassandra, the TVA, and other villains. In the trailer, we already see that Cassandra is more than capable of holding her own against both Deadpool and Wolverine, but it will be interesting to see how they handle the character in the MCU.

With the multiverse’s already established rules in the MCU, they could easily make Cassandra Nova an evil variant of Charles Xavier, who was pruned by the TVA. Whether she is an evil twin or variant, Cassandra is a powerful and interesting character who will be perfect to go up against the dynamic duo and lead this group of pruned villains.

Deadpool & Wolverine arrives in theaters on July 26.