Nova (Frankie Raye)

Nova (Frankie Raye) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Roy Thomas and artist George Pérez, the character first appeared in Fantastic Four #164 (November 1975).

Frankie Raye was portrayed by Beau Garrett in the 2007 film Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Publication history
The character first appeared as Frankie Raye in Fantastic Four #164 (November 1975) and was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist George Pérez. After several years as a minor supporting character, she became a herald of Galactus and assumed the name "Nova" in Fantastic Four #244 (July 1982) by John Byrne. The character was killed in Silver Surfer #75 (December 1992). Writer Kathryn Immonen and artist Tonči Zonjić revived Frankie Raye in the Heralds limited series in 2010.

Fictional character biography
While working for the United Nations as an interpreter, Frankie Raye meets Johnny Storm and becomes his girlfriend, despite her fear of fire. The couple soon breaks up, despite an attempt at reconciliation by Johnny. A brief encounter by the two some time later results in an unpleasant reaction by Frankie. They eventually begin to see each other again. Her fear is eventually explained to be the result of a mental block induced by her stepfather, Phineas Horton, after she was accidentally doused with the chemicals which caused the android original Human Torch (his creation) to burst into flame, in an attempt to prevent her from using the Torch-like powers granted to her by the accident.

After breaking through the block, she regains her full memory and discovers her previously repressed superhuman powers. She aids the Fantastic Four for a short time, until she volunteers to become the new herald of Galactus. She takes the name "Nova". Having previously demonstrated what the Fantastic Four deemed an alarming willingness to kill opponents, she claims to have no compunction about leading him to sentient populated planets and proves that when she leads the Devourer of Worlds to the Skrull home-world to consume it. Nova later attends the trial of Reed Richards by the Shi'ar Empire. When Richard Rider resumes his Nova identity alongside the New Warriors, he is briefly called "Kid Nova" to distinguish him from Raye.

Nova is later rescued from Skrull imprisonment by the Silver Surfer, whom she meets for the first time. She then battles the Elders of the Universe. Galactus sends her to locate one of them, the Contemplator, and she is joined in this quest by the Silver Surfer. They journey to the Coal Sack Nebula where they are captured by Captain Reptyl. After battling Captain Reptyl, Nova battles Ronan the Accuser. This is followed by a clash with a Skrull duplicate of the Silver Surfer and a romantic flirtation with the real Silver Surfer. Nova and Galactus battle the In-Betweener. Nova then turns her romantic interests toward Firelord.

Nova later encounters an injured Elan. She battles the second Star-Stalker, and then meets the Power Pack. A stimulator device temporarily renders her evil, until she is subdued by Reed and Franklin Richards, and Power Pack.

Frankie Raye is ultimately killed by the alien Morg, who replaced her as Galactus' herald. The demon Mephisto later makes it appear that she returned from the dead in a failed bid to steal the soul of the Silver Surfer.

In the weekly mini-series Heralds, a character resembling Frankie Raye appears. Her name is Frances Hyatt, and she is a waitress at Stu's Diner in Nevada. One night, while she is working, an explosion coming from space destroys a S.W.O.R.D. facility, and the sky on Earth is filled by a flash that seems to enter Frances. When patrons come to her assistance, she lashes out, stabbing a customer. She runs out and begins driving, only to crash and meets a man whom she calls 'father'. This man is Professor Horton, long dead, who turns out to be an escaped clone from the S.W.O.R.D. facility. Upon hearing him call her 'Frakie', Frances burst into flames causing an explosion which kills the clone.

Frances awakes in a ditch, trying to muster the strength to get up. She is found by the female superheroes Emma Frost, Hellcat, Monica Rambeau, She-Hulk and Valkyrie who are trying to get to the bottom of the mystery. Frances goes with them to the Baxter Building, home of the Fantastic Four, in the hopes of obtaining answers. They are amazed by Frances' resemblance to Frankie Raye. Though Nova is dead, S.W.O.R.D. had a similar entity captured. When the clones escaped the facility in Nevada, so did the Nova entity and it bonds with Johnny Storm while looking for Frankie.

The Nova entity escapes, Johnny but when it is unable to take Frances, it flees, setting a trap at Frankie Raye's former apartment. After relaying the story of the Silver Surfer, who at some point in time, approached a 14 year old Frances and placed a portion of Frankie Raye's essence into her hoping to later reunite it with the Nova essence, Frances goes to Frankie's apartment to attempt to awaken more of Frankie's memories. There, the Nova entity kidnaps Valeria Richards, daughter of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, instead. Frances accompanies the team into space where they discover Valeria and the Nova entity in the heart of a star. The Nova entity cocooned Valeria in the suit Professor Horton had made for Frankie Raye to suppress her powers, animated by the Power Cosmic becoming the "Nova entity" itself.

Emma Frost senses that both Valeria and the Nova entities minds are active in this cocoon. The Invisible Woman and She-Hulk manage to pull Valeria from the living suit while Frances looks on in horror. When the suit attempts to bond with the Invisible Woman, it speaks to Frances. It tells her to save them, to be brave. Frances jumps in the way to become bonded with the being, just as the Silver Surfer told her would happen. While bonding with the suit, she remembers the words of Hellcat and Silver Surfer, claiming to not be as strong as they say she is. After becoming 'Supernova', she leaves the team, returning to Earth. Although Frances is unchanged on the inside, she now is confused and possesses great power. She returns to the diner where she works, not knowing what she is looking for. Following a conversation with the new waitress, Frances flies away trying to figure out what she wants with her new life.

Frances as Nova is later recruited by the Fearless Defenders to fight the Doom Maidens.

Thor later summons Nova along with other former Heralds of Galactus to Asgard after the Devourer of Worlds crash lands there following his confrontation with the Black Winter.

Powers and abilities
Nova originally gained her superhuman powers as the result of a mutagenic reaction to an exposure to unknown chemicals. Originally, she had powers similar to that of the Human Torch: flame generation, projection, and flight.

Her powers were later enhanced exponentially by the infusion of cosmic energies by the world-devourer Galactus. She gained metahuman strength, stamina, durability, agility, and reflexes. She had the ability to manipulate cosmic energy in the form of stellar fire, and which allowed her to project any form of energy possessed by a star, including heat, light, gravity, radio waves and charged particles. She also had the ability to project streams of stellar fire for distances in the hundreds of miles, and to mentally control the flame she projects (for instance, to maintain a sustained ring around a person or object at a fixed distance). She also has the ability to fly at superluminal speeds through intergalactic space and traverse hyper-space. Finally, she possessed near-total physical invulnerability, as was evident when she was once punched by Phoenix III with such force that it launched her from Earth and slammed her into the surface of the Moon, forming an impact crater in the process. She later expressed amazement that she was able to even survive such a blow, let alone withstand it completely uninjured. Nova's entire body, particularly her head, is plumed with cosmic energy resembling flames.

Other versions
An alternate universe version of Hercules encounters Nova in the 24th century in the first Hercules limited series by writer/artist Bob Layton.

Writer-penciler John Byrne and inker Terry Austin produced a serialized story titled "The Last Galactus Story", which appeared in the anthology comics-magazine Epic Illustrated #26-34 (October 1984 - February 1986), and detailed an all-new adventure for the character. The magazine published the first nine serialized installments of what was to be a 10-part tale. Each ran six pages, with the exception of part eight, which ran 12 pages. The magazine was cancelled as of February 1986, leaving the last chapter unpublished and the story unfinished. According to notes at Byrne's website, the conclusion of the story would see a dying Galactus releasing his power causing a new Big Bang and transforming his herald Nova into the Galactus for the new universe.

During the Fantastic Four's fight with Abraxas, they are briefly allied with an alternate version of Nova. It is revealed at the conclusion that she is actually allied with Abraxas after her Galactus destroyed Earth even after accepting her as his herald. Nova transferred her anger for her failure to the Fantastic Four of the Earth-616 universe in the absence of her own. Abraxas subsequently draws in an army of Novas who experienced similar traumas to keep the Fantastic Four occupied while he acquires the Ultimate Nullifier. The Fantastic Four summon the assistance of an army of alternate Avengers to keep the Novas occupied.

Television

 * Frankie Raye / Nova appears in the Fantastic Four episode "When Calls Galactus, voiced by Leeza Miller McGee. This version obtained powers after being accidentally doused in the chemicals that gave the android Human Torch his.
 * Frankie Raye / Nova appears in Silver Surfer, voiced by Tara Rosling. This version is a mutant with clairvoyant and teleportation powers. She is transformed into Nova by Galactus when he chooses her as his herald to replace the Silver Surfer.
 * Frankie Raye / Nova appears in the Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes episode "Zoned Out," voiced by Tabitha St. Germain.

Film

 * Frankie Raye / Nova appears in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, portrayed by Beau Garrett. This version is a U.S. Army Captain.

Merchandise

 * In 2011, Diamond Select Toys released y Frankie Raye / Nova Minimate is featured in the Toys "R" Us exclusive Heralds of Galactus boxset.
 * In 2021, Hasbro released a Frankie Raye / Nova action figure as part of the Marvel Legends action figure line.