Does ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Open the Door for MCU Nova?

Even though the Avengers: Infinity War trailer may seem like something of a tease, there are a lot of juicy details hidden in its vague montage of ominous footage. Along with insights into the changes to the Avengers characters we know and love, there are also some teases of potential new heroes to come – and one of those heroes could potentially be Nova!

In the Infinity War trailer footage, we see Thanos catch up with Loki, after the Asgardian trickster and his brother Thor were left wandering space, following the events of Thor: Ragnarok. When Thanos extracts the Space Stone from The Tesseract Loki smuggled out of Asgard, we see that the Space Stone is actually the second one Thanos is adding to his collection: The Mad Titan has already taken possession of the Power Stone (the purple one).

When last we saw the Power Stone, it was on Xandar in the care of Nova Corps, after Peter Quill and the Guardians of the Galaxy stopped Ronan the Accuser. The Power Stone seemed like one of the most secure Infinity Stones, being in the Nova Corps’ vault – so if Thanos has it, we can fairly assume that he went through the entire Nova Corps to get it. However, the Nova Corps’ end may be exactly the opportunity that Marvel fans have been waiting for!

The Last Centurion

Fans have been waiting for the superhero version of Nova to be introduced to the MCU, and the character’s origin is very much connected to event just like the one described above.

In Marvel Comics, Richard Rider was a NYC high school student when he was visited by Rhomann Dey, the last surviving member of Xandar’s Nova Corps. Richard was given Dey’s uniform and power as a Nova Centurion, but the alien died before giving the young man proper instruction on how to use them. Eventually Richard traveled to Xandar and helped fight a war against The Skrull Empire alongside the likes of Rom the Space Knight, before settling back on Earth and joining teams like The New Warriors.

After Avengers 3 and 4, the doors of the MCU are wide open for Richard Rider’s origin story to play out. The upcoming Captain Marvel movie will also introduce the Skrull Empire to the MCU, possibly setting up Phase 4 for a Skrull “Secret Invasion” storyline. That’s just more opportunity for the classic Nova origin story to be adapted for the MCU. We here at Comicbook.com recently broke down how Nova would be a great YA character for the Marvel Cosmic brand – whether it’s Richard Rider, Sam Alexander, or a combination of both. That’s all to say: We genuinely hope Avengers: Infinity War is setting the stage for Nova’s impending debut.

Do you think Nova is coming to the MCU soon? Let me know your opinion (or your own theories) @KofiOutlaw!

Avengers: Infinity War opens in theaters on May 4, 2018. Thor: Ragnarok is now playing in theaters. Other upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include; Black Panther on February 16, 2018, Ant-Man and the Wasp on July 6, 2018, Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 5, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.