How Marvel Should Introduce Nova In The MCU

Nova has already been cut from two movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but a perfect stage has been set for the new Marvel hero and we have just the idea for how to introduce him. Richard Rider, also known as the Last Centurion, is raring to go to the movies with Marvel president Kevin Feige once promising me Nova has “immediate potential” for a debut. So, where is he? Already hiding in plain sight, with his home destroyed and powers inherited. The series of events which created the super hero in comics have already been carried out in the movies, so it’s only a matter of time.

First of all, it’s worth noting that Nova was cut from drafts of Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Infinity War. I tried to ask James Gunn how he was going to use the character in his first Marvel movie during a Quarantine Watch Party last week bu the director wasn’t spilling those facts. That said, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely once told me they wrote a draft of Infinity War where he goes all Avengers vs. X-Men comic on it and comes crashing into Earth and instead of warning everyone of the impending threat that was the Phoenix Force, he was telling everyone to look out for Thanos. But, no, we didn’t get that.

Instead, all the Nova fans are left hoping and wishing for him to arrive but the perfect pitch is already right in front of our faces.

Nova’s origin story has been told a few times in Marvel Comics but the fact is, he’s the Last Centurion of the Nova Corps. When Xandar is destroyed, the Xandarian Worldmind chooses him to inherit the entire power of the Nova Corps and make him its defender. He gets a bit overly ambitious and sometimes a little cocky but we still love him for it — and most of the time he is a hero and comes out on top.

Back on topic, this all means the stage has been perfectly set for Nova’s intro to the movies. To start Avengers: Infinity War, Xandar had been destroyed off-screen. Thanos, the Mad Titan, wrecked the planet to get the Power Stone after the Guardians left it there. Somewhere in its rubble, Richard Rider is rising from the ashes and becoming Nova. There is no explanation, yet, for why he was not in the battle against Thanos in Avengers: Endgame but maybe he was snapped away and never made aware of the battle because the Avengers and Guardians do not know him. Still fun to imagine him there, especially after Joe Russo once trolled us all and made the whole world look through the final battle to try to screenshot him.

Start the Nova movie right there, though. Richard Rider, hanging out on Xandar or (Long Island), and in comes Thanos with the same ship that wreaked havoc on the Avengers facility in Endgame just wrecking the place. It’s a heavy thing to start a movie with the slaughter of a planet but Infinity War picked up with Loki being choked to death, so we can probably handle it.

Let the movie (or Disney+ series, either is fine!) start in that aftermath and take place in the five years which followed the Snap or afterwards if Richard was erased from existence. Let’s see him out on missions helping people who needed it after the Snap. This way, Marvel Studios gets to bring Thanos back into the MCU for another appearance. The brief appearance which is not actually a resurrection but a flashback for the character could be used in trailers for the film, increasing the excitement with one of the now best-known villains in the film and inevitably selling tickets.

After all, aren’t we all ready to hear Nova Prime actress Glenn Close voice the Worldmind and see Richard Rider fight with her about all the heroic things he wants to do but probably can’t actually pull off? Close as Worldmind almost happened in Infinity War and Endgame, so let’s get to it.

How do you think Nova should be introduced to the MCU? What other characters that haven’t been announced yet do you want to see? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram or Twitter.