QUEEN ADORA

Real Name: Adora

Identity/Class: Extra-terrestrial (Xandarian)

Occupation: Suzerain (ruler) of Xandar, prime commandant of the Nova Corps

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Air-Walker automaton, Champions of Xandar (Comet/Harris Moore, Crimebuster/Frank Moore, Diamondhead/Arch Dyker, Nova/Richard Rider, Nova Prime/Tanak Valt, Powerhouse/Rieg Davan, Protector/Thoran Rul), Fantastic Four (Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Girl/Susan Storm Richards, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben Grimm), Firelord (Pyreus Kril), H.E.R.B.I.E., Master Xar, New Warriors (Firestar/Angelica Jones, Night Trasher/Dwayne Taylor, Silhoutte, Speedball/Robbie Baldwin), Nova Star-Corps (Garthan Saal, Grot, Muraitak, Rhomann Dey, Tas'wzta, Torthar, others), Rom, Shi'ar (Borderer K'renn, Gladiator, Lilandra Neramani)

Enemies: Kraa, Skrulls (Emperor Dorrek VII, Empress R'Klll, Skrull X and unnamed others), Sphinx, Zorr

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Sweetcakes" (nickname used by Nova)

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    formerly Xandar, Andromeda galaxy

First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#204 (March, 1979)

Powers/Abilities: Adora possessed no known powers or abilities. As suzerain of Xandar, she had access to the might of the Nova Corps and the vast knowledge of the Xandarian worldmind. Xandar's advanced technology including flight belts, rapid cloning techniques, advanced medical technology and various ways of communicating and even teleporting across galaxies. 

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'6")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately120 lbs.)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

History:

(Fantastic Four I#204 (fb) - BTS) - Adora was born into the ruling family of the planet Xandar. At an unrevealed point in time, she succeeded the previous suzerain to become her world's de facto ruler and keeper of the World Mind computer banks.

(Fantastic Four I#204 (fb) - BTS) - Adora became romantically involved with Tanak Valt, founder and high commander of Xandar's Nova Corps.

(Fantastic Four I#204 (fb) - BTS) - Xandar was attacked by the Luphomoid Zorr who destroyed most of the Nova Corps before turning his attention to Xandar itself. Adora gave Nova Prime Rhomann Dey permission to board his ship and take the fight to Zorr in space. The Nova Prime ship managed to chase Zorr's craft away, but he had siphoned off enough energy for Xandar for the planet to succumb to internal stresses.

(Fantastic Four I#204 (fb) - BTS) - Turning a blind eye to his people's oath of non-interference, Uatu the Watcher acted to prevent the complete annihilation of Xandar by saving its four largest cities, encasing them in gigantic forcefields. With Adora leading them, the Xandarians would construct a network of tunnels between their floating cities. Within two Earth years their society was thriving again.

(Fantastic Four I#204 (fb) ) - Xandar was attacked by Skrulls who easily destroyed the industrial and agricultural areas. Adora convened the Xandarian council to discuss strategy. Her advisor master Xar informed Adora of an ion signal originating from another world that could be converted into a transport ray. Xar figured that far off civilization (actually Earth) might have people who could help them against the invaders. Tanak Valt offered to go, but Adora insisted it was her duty as suzerain to go.

(Fantastic Four I#204 (fb) ) - Moments before her departure, Adora and the others were shocked by the arrival of Skrull X who burst into the council chambers ready to kill Adora and the other council members. Acting on instinct, Master Valt pushed Adora into the transport ray which took her to Earth.

(Fantastic Four I#204) - Adora materialized inside the Baxter Building because Reed Richards was studying the unusual ion energy beams that were somehow draining his computer banks. Unable to speak the language, Adora couldn't warn Reed in time for him to shut down the beam before Skrull X could come through as well. Thing and Mr. Fantastic overpowered the Skrull, but not before he shot Adora who passed out from her injuries.

(Fantastic Four I#204 - BTS) - Adora adjusted her language settings, allowing the Fantastic Four to understand her.

(Fantastic Four I#204) - After recovering in the FF's medical bay, Adora told the team about the history of Xandar and their current struggle against the Skrulls. Reed promised Adora that the team would help Xandar, because stopping the Skrulls could also keep Earth safe. However, the Human Torch refused to join the mission, opting to remain on Earth to consider what he wanted to do with his life. Johnny saw his teammates off when they teleported back to Xandar with Adora.

(Fantastic Four I#205) - Adora and the Fantastic Four arrived in the middle of a Skrull attack on Xandar's capital city. While the Invisible Girl kept Adora safe, Mr. Fantastic and Thing joined the Nova Corps in repelling the invaders. After the initial wave passed, Adora met with master Xar, learning to her shock that her lover Tanak Valt was gravely injured by Skrull X and kept in stasis. Focusing on her job, Adora told the Fantastic Four that the Skrulls were after Xandar's most valued resource: the power and knowledge of their massive World Mind computer systems.

(Fantastic Four I#205 - BTS) - Master Xar took the FF on a guided tour of the Worldmind facility. When the Skrulls launched a new attack, Adora had them teleported to her.

(Fantastic Four I#205) - Adora watched in horror as the Fantastic Four were eventually defeated and kidnapped by the Skrulls. Adora feared there was no hope left and that Xandar's fall was imminent.

(Fantastic Four I#206) - Adora refused to leave the unconscious Tanak Valt's side, even though Prime Thoran insisted they needed her advice to fight the Skrulls. She gave him and Xar full permission to act in her stead, losing herself in sorrow and grief over the fate of her love and her world. Even the sage Master Xar couldn't convince her there was still hope. All that changed when Tanak woke up feeling a lot better. The two lovers vowed to never leave each other and face their final destinies together.

(Fantastic Four I#208) - Adora was once again lamenting the inevitable destruction of Xandar as the Skrull armada continued its siege of her world. Her mood brightened when Johnny Storm materialized from Earth to help out his teammates. Before Adora could tell them they had been kidnapped, she was surprised to see the Fantastic Four return with Nova and his allies Comet, Crime-Buster, Diamondhead and Powerhouse. There was little time to talk: the FF and Nova were chasing the Sphinx who had come to Xandar to claim the power of the Worldmind. At the same time, Adora watched as Thoran flew off into space powered by the knowledge of the Worldmind to fight the Skrulls.

(Darkhawk I#29 (fb) - Tossed back into his own past by Zarrko the Tomorrow Man, Nova witnessed how his younger self and the Fantastic Four were on Xandar offering Adora to help fight the Skrulls.

(Fantastic Four I#208) - Sensing an obligation as Rhomann-Dey's successor, Nova offered his services to Adora and the Xandarian people.

(Fantastic Four I#208 - BTS) - After forcing the Sphinx to retreat to Earth, the Fantastic Four and Nova's group decided to split up. The FF would go into space to try and save Earth from the Sphinx while Nova and the others remained on Xandar to defend that world from the Skrulls.

(Fantastic Four I#209) - Adora donated a permanent link to the Xandarian master computer which Reed Richards used to build H.E.R.B.I.E., a robot designed to help provide him with computer readouts. She also allowed the Fantastic Four to take Nova Prime's ship, figuring Xandar's fastest vessel would be invaluable to their quest to find Galactus before the Sphinx would conquer Earth.

(Fantastic Four I#214 - BTS) - Adora tirelessly led her world's defense while the Skrulls continued to attack Xandar.

(Fantastic Four I#214) - Adora was contacted by Johnny Storm who was desperate to know if the Xandarian worldmind contained any data on reversing the effects of the Skrull aging ray that had his teammates near death. Adora had little time to talk: the Nova Corps was in final battle with the Skrull fleet. She wanted to consult Xandar's living computer, but their intergalactic call was cut off.

(Rom I#24 (fb) - BTS) - Adora remained on Xandar while Tanak, Thoran Rul, the Nova Corps and Comet, Crimebuster and Diamondhead continued their war against the Skrulls. However, Diamondhead secretly betrayed the heroes to their enemies, leading them into an ambush and shifting them to another dimension where they could no longer interfere.

(Rom I#24) - Adora was sitting on her throne when Nova returned with the Galadorian Space Knight Rom who wanted to ask the living computers where his homeworld had gone. Adora explained that only Prime Thoran had access to the Worldmind's knowledge. Not too long after that, the Nova Corps unexpectedly returned to Xandar, claiming they won the war. However, Rom immediately detected the Corps were Skrulls in disguise. When he revealed their true identity to Adora and the Xandarians it led to an all-out war.

(Rom I#24 - BTS) - The conflict ended when Nova managed to return Rul, the Champions of Xandar and the Nova Corps to their native dimension.

(Rom I#24) - Rom aided the Xandarians in permanently defeating the Skrulls. In the aftermath, Adora was reunited with her lover Tanak. Overjoyed that Xandar knew peace at least, she allowed the Skrulls to return to their homeworld, knowing that they would be killed for failing in their mission. Adora also allowed Rul, now known as the Protector, to tell Rom where Galador was. He also granted Richard Rider's wish to be returned to Earth without his Nova powers.

(New Warriors I#42 (fb) - BTS) - With Adora's blessing, Protector secretly allowed Richard Rider to retain his access to the Nova force, linking that power to Garthan Saal. Rider remained powerful enough to eventually light the spark that could revive the Worldmind should that ever prove to be necessary.

(New Warriors I#42 (fb) - BTS) - Adora arranged for genetic material of herself to be preserved in a cloning facility on a secure location on Xandar as an additional failsafe mechanism should Xandar be restored. She rigged it so that the clone would be activated as soon as the Nova force returned to Xandar. 

(Nova III#1 (fb) - BTS) - When Nebula discovered that the Xandarian Nova Corps had been responsible for the death of her father Zorr, she swore to finish the job he started by destroying what remained of Xandar.

(Avengers I#260 (fb) - BTS) - Nebula attacked Xandar aboard Sanctuary II, the mobile space fortress created by her alleged grandfather Thanos. The attack devastated the four domed cities, effectively decimating Xandar and its population.

(Nova III#1 (fb)) - In her final moments and determined to not let it end like this, Adora ordered the Worldmind to fully restore Richard Rider's Nova Prime powers. Moments later, her deceased form was discovered by Firelord.

(New Warriors I#42 (fb) - BTS) - When Garthan Saal, lone survivor of Xandar and powered by the entire Nova Corps, returned to this dimension Adora's dormant failsafe activated. A clone with her memories and experiences went through rapid gestation underneath Xandar.

(New Warriors I#41) - Adora emerged from the cloning bath, fully aware of who she was and what she had to do to restore Xandar.

(New Warriors I#42 - BTS) - After Richard Rider absorbed the Nova force from Garthan Saal, he inadvertently destroyed the spaceship his fellow New Warriors were on and also left Saal for dead in space. They were rescued by Adora who brought them to Xandar for medical treatment.

(New Warriors I#42) - Adora led the New Warriors to find the Nova force empowered Richard Rider in space. She interrupted a confrontation between Rider, Firelord, the Air-Walker automation and the Shi'ar fleet to remind him of his duty. Adora got him to relinquish control of the Nova force, which meant he risked death, in order to fully restore Xandar.

(New Warriors I#42 - BTS) - With the reactivated Worldmind back in control of the Nova force, Xandar lived again and Adora made sure Richard Rider retained sufficient power to survive the experience.

(New Warriors I#42) - Adora appointed Richard Rider as the chosen protector of the Terran sector with the rank of first centurion in the Starcorp of Xandar.

(Nova II#17 (fb) - BTS) - Adora established diplomatic relations with the Shi'ar Empire which now controlled the sector of space once occupied by Xandar. She agreed to monthly conferences with the Shi'ar ambassador to discuss matters that concerned both their peoples.

(Nova II#1 (fb) - BTS) - Adora met with empress Lilandra of the Shi'ar who demanded assurance that the candidates selected to wield the Nova force were worthy of that power. Adora and Garthan Saal boarded a Shi'ar cruiser bound for Earth where Gladiator was to test Richard Rider.

(Nova II#1) - Adora had a rough time trying to calm down Rider when he learned the fight he had with Gladiator was only a test. Rider felt betrayed after all he had done for her and Xandar, but she assured him it was only to make him sure of himself after his most recent power increase.

(Nova II#15 (fb) - BTS) - Adora learned that Zorr's brother Kraa was out to avenge his sibling by destroying everything that Xandar ever touched. Using a death-ship and a band of slave-borgs, he caused massive bloodshed on his way to Xandar. Adora alerted the Nova Starcorps to deal with the Luphomoid menace.

(Nova II#14) - Adora was furious when Richard Rider refused to obey her orders to return home to Xandar to deal with the Kraa emergency. She told him that ignoring her summons would have consequences. One way or another, he would return to them.

(Nova II#15) -  Concerned that Kraa kept creeping closer to Xandar, queen Adora ordered Starcorps members Muraitak and Grot to travel to Earth to retrieve Richard Rider by whatever means necessary. She feared he was the only one capable of dealing with Kraa since he also dealt with Zorr. 

(Nova II#15 - BTS) -  Muraitak and Grot ambushed and kidnapped Nova and brought him directly to Kraa.

(Nova II#15) - Speaking with him via hologram, Adora gave Nova a quick update about Kraa before he was forced to face the villain head on.

(Nova II#17 (fb) - BTS) - Adora had decided to strip Richard Rider of his title and power as punishment for disobeying orders. She appointed Garthan Saal to be Rider's replacement as protector of the Terran sector and ordered him to siphon off the Nova force from Rider who was back on Earth and had no idea what was going on.

(Nova II#17) - Believing Saal had gone mad and Adora was in danger, Richard Rider used the last of his dwindling Nova powers to travel to Xander to look for Adora. She coldly informed him of her decision to relieve him of his Star Corps rank and responsibilities following his failure to respond to summons of stardate 224.899.43.

(Nova II#18 - BTS) - The now powerless Richard Rider futilely tried to arrange a meeting with Adora before he was sent back to Earth. However, Xandarian bureaucracy conveniently made sure she was unavailable.

(New Warriors I#75 - BTS) - Richard Rider resumed his role as Nova Prime when the dying Garthan Saal transferred his powers to him following the defeat of Volx. Before he died, Saal warned him of a growing conspiracy on Xandar (see comments).

(New Warriors II#6 - BTS) -  A holographic recording of Adora appeared before Richard Rider, reminding him that he had violated Xandarian regulations by being out of uniform too long. Under threat of disciplinary action, Rider quickly realized he needed to morph his costume back to its Nova Prime uniform.

(Maximum Security: Dangerous Planet I#1) - Adora was one of the thousands of representatives that attended the intergalactic council meeting on Selandiar to discuss humanity's growing involvement in galactic affairs. The litany of incidents involving humans shocked her to such a degree she began to take a dim view of mankind which automatically resulted in her voting in favor of sanctions thanks to the M'ndavian justice system.

Comments: Created by Marv Wolfman, Jim Shooter, Keith Pollard, & Joe Sinnott.

Historically, the title 'suzerain' means a superior, feudal overlord to whom fealty is due.

We never did learn the extent of the alleged conspiracy on Xandar mentioned by the dying Garthan Saal in New Warriors I#75. It was the final issue of the series and no one picked up that dangler. Since then Xandar was destroyed at least once, so who knows what story there's left to tell?

Adora's fate post Annihilation remains unrevealed. It's possible she wasn't on Xandar when the Annihilation Wave hit. It's possible she has another clone bath stashed away somewhere, ready to go. But as it is she hasn't been seen since 2000.

In her first appearance, Adora alludes to Xandarians being able to regenerate destroyed tissue and to instantly understand and translate any kind of auditory language. The handbooks don't make any special mention of these abilities being innate to all Xandarians. It stands to reason that both powers come from being tapped into the Xandarian Worldmind. After all, the living computers also generate the Nova Force which grants members of the Nova Corps accelerated healing.

Profile by Norvo

CLARIFICATIONS:
Queen Adora should not be confused with

• Any other "Adora"(ble) characters

Images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four I#204, p4, pan7 (main image)
Fantastic Four I#204, p9, pan4 (rallies Xandarians)
Fantastic Four I#206, p8, pan6 (doesn't want to leave Tanak)
Rom I#24, p9, pan6 (in her imperial chamber)
New Warriors I#41, p22, pan4 (clone)
Nova II#14, p6, pan4 (contacting Nova)
Nova II#17, p22, pan4 (meeting with Shi'ar)

Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#204 (March, 1979) - Marv Wolfman (writer & editor), Keith Pollard (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks)
Fantastic Four I#205 (April, 1979) - Marv Wolfman (writer & editor), Keith Pollard pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks)
Fantastic Four I#206 (May, 1979) - Marv Wolfman (writer & editor), Keith Pollard pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks)
Fantastic Four I#208 (July, 1979) - Marv Wolfman (writer & editor), Sal Buscema (pencils), D. Hands (inks)
Fantastic Four I#209 (August, 1979) - Marv Wolfman (writer & editor), John Byrne (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks)
Fantastic Four I#214 (January, 1980) - Marv Wolfman (writer & editor), John Byrne (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks)
Rom I#24 (November, 1981) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Allen Milgrom (editor)
Avengers I#260 (October, 1985) - Roger Stern (writer), John Buscema (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Darkhawk I#29 (July, 1993) - Danny Fingeroth (writer) Tod Smith (pencils), Ian Akin (inks), Nel Yomtov (editor)
New Warriors I#41 (November, 1993) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Darick Robertso (pencils), Larry Mahlstedt (inks), Rob Tokar (editor)
New Warriors I#42 (December, 1993) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Darick Robertson & Brandon McKinney (pencils), Larry Mahlstedt (inks), Rob Tokar (editor)
Nova II#1 (January, 1994) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Chris Marrinan (pencils), Mark Stegbauer (inks), Rob Tokar (editor)
Nova II#14 (February, 1995) - Chris Marrinan (writer, pencils), Mark Stegbauer (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Nova II#15 (March, 1995) - Chris Marrinan (writer), Mike Harris (pencils), Mark Stegbauer (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Nova II#17 (May, 1995) - Evan Skolnick (writer), Phil Gosier (pencils), Mike Machlan (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Nova II#18 (June, 1995) - Evan Skolnick (writer), Phil Gosier (pencils), Mike Machlan + Eklund, Bob Almond & Adams (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
New Warriors I#75 (September, 1996) - Evan Skolnick (writer), Patrick Zircher (pencils), Andrew Pepoy (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Nova III#1 (May, 1999) - Erik Larsen (writer), Joe Bennett (pencils), Armando Durruthy (inks), Ruben Diaz (editor)
New Warriors II#6 (March, 2000) - Jay Faerber (writer), Jason Armstrong (pencils), Walden Wong (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Maximum Security: Dangerous Planet I#1 (October, 2000) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Jerry Ordway (pencils, Will Blyberg & Paul Ryan (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First Posted: 05/06/2024
Last Updated: 05/30/2024

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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