In 2014, the Nova Corps were introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Guardians of the Galaxy. Operating from the planet Xandar, the MCU’s Corps worked as space cops and ultimately stored the Power Stone in their HQ. Though the fate of the Corps and the planet is unknown, Thanos was able to get his hands on the stone so it’s unlikely it was a happy ending. At the time Avengers: Infinity War premiered in 2018, Marvel Studios One Above All, Kevin Feige, told Comic Book that the Nova Corps most powerful hero, known as Nova, was one of a handful of Marvel characters who had “immediate potential” in terms of joining the MCU. Nearly 6 years later, the character still hasn’t joined the fray and some new comments from one of the MCU’s top dogs indicate he’s likely not going to enter the mix for some time.
In a new interview with Comic Book, Marvel’s head of streaming, animation, and television Brad Winderbaum confirmed the incredibly well-known and widely-reported fact that a Nova project was in development at Marvel Studios before gently letting on that it’s not going to be something fans will see any time soon.
“We love Nova. We are in really early development on Nova,” explained Winderbaum, confirming trade reports from two years ago which revealed that Moon Knight scribe Sabir Pirzada was working on the project. Winderbaum then went on to detail the oft-discussed changes in the way studios like Marvel Studios go about their business since Bob Iger’s return to Disney and made it pretty clear that fans shouldn’t be trying to slate Nova into their hypothetical calendars anytime soon.
“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.”
Taken in their totality, Winderbaum’s response to the question about the status of a Nova project could hardly be regarded as optimistic. The studio is cutting back on new projects and focusing more on “sure things” and producing more projects within currently existing and successful franchises. Given that it’s been a decade since the Nova Corps made an impact in an MCU film, it’s possible Richard Rider’s time to shine has come and gone without so much as a cameo, Easter egg or wasted post-credit scene and whatever “immediate potential” he had in 2018 has waned. For now, it seems all fans of the character have is just a series of bad fan fiction about how the character could have joined the MCU in a genuinely organic way.
Source: Comic Book
