It can be argued that Deadpool and Wolverine barely had or even needed a plot except as an excuse to bring together a plethora of characters from yesteryear’s Marvel movies, but even with that being the case, the prime antagonist of the movie, Cassandra Nova Xavier, stole the show, being the only character whose arc, origin, and portrayal were intriguing enough to keep the audience invested in the narrative. In particular, fans who have followed actor Emma Corrin since the initial days of her acting career—from a brief stint in Epix’s DC series Pennyworth to her career best performance in The Crown, were not at all surprised to see that even with a very brief screen time in Deadpool and Wolverine, she absolutely owned the role of Cassandra as a cruel, psychotic mutant ruler of the Void—whose enhanced psychic powers rival even those of her twin brother, Charles Xavier.
Introducing an extremely powerful evil Charles Xavier counterpart as a villain to the MCU is quite promising, given the next phase of the cinematic universe is going to focus on the mutant saga. Let us dive deep into the lore of Cassandra Nova in comics and speculate about the character’s possible future in the MCU.
Spoilers Ahead
How Did Cassandra Nova Die?
Like her twin brother, Charles Xavier, Cassandra was born a mutant with enhanced psychic powers, and the multiverse’s temporal peacekeeping agency, the Time Variance Authority, deemed an Omega level mutant like Cassandra Nova too threatening for the existence of the sacred timeline. Which is why they put her in the Void in her infancy and made her the ruler of the metaphysical wasteland. This allowed Cassandra to truly be free from the persecution which mutants are subjected to in their respective universes, and become her own self – but at the same time loneliness, the lack of human connection, caring or loving presence of someone close to her, had corrupted her mind beyond recovery. Which is why, despite helping the TVA do their dirty work by eliminating unwanted variants throughout her life, when she was betrayed by Paradox, Cassandra became hell bent on exacting revenge on her former associates. Upon learning about the Time Ripper by probing inside Paradox’s mind, Cassandra tried to utilize it to turn the entire multiverse into her own domain, the Void.
However, as Deadpool and Wolverine managed to short circuit the Time Ripper’s mechanism by connecting its matter and anti-matter flows, the ensuing collapse resulted in a vicious blowback of cosmic energy, which wiped Cassandra from existence. It was an unfortunate end to a promising character, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that MCU cannot introduce a variant of Cassandra Nova in the near future. With the strong reception the character has received, who knows, a less malevolent variant of her can be seen leading the X-Men in MCU Prime.
Cassandra Nova’s Origin in the Comics
Cassandra Nova’s comics origin is quite dark, and zany in the true sense of the term. In the movie, Cassandra mentions trying to choke her twin, Charles Xavier inside their mother’s womb, with the umbilical cord. This wasn’t an exaggeration or figurative speech on her part, as in her origin in Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s iconic New X-Men series, an unborn Cassandra essentially tried to do the same. The Shi’ar, with whom Xavier forms a strong bond later in his life, identify Cassandra to be originally an evil cosmic parasite, referred as Mummudrai, which created a astral shadow self by replicating an unborn Charles Xavier in the form of Cassandra Nova, his twin sister. Interestingly, the origin of the word, Manamadurai in Tamil attributes to Tantrik principles of Siddha cult which included various occult precepts of Hinduism and Buddhism, and writer Grant Morrison, who extensively researched Eastern mysticism throughout his writing career – had been influenced by this in his conception the character. Cassandra, as the dark shadow self, tried to replace Xavier by attempting to kill him in the womb, but the mutant powers of Charles were unleashed at the moment, which nearly annihilated his twin sister. However, remnants of Mummudrai survived and Cassandra was reborn from the discarded remains of her stillborn self. Growing up, she harbored nothing but hatred for her twin brother, Charles, and eventually made sure that everything he loved and believed in goes up in flames.Â
Most infamously, Cassandra Nova orchestrated the Genosha mutant massacre (one among many), which led to the death of millions of mutants in the attack of Master Mold. X-Men ’97 recreated the harrowing scenario in its first season, but with Mr. Sinister and Bastion as the masterminds behind the incident. With her introduction to the MCU, there is a possibility that after multiple phases of mutant oriented world-building, the viciousness of the Genosha massacre is recreated in live action with a even more deranged variant of Cassandra Nova. Later in the comics lore, Cassandra even hijacked Xavier’s body by swapping their minds, putting the X-Men in a perilous situation. This identity crisis scenario can make for an intriguing X-Men saga in MCU, which is why we are hoping that the character makes a much deserved return in the MCU lore going forward.