Avengers: Endgame Writers Reveal Their Idea to Introduce Nova in Infinity War

Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame featured a bevy of characters from Marvel’s first 10 years, but at one point in time they featured another character who has yet to make his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut. That would be the cosmic hero Richard Rider, better known as Nova, and he’s been one of the more requested heroes by fans to make the jump to the big screen. In a new interview Endgame writers Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus revealed some of the many ideas, concepts, and characters that they contemplated before writing Infinity War and Endgame, and Nova definitely made the list.

The writers explained they have a 60-page document that has a variety of ideas they pondered before sitting down to write the two epic films, and Markus distinctly remembers that Rider was at one point part of the mix.

“I remember going through several scenarios of Nova,” Markus told THR. “Thanos could come and kill all the Nova Corps, except one guy. Richard Rider, who then becomes … I think in that scenario he became the herald, kind of like the Hulk was [in Infinity War when he crashed into the Sanctum Sanctorum]. Someone who could come out and tell people.”

“We had everything,” Markus continued. “Literally every variation we could think of or that was sitting there in the comics untapped. With absolutely no value placed next to them.”

Ultimately Nova was left on the shelf for Infinity War and Endgame, with Bruce Banner serving as the warning after he got throttled by Thanos early in the film and teleported back down to Earth. Fitting another character in would’ve been ambitious, but fans would’ve lost their minds if Nova had been set up here, and showing Thanos demolishing the Nova Corps would’ve set up the hero incredibly well, just like in the comics.

Thing is, you would have then needed to find a way for him to be involved in the greater story at play, as they were also bringing in Captain Marvel once Endgame hit. Having it tied to the Hulk seems to have made it easier to keep the focus on the original six Avengers, but still, we can all dream.

Nova does seem to have a promising future in the MCU despite not showing up just yet, and we can’t wait for Rider (or Sam Alexander) to make their big debut.

Avengers: Endgame is in theaters now.

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