There could be a new Marvel hero coming as a major MCU executive confirms that the popular character Nova could be starring in his own project. It also hints at a new direction for the MCU itself.
2023 was not a good year for the MCU. Sure, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 was a hit, but Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Secret Invasion were disappointments, while The Marvels was the MCU's first outright flop. Bigger is that Jonathan Majors, who was to be the big bad Kang in Phase 5, was fired after being arrested for domestic abuse.
Combine that with the 2023 Hollywood strikes and Marvel has been shuffling their plans. That led to reports that Marvel was canceling several coming projects. Yet, in a recent interview, a Marvel executive hints that the long-popular character of Nova may be among the heroes coming to MCU television.
Who is Nova?
Debuting in his own series in 1976, created by Marv Wolfman, Richard Rider was a typical high school jock who a dying alien selected to join the Nova Corps, an intergalactic police force. Richard was granted powers of flight, super strength and energy blasts, doing his best to fight evil in New York City.
The series ended after 25 issues, with Richard losing his powers and dropping out of Marvel stories. In 1990, he returned as a member of the New Warriors, getting his powers back and his own title again. In 2006's Annihilation event, the rest of the Nova Corps was wiped out, and Richard was the only survivor.
Since then, Richard has bounced around as Nova, even being killed a few times. Young teen Sam Alexander was given the same Nova powers and briefly a hero himself.
Nova in the MCU
There have been rumors of Nova in the MCU as the first GOTG movie featured the Nova Corps. Supposedly, they were to appear in an early draft for the sequel, but it didn't happen, and they were destroyed by Thanos off-screen in Avengers: Infinity War.
Speaking to ComicBook.Com, Brad Winderbaum, Marvel's head of streaming, animation and television confirmed that a Nova project is in the works.
"We love Nova. We are in really early development on Nova. We have a new system behind-the-scenes at Marvel Studios. We're more like a traditional studio now. We're developing more than we actually will produce. There are plans to develop Nova. I love Nova, too. I love Rich Rider, too. I hope it gets to the screen. The world is always chaos. There's always things. You gotta conjure these things to make them happen but I would love to see a Nova show, one day."
It's probable that the Richard Rider Nova would be the one used, and a TV show would allow for some great storytelling. It'd be a great story of this Earth kid thrust into an intergalactic conflict and open the door for other Marvel cosmic characters to pop in.
Winderbaum also confirmed that, contrary to reports, the Ironheart and Wonder Man Disney+ shows are still in the works. Ironheart would have Dominique Thorne reprising her role from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as inventor Riri Williams. Wonder Man has Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Simon Williams, an actor who gains superpowers to become a true hero.
Winderbaum said both shows are being edited, and the delays are part of a new strategy at Marvel: not to flood the calendar with too many projects but to spread them out more.
"Frankly, in all honesty, there was a mandate to kind of create as much as we could for Disney+ as quickly as we could. And then, there was a shift, and all of a sudden, we have to start spreading our release dates out. So, that really accounts for a lot of the delays. Now, we're using that time. We're not sitting idle. So, it stays in the oven. You can bake certain things a little more. It's actually, I think, ultimately, it's only going to make things better. But most of it's just frankly shrapnel from the business."
This can be a good move for the MCU as a chief complaint of fans was far too many shows and movies crowding together. With the future of Phase 5 still in flux, going for smaller projects that showcase "second-tier" characters with great potential can make for a brighter future.
With Nova still in the works, there's a question if it can truly hit the screen but Marvel seems intent on making this part of a new direction for the MCU as Marvel seems to be learning from some mistakes and, like Nova, prepared to fly high again.