Marvel Studios Exec Confirms Nova Project in Development (Exclusive)

Nova is a Marvel character who seems to be kicked around behind-the-scenes quite often through the years. A pre-James Gunn draft of Guardians of the Galaxy featured the character. Avengers: Infinity War considered opening with his arrival on Earth. According to a cruel joke once upon a time from the Russo Brothers, he was in the final battle of Avengers: Endgame. Since Marvel boss Kevin Feige promised the character was classified as having “immediate potential,” in a ComicBook.com interview in 2018, the character has remained dormant. Now, with X-Men ’97 on the way, Marvel’s head of streaming, animation, and television Brad Winderbaum has confirmed Nova is in development at Marvel Studios.

“We love Nova. We are in really early development on Nova,” Winderbaum told ComicBook.com in an exclusive interview available now on the Phase Zero channel. Rumors have long swirled about the character, each taking new shape with their claims of which format Nova’s Marvel Cinematic Universe debut would take shape as. Winderbaum, overseeing the titles which go to Disney+, seems to be aiming for a series. 

 “We have a new system behind-the-scenes at Marvel Studios,” Winderbaum said. “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.”

Created by Marv Wolfman and John Buscema, Nova first appeared on the pages of Marvel Comics in 1976, The Richard Rider edition character is the last surviving member of the Nova Corps, the Xandarian force which spread the Nova powers until there was only one left. In 2011, Marvel introduced the Sam Alexander version of Nova, created by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness. With appearances in animation and ensemble event comics, the Sam Alexander character has risen in popularity in recent years. However, the origin story for Richard Rider has all but been completely laid out in the MCU, with Thanos having destroyed Xander before the start of Avengers: Infinity War to obtain the Power Stone. Whether or not this will be incorporated in the story remains to be seen.

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