Who is Cassandra Nova? Emma Corrin’s ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ villain, explained

Even after two triumphant trailers, we still have so many questions about Deadpool & Wolverine. And yet one of the most intriguing is: what’s the deal with that bald villain?

Well, while the trailers have been admirably low on spoilers (but high on Easter eggs and cameos) as Marvel continues to keep much about Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy’s threequel to themselves, we do know exactly who the film’s antagonist is. This is of course Emma Corrin, in the all-important role of Cassandra Nova. That’s a name that might mean nothing to fans of Fox’s X-Men film series but comes with a lot of weight for comic book readers.

What with the Wolverine of it all, Corrin’s Cassandra hasn’t done too much in the trailers as yet, but chilling in Ant-Man’s giant skull and controlling Wolverine’s body already make clear that Deadpool hasn’t met anyone as dark and as dangerous as the cruel and vastly powerful villain before.

Emma Corrin’s Cassandra Nova could be Deadpool’s deadliest enemy yet

As introduced during Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s mind-bending New X-Men run in 2001, Cassandra Nova can essentially be summed up as Professor X’s evil twin sister, but the truth is a lot more complicated and twisted than that.

Cassandra is what’s known as a mummudrai, a psychic parasite that exists without a physical form on the astral plane. Due to Charles Xavier’s incredible psychic powers, she was conceived into existence alongside him and fashioned herself a body out of his DNA while in the womb. When she was strong enough, Cassandra attempted to strangle her “brother” with his own umbilical cord, but the fetal Professor X hit her with a psychic blast, causing their mother to have a miscarriage, with Cassandra stillborn.

But Cassandra’s consciousness survived, and years later she rebuilt herself an adult body and set about destroying everything Charles held dear, including his beloved X-Men and the world’s mutant population at large. Due to her unkillable nature, Cassandra has returned time and time again to make Xavier’s life a misery, teaming up with the likes of the Shi’ar Empire, the Marauders, and the Hellfire Club in order to put her (typically genocidal) plans into action.

Who knows how much of this convoluted history will be translated to the big screen. So far, we’ve seen that Corrin’s Cassandra is a powerful psychic on a par with Charles, as she’s able to control and manipulate Logan’s limbs as he tries to attack her (reminiscent of Magneto in X-Men: Days of Future Past) and appears to have constructed her own Dark Cerebro within Giant-Man’s head (What did Scott Lang ever do to you, Cassandra?).

In the comics, Cassandra is usually portrayed as an elderly, bald woman, but although Corrin either shaved their head or wore a bald cap during filming, the character is depicted as much younger than in the source material. It’s easy to speculate that Cassandra has been aged down in order to make her more of a physical threat to both Deadpool and Wolverine. Or perhaps she’s been reimagined as Charles’ evil daughter instead? Do I smell a Legion crossover?

The possibilities are endless, but with Cassandra Nova coming to the MCU, the X-Men will want to watch out. Deadpool 3 is scheduled to release in theaters on July 26, 2024.