While searching for his missing father, Jesse Alexander, Sam fell off his skateboard and hit his head. When he woke he discovered Gamora and Rocket Raccoon standing over his hospital bed. They too were searching for Jesse and his Black Nova helmet. After discovering Jesse's helmet, Gamora and Rocket Raccoon began to teach Sam how to use a Nova helmet. While training with Gamora and Rocket Raccoon, Sam flew to the Moon. There, he had an encounter with Uatu The Watcher who showed him an incoming Chitauri armada that was headed towards Earth.
For a brief time, Nova became a member of the Avengers alongside other two teenager superheroes, Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel. Sam's relationship with Ms. Marvel was particularly rocky at the start, since when they first teamed-up, Sam backpedaled rudely on revealing his identity to her. In a short time, the three young heroes became close friends. Following the second superhuman civil war, Nova, Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel quit the Avengers, feeling that the team wasn't living up to their standards. They founded the Champions, a group of proactive teenage heroes that wished to foster a better tomorrow through hope and wisdom.
When the recently-reinstated Nova Corps confronted the Chitauri warlord Warbringer to protect the Power Stone in Xitaung, they sent a distress call to all Novas. Sam received the message, and the Champions convinced him to let them join him in answering the call. The young heroes intercepted Warbringer in Chitauri Prime, where he attempted to carry out a genocide against the members of his own race loyal to the throne usurper, Thanos. The Champions decided to prevent the mass-murder of the Chitauri despite the fact they were evil, and managed to defeat Warbringer. Unfortunately, when the Champions handed over Warbringer to the Nova Corps, Nova's helmet was confiscated by Commander Scott Adsit.
Current Version:
Sam Alexander
Former Version:
Nova
