| For alternate versions of the Battle of Xandar, see Battle of Xandar's Event Hub |
- "Little did I know, our darkest days still lay ahead, when the man who destroyed my first home came gunning for my new one."
- ―Nebula[src]
The Battle of Xandar was an offensive by Ronan the Accuser to destroy Xandar.
Background[]
- "In this universe, Ronan the Accuser betrayed Thanos. The Mad Titan’s thirst for power had met its match."
- ―The Watcher[src]
Ronan the Accuser betrays Thanos
Desperate to put an end to Xandarian civilization, Ronan the Accuser formed an alliance with Thanos and his Black Order, but ended up betraying them. Ronan confronted Thanos at the Sanctuary and managed to kill him, along with Gamora, destroying Thanos' domain in the process. Nebula was left stranded in cosmos, before she was rescued by the Nova Corps, and Irani Rael personally recruited her. Grateful to Rael for saving her life, Nebula swore an oath to the Nova Corps and become a corpsman, finding a new home on Xandar.[1]
Battle[]
Irani Rael orders to lock Xandar down
- "Ronan and his forces attacked, bringing Xandar to the verge of destruction. Out of options, Nova Prime made a desperate call. She locked down Xandar behind an impenetrable planetary shield designed to last for fifty years, putting the planet out of his reach."
- ―Nebula[src]
Ronan the Accuser led his forces to Xandar, causing massive destructions and civilian casualties in his wake. As the Nova Corps was unable to protect the planet from destruction on their own, Irani Rael was forced to make a desperate call. She authorized the usage of a planetary shield that put the planet out of reach of Ronan and his armies, although the shield had no deactivation protocol and was designed to last for half a century. Even though Xandar was safe from Ronan's wrath, the planet was completely locked down and isolated from the outside galaxy.[1]
Aftermath[]
Years of isolation of Xandar resulted in civil unrest and a massive spike in crime rate, to the point that the Nova Corps was unable to handle everything. Irani Rael decided that Xandar cannot go on like this, so she secretly reach out to Ronan the Accuser and the two made a deal that the Nova Corps would bring down the shields and let Ronan's forces to take over the planet, while Rael would be left in charge. The Nova Corps had no conventional way to circumvent the shields and bring them down manually, however, Rael figured that Nebula's cybernetic enhancement might be their key.
Rael decided to keep Nebula in the dark and manipulate her into doing her bidding by having Yondu killed and planting the shield schematics into his Yaka Arrow. She knew that when Yondu's body will be discovered, Nebula would try to investigate the case on her own and carefully pushed her to follow her gut instinct, which resulted in Nebula assuming that someone might be trying to disable the shields and prepare Xandar for the invasion. She recruited Yon-Rogg to reach the Xandarian Mainframe Core and accessed it, however, Yon-Rogg was working with Rael and used Nebula to make the core implode.
Ronan the Accuser dies to Xandar's shields
Nebula realized that she had been used by Rael who made a deal with Ronan, and managed to escape when the Nova Corps attempted to execute her. Nebula got the help of Howard the Duck and his employees to confront the Nova Corps as they were about to bring the shield down and let Ronan in. However, Nebula revealed that she had her suspicions the whole time so she rewired the core before the explosion and rewired the sequence, making the shield close in and destroy the Dark Aster with Ronan inside. In a subsequent battle with the corrupt Nova Corps, Rael attempted to flee, and following a brief struggle against Nebula, she fell to her death.[1]