‘What If…?’ Season 2: Who Killed Yondu & Why?

‘What If….?‘ Season 2 Episode 1 just dropped, and we got the opportunity to see Nebula in a more heroic role, serving as a faithful member of the Nova Corps. Right at the start of the episode, Nebula was handed a rather difficult case; it would seem that her former associate, Yondu, was killed in cold blood, and Nebula was supposed to solve the case. This is also one of the questions that we will be asked ourselves, who killed Yondu, and why?

How did Yondu get his hands on the mainframe core?

As soon as Nebula discovered Yondu’s body, she was aware that Yaka’s arrow couldn’t be far ahead. She projected an old recording of Yondu in which he is whistling, and the arrow spawned, attacking her in a matter of seconds. As soon as Nebula interacted with the arrow, the arrow started projecting some kinds of schematics that turned out to be the old mainframe core of Xandar.

Some kind of a data pack that holds everything from old unpaid parking tickets to the codes that could allow individuals to disable the planetary shield that was put up to stop Ronan from taking over the planet. Nebula quickly pieced the puzzle together, and she correctly guessed that someone was trying to basically hack into Xandar’s core to take down the shield.

But how did Yondu find himself with such a thing in his possession in the first place? Nova Prime told Nebula that Yondu was involved with forces of darkness, but considering his shady history, it was quite possible that he was hired by Nova Prime herself to steal the old mainframe core as soon as he figured out what Nova Prime intended to do with it, he refused to give her the core away, which prompted his murder.

Why was the mainframe core so important?

Nova Prime was after the mainframe core because it contained needed codes to take down the planetary shield and was activated as a last-ditch attempt to save the planet from Ronan. The planetary code shielded the entire planet in darkness and cut it off from the rest of the universe. But it obviously didn’t stop all forms of communication with outer space since Nova Prime somehow managed to get into contact with Ronan and plan the takeover of the planet, which would allow her to stay in power, with Ronan taking over the planet and putting it under Kree’s control.

Yondu’s murder was just the first step in Nebula’s manipulation

When it became clear that Nova Prime was behind the whole invasion of Xandar, Nebula accused her of intentionally putting her on the case related to Yondu’s murder. It’s obvious that Nova Prime was aware that Nebula was the only person capable of finding the core since, before Nebula became a member of Nova Corps, she attended the same places as Yondu and had shady connections just like he did.

Nova Prime knew that she needed Nebula both to activate the core and to track it down; this way, in case her little operation backfired, she could blame it all on Nebula’s criminal past.

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