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The specific order and/or accurate dates presented in this article has never been confirmed by Marvel Studios.
They have been inferred by fans and therefore they can be inaccurate, incomplete, or biased.
"This was all a setup. Giving me the Yondu case, pointing me to the shield codes. All so you could start an invasion. You swore an oath to defend Xandar."
Irani Rael and the Nova Corps arrive at the Sanctuary to oversee the damage and find Nebula. Rael holds out her hand to Nebula as she grabs it. Nebula is brought to Xandar where she starts training to become a Nova Corpsman.[1][2]
Battle of Xandar: Having an axe to grind against Xandar, Ronan the Accuser arrives in the atmosphere and attacks the planet, wreaking destruction. With no other options, Irani Rael is forced to close the Planetary Shield, closing off Xandar from the rest of the world for decades. Nebula watches as the shield is closed, dimming the sun as well.[1][2]
Nebula arrives to investigate Udonta's death. However, Nebula barely gets into it when Garthan Saal arrives, takes one look at the body and calls for clean up, dismissing the case and striking an annoyed chord in Nebula who remarks about his quick conclusion. Saal berates her for being former Black Order, and Nebula retorts before leaving. Saal orders the soldiers to clean the scene within the hour.[1][2]
Once Gaal and his crew leave, Nebula returns to Udonta's crime scene. Looking around, she uses her holographic eye to bring up an old video from Udonta of him talking about how great of a team the two of them are and whistling. Udonta's Yaka Arrow is activated, flying to Nebula. Nebula catches the arrow and starts walking away. However, the arrow suddenly activated a hologram that looks like a map, intriguing Nebula.[1][2]
Rael realizes she needs to access the source codes to the Xandarian Mainframe Core to open up the shield and the only way to do that is to get access from a cyborg. She then decides to task Nebula with getting the codes, disguising it as a mission to stop an inside mole.[1][2]
Nebula gets back in her ship and tries to gather information about what the yaka arrow revealed, but finds that they do not match any records on Xandar. Rael calls and offers her condolences to Nebula, asking Nebula to switch to a secure line. Once done, Rael tells Nebula that she thinks there is a mole on the inside that wants to open up the Planetary Shield. Rael tells Nebula to figure out who it is by any means necessary. Nebula agrees to help.[1][2]
Nebula reaches the busy Howard's Casino and bartender Korg, who tells her that Howard the Duck is upstairs, but also warns her that he is about to have a big win.[1][2]
Nebula approaches Howard and plants the arrow into the desk, making Howard tell everyone to leave the room, much to the annoyance of Mindy. Nebula activates the holographic, making Howard curious. Nebula asks what it is but Howard does not know, saying only a lunatic would know. Korg arrives with drinks and recognizes it as the Xandarian Mainframe Core, surprising Howard with his knowledge. Nebula says she has to get to the core and destroy the code despite Howard's warnings at the dangers.[1][2]
Knowing she needs someone who is good at hacking so she could access the mainframe core, Nebulae leaves for the Xandarian Correctional Facility.[1][2]
Rael figures that Nebula is going to the correctional facility, so she contacts Yon-Rogg and tells him of her plan, giving him a flash drive to get the source codes.[1][2]
Arriving at the Xandarian Correctional Facility, Nebula is brought to Yon-Rogg. Yon-Rogg is intrigued to see her again and gets even more curious when Nebula shoots a guard, saying she is breaking him out so he can help her infiltrate the core. They run to the main recreational area of the prison, causing Yon-Rogg to become snarky as guards surrounded them.[1][2]
Nebula lets out all of the prisoners with a tablet, causing a riot to break out so they can fight their way through the guards and leave leave. Once inside Nebula's ship, Yon-Rogg tries to escape, but Nebula tells him she disabled all forms of exit. Nebula and Yon-Rogg debate whether Nebula is keeping her oath, so Nebula simply explains that she just needs Yon-Rogg to live up to his reputation.[1][2]
The two arrive at the Xandarian Mainframe Core facility, where Yon-Rogg suggests they go through the vents. Nebula follows Yon-Rogg as they slide down a cable in the wall. However, Yon-Rogg suddenly stops and says there is live wire below, so they have to get out. They eventually get to the core room where Yon-Rogg fiddles with the lock, overheating the core. As he does so, the room starts becoming flooded due to safety protocols.[1][2]
The duo swim into the core room. Once inside, the water drains, allowing them to stand. Nebula tells Yon-Rogg that he did his part and it was her turn, adding not to touch anything. Stairs appear, allowing her to walk to the maintenance core where she uses the wires in her head to connect to the core.[1][2]
Nebula downloads the source codes and prepares to delete them, only for Yon-Rogg to betray Nebula, sticking a flash drive in her head in order to obtain the codes for himself. The flash drive sets off the electrical circuits in Nebula's brain, causing her immense pain. Yon-Rogg then tells her that Ronan has big plans for Xandar.[1][2]
Yon-Rogg leaves as the water fills back through the core room. Nebula manages to unplug herself and swims away, making it to a gate and getting swept out onto a ledge. There, she is met by Yon-Rogg, who reveals he is working with Irani Rael. Nova Prime says she knew Nebula would survive before explaining her plan of letting Ronan into Xandar, justifying it by telling her there is no shame in surrender and noting that Ronan promised to leave her in charge and revealing that she had been using Nebula. She then leaves, allowing the Nova Corps to kill Nebula. They beat Nebula senseless until she jumps off the ledge, leading Garthan Saal to pronounce her dead.[1][2]
A very injured Nebula manages to get up and make her way through a tunnel before getting to the main city, where she witnesses riots speaking out against the Nova Corps. She finally stumbles to Howard's Casino, where Howard the Duck is shocked at the state of Nebula, who insists she is fine before passing out.[1][2]
25th[]
Howard the Duck, Korg, Miek and Groot, repair Nebula. Korg worries that Nebula is dead and wonders what he should sing at her funeral. Once Nebula is fixed, she tells the others of Rael's plans. Although Howard originally does not care, he is convinced to help Nebula when she says Rael would take away his liquor license. The group then arm themselves up, with Nebula fitting herself with the Yaka Arrow Controller. Once they are satisfied, they get in Nebula's car as Korg expresses doubts about the morality of their actions.[1][2]
Nebula and her team infiltrate the headquarters, where they defeat many guards before getting to the main room where they are met by Rael, Saal, the Nova Corps and Yon-Rogg, who is pointing a gun at Nebula.[1][2]
Rael puts the source code in to open the Planetary Shield and says it is too late since Ronan the Accuser is entering the atmosphere. Nebula then catches Rael off guard as the shield starts closing. Everyone looks out as the shield closes on Ronan's Dark Aster, killing him. Nebula explains that she never trusted Rael when she told her to finish her mission through any means necessary, because that is the opposite of the Nova Corps vow. Thus, she put her own twist on the source codes, allowing it to close.[1][2]
A shootout starts as Rael tries to escape. Nebula chases after her and whistles to send the Yaka Arrow at her. However, she misses, allowing Rael to break the arrow. Meanwhile, the Nova Corps get easily overrun by Nebula's team. Saal and Yon-Rogg find themselves crawling on the ground until Korg greets them before picking the two up and slamming them, remarking that he should have stretched.[1][2]
Nebula follows Rael outside, where she gets in a Star Blaster. Nebula jumps onto the blaster and the two fight in the air, causing Rael to lose control as the ship falls to a lower roof. Nebula gets up and sees Rael hanging off a ledge and tries to help her up, but Rael pulls her gun, causing her to slip and fall to her death.[1][2]
As the fight ends, Nebula looks up, seeing the shield open forever. Howard then greets her, saying she saved everyone and deeming her "Super Nova." Nebula accepts the compliment and walks away.[1][2]
The Cosmic Squid Monster appears through a portal on Xandar and attacks the Nova Corps, destroying several of their ships. Nebula goes outside, asking for eyes on the anomaly, but sees it once she is outside. Nebula orders an evacuation, but Korg notes that the squid tore through the Universal Neural Teleportation Network, so no ships can arrive or leave.[6][7]
Just then, Captain Carter arrives in a Time Sphere and contacts the rest of the Guardians of the Multiverse to come to this universe. Nebula, Korg, and Groot threaten Carter, who explains that the squid monster will consume them if they do not trust the Guardians. The Guardians arrive and introduce themselves.[6][7]
Storm arrives and attacks the squid monster, and the other Guardians join in to help. Byrdie the Duck destroys several winds as Carter runs in for the kill. Storm pushes Carter forward, sending her flying toward the monster's eye. A tentacle gets in the way, but Kahhori creates a portal sending her right in front of the monster's eye. Carter flies through to the other side, landing safely on top of building as the monster falls.[6][7]
Kahhori, the Duck, and Storm join Carter, who says that it was worth the rough landing to defeat the squid monster. Nebula thanks the Guardians, but they are interrupted by shards of the Observational Plane landing in front of them. Storm guesses that it is a tear in reality, but Carter recognizes them and picks it up as Kahhori realizes that its presence means the Watcher is in danger.[6][7]
↑ 2.002.012.022.032.042.052.062.072.082.092.102.112.122.132.142.152.162.172.182.192.202.212.222.232.242.25In What If... Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?, Ronan is shown to have killed Thanos prior to the Nova Corpsman Nebula universe's version of the Battle of Xandar on August 4, 2014, the same date as in the main universe of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (see 2014 references). Ronan only joined Thanos on June 8, 2014, creating a short window in which Ronan can have killed Thanos. The midpoint of this window is July 6, 2014, suggesting that Thanos was killed then. Nebula later explains that they are "Five years in" since the Battle of Xandar and the closing of the Planetary Shield. This can refer to being on the fifth anniversary, so August 4, 2019, more generally within August 2019, or even more generally in 2019. A weighted average, placing more weight on the more specific, places the main events of the episode over the course of the night from July 24-25, 2019.
↑In What If... Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?, Nebula says about the day of her swearing into the Nova Corps, "Little did I know, our darkest days still lay ahead when the man who destroyed my first home came gunning for my new one." This places Nebula completing her training between Thanos' death and the Battle of Xandar. This event can therefore be approximated to July 20, 2014.
↑In What If... Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?, Nebula explains that she is the one who arrested Yon-Rogg. This indicates that Yon-Rogg's arrest could have happened any time since she was sworn into the Nova Corps on July 20, 2014 and the main events of the episode on July 24, 2019. Yon-Rogg's arrest can be approximated to the midpoint of these dates, January 19, 2017.
↑What If... Nebula Joined the Nova Corps? shows that Nebula and Yondu had a past together prior to his death. In the main universe of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this is not established to have been the case, suggesting that in the Nova Corpsman Nebula universe, this happened after the closing of the Planetary Shield on August 4, 2019 (see other references). The memory which Nebula plays can therefore be approximated to the midpoint of this date and the main episode, placing it on January 27, 2017.
↑ 6.06.16.26.3The beginning What If... The Watcher Disappeared? shows events happening in the Nova Corpsman Nebula Universe following the events of What If... Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?. A significant amount of time has passed, but the events of the latter episode appear to be recent. It can be approximated that this occurred one month after the events of the episode.
