Alita: Battle Angel
monition : This clause contains spoilers forAlita : Battle Angel .
James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez ’s adaption of the famed Japanese mangaAlita : Battle Angelis now out in theaters and is pile with characters and floor apparatus for future films . One of the bountiful illustration of this is the puppet - master role given to Alita ’s classic villain Nova . However , what really come as a surprise is the actor they were able to get for the character : Edward Norton .
Set in the year 2563,Alita : Battle Angelfollows the chronicle of a cyborg - play through motion - gaining control byRosa Salazar- who is find in the junkyard of Iron City byDr . Ido ( Christoph Waltz ) . Ido reach her a new body and names her Alita , and she quickly get a line about the refuge state of matter of Iron City . Her unexampled family is directly below the floating city of Zalem - which is the last sky city to survive a night now know as The Fall . However , as Alita soon discovers , she is no ordinary cyborg and cursorily becomes a target .
tie in : Alita : Battle Angel Cast : Who Plays Which Character ( & Who Did Mo - Cap )
Although the film ’s main villain are Vector ( Mahershala Ali ) , Grewishka ( Jackie Earle Haley ) , and Zapan ( Ed Skrein ) , the former two are pawn in the larger schema that is taking place , while Zapan is more of a natural rival . However , Alita : Battle Angeldoesn’t get to spend very much metre with Nova and may provide audiences face for more info . So , here ’s a detailed account of the film ’s mysterious villain .
Nova Explained: What The Villain Of Alita Wants
Nova is one of the inside individual to still be in Zalem and he has become one of the city ’s most hefty masses . He is a scientist on the float metropolis and has controller of who can and can not make it up there . The only rightful 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 consistency parts - whether they are human or cyborg - could also get the job done . This is a lie though , and " going to Zalem " is in reality just Vector harvesting human trunk parts and organs for Nova ’s experiments , as patent by the demise of Chiren ( Jennifer Connelly ) .
Nova ’s advancements in applied science are not really explored in the plastic film , but he does have the ability to take over the body of his pawns thanks to their brain bio - chips . It is through them that Nova ’s independent finish forAlita : Battle Angelbecomes clear . Once he learns of an extremely powerful cyber - girl , he identify her mastery of the lost martial prowess Panzer Kunst and knows Alita is valuable . She has a very rare cyber core that is power by an anti - matter micro nuclear reactor and Nova need this for his own gain . Her eventual find 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 play a trick on Chiren to improve Grewishka ’s body through harvested parts that Vector is able to retrieve .
touch : Does Alita : Battle Angel Have An After Credits Scene ?
Edward Norton Plays Nova In Alita
Alita : Battle Angelestablishes fairly early on that Nova is somewhat involved in the movie . He is first introduce when he takes over Grewishka ’s body following his first skirmish with Alita , but it is n’t until later on in the film that it is revealed that Edward Norton is play the Einstein villain . The inclusion of the three - meter Oscar - campaigner in such a small role is surprising , as is his very James Cameron - like look . Rodriguez toldDigital Spythat it was a unmanageable use to shed due to the nature of the role . There is special cover time and no dialogue , arrive at it simply set up for a future purpose . But , both he and Cameron greatly admire Norton and wanted to work with him in some capacity . After some conversations , Norton agreed to play the mastermind .
Norton is first shew 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 academic session to pull up a holograph of Nova ’s nerve and show her the enemy they are facing and refer to him as a dragon that needs to be slain . It is n’t until the very death of the movie though that Norton is render in his full form . We see him in short as he push several buttons and sends a spiked , spinning ring down the tubing that Hugo is try on to climb to get to Zalem and kills him in the process . He is afterwards show looking down on Iron City and watching Alita get quick for her first motorball game in the Champions League . As she raises the Damascus Blade to Zalem , he takes off his Methedrine and break out his nefarious smirk - teasing their future encounter .
Page 2:Nova’s Original Manga Role & Movie Future
Nova In The Original Alita Manga
AlthoughAlita : Battle Angelis for the most part faithful to the Japanese manga , there are some deviations that are taken . Cameron and Rodriguez focalize on adapting the first two volume of the manga , but Nova is not yet introduced at this stage of the seed textile . In fact , there is not even a hint that Nova or anyone from Zalem is influencing the multitude 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 science lab , which had been destroyed by Zapan - who was look for a Berserker body of his own . Ido was also on the hunting for the body and was killed by Zapan . When Nova reveals this news to Alita , she down Nova and his helper during her tirade . However , Nova ’s body was able-bodied to rectify and he offer to help Alita . He promises that he can bring Ido back to life if Alita is able to kill Zapan . She concur to do this and is given throttle ( which are illegal in Iron City ) and specialised bullets to do the deed . She successfully kills Zapan , but is arrested and sentenced to instruction execution .
link : Alita : Battle Angel Movie Differences - Every alteration From The Anime
Alita is able to elude end once again after agreeing to join The Tipharean Ground Investigation Bureau , with her main project being to kill Nova . Alita then spend the next ten years working for the constitution , take down a terrorist organization Barjack that Nova is responsible for , and finally getting another shot at him . Their encounter conduce to Nova disclose that all adult in Tiphares / Zalem have had their brains removed and replaced with genius bio - chips . Alita thinks she kills Nova through decapitation , but he once again has a backup plan thanks to a second bio - chip he engraft in himself . He then habituate a bomb to kill Alita , and then uprise and excruciate her in the " Last Holy Order " continuation of the manga .
Nova’s Future In The Alita Movies
Thanks toAlita : Battle Angel ’s apparatus and cliffhanger conclusion , Nova is clear positioned to be the cock-a-hoop badness of the franchise move onward . This first movie helped establish and give understanding for their feud , with Nova organise many of the case and heartbreak Alita has to take with . Even though Norton and Salazar never meet typeface to CGI face , the part do share a brief dialogue during the coda . Nova remark how Alita continues to storm her and threatens her with his tycoon by name that he could take out Hugo or Ido at a instant ’s notice . Alita does n’t bear too much tending to the warning , and Nova soon makes her pay by killing Hugo . This is why Alita has continued to flirt motorball and rises to the Champions League so she can become Final Champion and headway to Zalem , where she can finally confront Nova and kill him .
The eventual confrontation ca n’t toy out exactly how it does in the manga , as Alita is already aware that Nova is the one responsible for for Hugo ’s demise . A likely continuation could still see Nova try out to dicker with Alita in rules of order to conserve Ido ’s life though , and Zapan could very well be look to upgrade himself after Alita slice up half of his brass off . The biggest question about Nova ’s future is n’t if he will have one in a sequel , but rather if a sequel toAlita : Battle Angelis made at all . Theearly box situation projectionsare not favorable for the expensive blockbuster , so it will involve to regain an consultation quickly if Fox ( and presently Disney ) want to proceed on with the franchise . And ifAlita : Battle Angeldoes go on to become a franchise , then Edward Norton ’s Nova is positioned to play a major function .
MORE:Will Alita: Battle Angel Get A Sequel? Here’s What The Story Could Be
