‘What If…?’ Season 2: Why Was Yon-Rogg in Prison?

Episode 1 of ‘What If…?’ Season 2 just dropped, and we have the opportunity to see Nebula in a completely new but honorable light. Following her falling out with Thanos and Ronan, Nebula was rescued by the Nova Corps and joined them, but trouble followed her wherever she went, mostly coming in the form of Kree. Following Yondu’s murder and the fact that someone was trying to bring Xandar in danger, Nebula was desperate to turn to an old enemy for help, and surprisingly, she found him in prison. But why was Yon-Rogg in prison in the first place?

Why did Nebula need Yon-Rogg?

When Yondu’s dead body was discovered, it didn’t take long for Nebula to figure out that his Yaka arrow contained something incredibly dangerous but important. She discovered Xandarian mainframe schematics, and after advising Krog and Howard the Duck, she figured out that someone was trying to disable the planetary shield with it, which was the only thing protecting Xandar from Ronan’s danger.

However, as you might think, Xandar’s planetary data cord was hidden, and it was difficult to infiltrate the place. Yes, Nebula was a member of the Nova Corps, but that kind of permission wasn’t given lightly. Technically, Nova Prima could have given Nebula permission to access the core, but she didn’t, and why was explained later.

Nebula knew that she needed someone with experience when it came to hacking into the Xandarian system, and who better to do the job than the enemy of the state?

Yon-Rogg already tried to get into Xandarian systems

Nebula made her way to the Xandarian correctional center, and she asked to see inmate X2357. This turned out to be Yon-Rogg, a high-ranking officer of the Kree Empire, which was already at war with the Nova Empire.

We can assume that Yon-Rogg’s history was identical to his 616 counterpart and that he had already tried to sabotage the Nova Empire in a variety of ways. Yon-Rogg hates everything that Nova Empire stands for, and as such, being seen on Xandar would mean that he was acting either undercover or trying to sabotage it from the inside.

Nova commented that she arrested him for trying to get into Xandarian systems, and we can assume that this was why he was in Xandarian correctional center but under the highest security measures because as it would later turn out, he was extremely dangerous.

Yon-Rogg was working with Nova Prime

As soon as Nebula and Yon-Rogg reached the mainframe core underneath the city, he managed to successfully hack their way into it. Nebula started downloading the data and erasing the codes for Planetary Shield so that they wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands.

As soon as the transfer was complete, Yon-Rogg attacked Nebula and put a flash drive into her head downloading the codes for himself. This both injured Nebula catastrophically and overloaded the mainframe core prompting its destruction. Luckily this was all part of the Nebula plan. Yon-Rogg planned on killing Nebula and letting the explosion of the core do its thing, but luckily, she survived.

When Nebula reached the outside world, she was greeted by Nova Prime and Yon-Rogg, who were surprised to see her. This is when Nova Prime revealed her true face and commented that it would take a lot more to kill Nebula. She also confirmed Nebula’s suspicions. Nova Prime was working with Yon-Rogg this whole time. She was planning on taking down the Planetary Shield and letting Ronan take over the planet. Naturally, their deal meant that Nova Prime would stay on as the head of the Nova Empire.

Ultimately, Yon-Rogg and Nova Prime attempted to kill Nebula once again, and this time, she managed to drag herself to Howard’s casino.

What happened to Yon-Rogg?

Yon-Rogg was presented when Nebula, Miek, Groot, Korg and Howard attacked Nova Headquarters and at one point in the fight he was severely beaten by Korg. We can assume that he is alive but has returned to prison once again to answer for his crimes against Nova Empire (once again) now that Nova Prime’s plan is out in the open. Considering that Nebula managed to take down the planetary shield without the Armada of the Kree empire attacking the planet, we can be safe to assume that their overall plan failed.

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