Who Is Nova? Edward Norton's Alita Movie Villain Explained

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Alita: Battle Angel.

James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez's adaptation of the famed Japanese manga Alita: Battle Angel is now out in theaters and is packed with characters and story setup for future films. One of the biggest instances of this is the puppet-master role given to Alita's classic villain Nova. However, what really comes as a surprise is the actor they were able to get for the role: Edward Norton.

Set in the year 2563, Alita: Battle Angel follows the story of a cyborg - played through motion-capture by Rosa Salazar - who is found in the junkyard of Iron City by Dr. Ido (Christoph Waltz). Ido gives her a new body and names her Alita, and she quickly learns about the refuge state of Iron City. Her new home is directly below the floating city of Zalem - which is the last sky city to survive a night now known as The Fall. However, as Alita soon discovers, she is no ordinary cyborg and quickly becomes a target.

Although the film's main villains are Vector (Mahershala Ali), Grewishka (Jackie Earle Haley), and Zapan (Ed Skrein), the former two are pawns in the larger scheme that is taking place, while Zapan is more of a natural rival. However, Alita: Battle Angel doesn't get to spend very much time with Nova and may leave audiences looking for more information. So, here's a detailed explanation of the film's secret villain.

This Page: Nova & Surprise Actor Explained
Page 2: Nova's Original Manga Role & Movie Future

Nova Explained: What The Villain Of Alita Wants

Nova is one of the privileged individuals to still live in Zalem and he has become one of the city's most powerful people. He is a scientist on the floating city and has control of who can and cannot make it up there. The only true way to make it to Zalem is by becoming the motorball champion in Iron City, but he has also passed on word through Vector that harvesting of body parts - whether they are human or cyborg - could also get the job done. This is a lie though, and "going to Zalem" is actually just Vector harvesting human body parts and organs for Nova's experiments, as evident by the demise of Chiren (Jennifer Connelly).

Nova's advancements in technology are not really explored in the film, but he does have the ability to take over the bodies of his pawns thanks to their brain bio-chips. It is through them that Nova's main goal for Alita: Battle Angel becomes clear. Once he learns of an extremely powerful cyber-girl, he identifies her mastery of the lost martial arts Panzer Kunst and knows Alita is valuable. She has a very rare cyber core that is powered by an anti-matter micro reactor and Nova wants this for his own gain. Her eventual discovery of the Berserker armor from the United Republics of Mars makes her even more desired. Nova instructs Grewishka to kill Alita and bring her body to him on Zalem. Since she has proven to already be a handful in combat, Nova tricks Chiren to improve Grewishka's body through harvested parts that Vector is able to retrieve.

Edward Norton Plays Nova In Alita

Alita: Battle Angel establishes fairly early on that Nova is somewhat involved in the movie. He is first introduced when he takes over Grewishka's body following his first encounter with Alita, but it isn't until later in the film that it is revealed that Edward Norton is playing the mastermind villain. The inclusion of the three-time Oscar-nominee in such a small role is surprising, as is his very James Cameron-like look. Rodriguez told Digital Spy that it was a difficult role to cast due to the nature of the role. There is limited screen time and no dialogue, making it simply set up for a future role. But, both he and Cameron greatly admired Norton and wanted to work with him in some capacity. After some conversations, Norton agreed to play the mastermind.

Norton is first shown as Nova during a memory that Alita has, where she is training with fellow members of the URM military. Her trainer Gelda (Michelle Rodriguez) stops the session to pull up a hologram of Nova's face and show her the enemy they are facing and refers to him as a dragon that needs to be slain. It isn't until the very end of the movie though that Norton is shown in his full form. We see him briefly as he pushes several buttons and sends a spiked, spinning ring down the tube that Hugo is trying to climb to get to Zalem and kills him in the process. He is later shown looking down on Iron City and watching Alita get ready for her first motorball game in the Champions League. As she raises the Damascus Blade to Zalem, he takes off his glasses and breaks out his villainous smirk - teasing their future encounter.

Page 2: Nova's Original Manga Role & Movie Future

Nova In The Original Alita Manga

Although Alita: Battle Angel is largely faithful to the Japanese manga, there are some deviations that are taken. Cameron and Rodriguez focused on adapting the first two volumes of the manga, but Nova is not yet introduced at this stage of the source material. In fact, there is not even a hint that Nova or anyone from Zalem is influencing the people in power of Iron City like Vector. When Nova is finally introduced though, it is not even as a full-fledged villain.

In the manga, Nova summons Alita to his lab, which had been destroyed by Zapan - who was looking for a Berserker body of his own. Ido was also on the hunt for the body and was killed by Zapan. When Nova reveals this news to Alita, she kills Nova and his assistant during her tirade. However, Nova's body was able to regenerate and he offers to help Alita. He promises that he can bring Ido back to life if Alita is able to kill Zapan. She agrees to do this and is given guns (which are illegal in Iron City) and specialized bullets to do the deed. She successfully kills Zapan, but is arrested and sentenced to execution.

Alita is able to evade death once again after agreeing to join The Tipharean Ground Investigation Bureau, with her main task being to kill Nova. Alita then spends the next ten years working for the organization, taking down a terrorist organization Barjack that Nova is responsible for, and finally getting another shot at him. Their encounter leads to Nova revealing that all adults in Tiphares/Zalem have had their brains removed and replaced with brain bio-chips. Alita thinks she kills Nova through decapitation, but he once again has a backup plan thanks to a second bio-chip he implanted in himself. He then uses a bomb to kill Alita, and then resurrected and tortured her in the "Last Order" continuation of the manga.

Nova's Future In The Alita Movies

Thanks to Alita: Battle Angel's setup and cliffhanger ending, Nova is clearly positioned to be the big bad of the franchise moving forward. This first movie helped establish and give reason for their feud, with Nova orchestrating many of the events and heartbreak Alita has to deal with. Even though Norton and Salazar never meet face to CGI face, the characters do share a brief dialogue during the finale. Nova mentions how Alita continues to surprise her and threatens her with his power by mentioning that he could take out Hugo or Ido at a moment's notice. Alita doesn't pay too much attention to the warning, and Nova soon makes her pay by killing Hugo. This is why Alita has continued to play motorball and rises to the Champions League so she can become Final Champion and head to Zalem, where she can finally confront Nova and kill him.

The eventual confrontation can't play out exactly how it does in the manga, as Alita is already aware that Nova is the one responsible for Hugo's death. A potential sequel could still see Nova try to bargain with Alita in order to preserve Ido's life though, and Zapan could very well be looking to upgrade himself after Alita sliced half of his face off. The biggest question about Nova's future isn't if he will have one in a sequel, but rather if a sequel to Alita: Battle Angel is made at all. The early box office projections are not favorable for the expensive blockbuster, so it will need to find an audience quickly if Fox (and soon Disney) want to continue on with the franchise. And if Alita: Battle Angel does go on to become a franchise, then Edward Norton's Nova is positioned to play a major role.