There was a new “Untitled Marvel Space Project” production listing in Production Weekly earlier this month. Deadline quickly confirmed a rumor that it would center on Marvel’s Nova, a young spaceman superhero.
It wasn’t long after Nova joined the New Warriors, a group of Marvel’s most popular adolescent super-heroes, that he won over a new generation of fans who saw him as a cross between Adam Warlock and Captain Marvel with a touch of Peter Parker’s angst and alienation. Here’s what we know about Nova and how he might appear in the MCU based on these facts.
It’s not clear whether Nova will make her big-screen debut right away, or if she’ll start out on the Disney+ farm team as a series, but that seems to be the trend with the introduction of newer Marvel characters: an eponymous series on Disney+.
Nova in GOTG
Despite the fact that Nova has yet to appear in any form in the MCU, a large portion of the character’s roots have already been established. Xandar’s military/police force, the Nova Corps, plays a significant role in the first Guardians of the Galaxy film in a variety of important ways. To begin with, the Nova Corps imprisons Peter Quill, and later, Xandar and its subsequent defense by the Nova Corps are key elements of the film’s climax.
It’s possible that both Glenn Close’s Nova Prime and Peter Serafinowicz’s Garthan Saal, aka Supernova, could make an appearance in the film as Nova Prime or Irani Rael, the Corps’ leader. Rhomann Dey, played by John C. Reilly, is almost certainly going to pop up in some capacity, but we’ll get to that in a sec. During Thanos’ search for the Power Stone in Avengers: Infinity War, the Corps and Xandar are implied to have been destroyed by the Marvel villain.
Sabir Pirzada, a member of the Moon Knight writing team, has been named as Nova’s screenwriter, despite the fact that no producers or showrunners have been named. Pirzada’s previous credits include Roswell, New Mexico, and Person of Interest. Pirzada has also written for Marvel Comics’ Marvel Voices: Identity Vol. 2, which features Ms. Marvel, Shang-Chi, Wong, and a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Is Nova The Richard Rider Version?
We can assume that the show will focus on the original Nova, Richard Rider. Rider made his comic book debut in 1976 in The Man Called Nova #1, where he was selected by the dying Nova centurion Rhomann Dey (played by John C. Reilly in the MCU) and given a uniform that grants him access to the Nova Force, which gives him superhuman strength and durability as well as the ability to fly and absorb energy directed against him, which he can then release as a power pulse. After the comics’ universe version of Nebula destroyed that version of Xandar, Rider temporarily loses his powers.
Richard Rider was lost in another dimension while battling Thanos, but the Nova Force found a new recipient on Earth: Sam Alexander, son of a Latinx mother and former Nova Centurion. When Gamora and Rocket Raccoon tell Sam about his superhero destiny, Sam goes on to fight the Dark Phoenix manifestation before joining the New Warriors like his predecessor.
Despite the fact that Rider is the lengthiest Nova, it is possible that the two different Novas will be merged in an amalgam unique to the MCU.
With Nova, the MCU could get a new Warriors series.
Since the 1980s, Marvel Comics’ New Warriors series has been a popular one. Marvel Comics’ collective has appeared in several animated series and was even considered for an ABC sitcom (which was later shelved).
However, they have yet to appear in any MCU films or television series. Speedball, Night Thrasher, Firestar, Marvel Boy, and Namorita, who have yet to appear in the series but whose cousin Namor will in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, could serve as Nova’s stomping ground for a group series.
