Sam Alexander apparently common but his father, Jesse, served the elite intergalactic peacekeeping unit Nova Corps, Black Novas or Supernovas, but resigned and subsequently had several bouts of depression and alcoholism causing him to consider himself a poor husband and father . He dismisses Jesse's cosmic tales as drunken fantasies, unaware that his mother, Eva, secretly knows his truth.
A few later falls to earth the last survivor of Xandar is the warrior Garthan Saal, who has been driven mad by a connection with the terrible Annihilus. Annihilus to Saal, a small extension of his negative power for Saal to steal Rider's powers and open a portal to the area to free him and trade restore and trade. Rider will have to learn to use his new powers with the help of his old high school friends Laura Dunham and Caps Cooper to stop Saal, while he is hunted by the S.W.O.R.D organization.
