It’s been over six years since Kevin Feige called Nova a character with “immediate potential” to make his way into the MCU and yet, somehow, the Human Rocket remains grounded. Hope that the character might finally be ready to take off briefly flickered in 2022 when Moon Knight writer Sabir Pirzada agreed to begin development on a Nova project; however, following Bob Iger‘s return to Disney–which came with a mandate to slow things down on the Marvel Studios production line–development on Nova was paused as Marvel’s TV division underwent some restructuring. And then, just as the project seemed destined for the scrap heap, news came that the studio was looking to begin production on it–as a Disney Plus streaming series–in 2025.
Though there’s been no official word from Marvel Studios that they intend to begin work on the project, Marvel Television head man Brad Winderbaum has been willing to at least confirm that they are working on a Nova series. Now, in a new interview with Phase Zero, Winderbaum revealed which of the two characters who have gone by the name of Nova in the pages of Marvel Comics will lead the show.
After once again confirming to Phase Zero’s Brandon Davis that Nova remains in development, Winderbaum went on to tease what fans can expect from the streaming series. While addressing how Marvel Television might go about bringing a character with such a large collection of Cosmic stories in his background to Disney Plus, Winderbaum revealed that Nova is being developed as “an amazing ensemble piece” before explaining that fans of the comics will know “how heated that Richard Rider kind of world can get.“
And it doesn’t really get any clearer than that, folks…
While the inclusion of Rider as the series’ presumed lead does not preclude the inclusion of Sam Alexander, it would be in the best interest of the studio’s pursuit of longform storytelling to be patient. The studio has previously shown no compunction in choosing to skip over OG comic book heroes in order to put legacy characters front and center in different projects. Winderbaum’s comments seem to indicate that in the case of Nova, the studio will put its greatest Cosmic hero in the spotlight first while likely still leaving room for an understudy to fill the helmet down the road.
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