Why Marvel Shouldn’t Introduce Nova Until Phase 5

Marvel shouldn’t be in a hurry to introduce Nova into the Marvel Cinematic Universe - and they should wait until at least Phase 5. The Richard Rider version of Nova, a major cosmic superhero in the comic books, is a character that audiences are expecting to appear in the MCU at some point in the future.

After spending ten years telling stories about heroes like Captain America and Iron Man, Marvel is moving on to other properties. Black Panther, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, and Ant-Man are all currently leading franchises of their own, with Shang-Chi and the Eternals being added to the list in Phase 4. Marvel has quite a few more characters it can look to when planning out the MCU’s future, one of which being Nova. He's a key player on the cosmic side of the Marvel Universe, has generated a lot of interest from fans, and is someone who Marvel has already discussed introducing.

Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has confirmed that Nova is among the characters “on the board” for future movies; he's also said that Nova has “immediate potential” in the MCU. These comments give the implication that Nova may be one of the next Marvel Comics superheroes to get the big screen treatment. However, Marvel should carefully consider how Nova’s introduction is handled. Instead of capitalizing on his “immediate potential”, and including him in one of its upcoming Phase 4 movies, Marvel should hold off on giving him his long-awaited MCU debut until 2023 at the earliest.

How Nova Was Introduced In Marvel Comics

Richard Rider becomes Nova in Marvel Comics.

In Marvel Comics, Nova is a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy who has held several big roles in cosmic storylines and crossover events, such as Annihilation, The Thanos Imperative, and Infinity Wars. But before he was regarded as one of Earth’s most important cosmic defenders, he was just a normal, high school student living in New York City with his family. His life changed when he mysteriously fell into a coma. Apparently, he was targeted by a ray of energy sent by Rhomann Dey, who was supposedly the last surviving member of the Nova Corps. After his people were wiped out by an alien warlord, a wounded Rhomann Dey chased him to Earth and decided that since death was upon him, he would have to pick a successor on Earth and hope that this person would deal with his enemy in his stead.

After Richard Rider was picked at random, he was imbued with the powers of a Nova Centurion. Complete with a set of super powers, a costume, and a helmet, Rider managed to defeat the alien. Over time, he learned to accept his new duties as the new Nova Prime and evolved into a capable superhero. Many of his early stories in the 1970s involved crossovers with Spider-Man and battles with original villains like Diamondhead and Powerhouse on Earth. It wasn’t until much later that Nova began fighting threats like Thanos and Annihilus alongside the Silver Surfer and the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Marvel Almost Introduced Nova In Avengers: Infinity War & Endgame

Doctor Strange and Tony Stark stand in a line with other heroes from Avengers Infinity War

Marvel set up a comic book accurate origin story for Nova by killing off the Nova Corps in Avenger: Infinity War, but the movie nearly went even further with his character. Part of the original plan for Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame was for Richard Rider to be involved. According to the movies’ writers, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, their intention was for Nova to take Silver Silver’s role in the comic book version of the story. Rider was to be the only member of the Nova Corps left standing after Thanos’ decimation of Xandar. Guided by the artificial intelligence known as the Worldmind, Nova would have arrived on Earth, presumably to warn the heroes about Thanos (Josh Brolin). He was eventually written out of the story, with the writers opting to make Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) the “herald” who tells Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) about the Mad Titan’s mission.

It was said that Nova was cut from Infinity War and Endgame because of the high number of characters and the decision not to show the massacre on Xandar. Though it would have been exciting to see Nova joining the army of Avengers who battle Thanos at the end of Endgame, it’s actually for the best that he wasn’t around. This plan for Nova in Infinity War and Endgame means that his origin story would have been skipped over entirely. Plus, introducing a brand-new hero in a movie on the scale of Infinity War would have been a mistake. The massive casts in the two Avengers movies worked because these were all heroes who audiences were already familiar with. Given the limitations on every character’s screen time, it would have been beyond challenging for Marvel to give Nova a proper introduction in either film.

Why Marvel Should Save Nova For Phase 5

Other options for bringing Nova to the MCU include appearances in Thor: Love and Thunder and Captain Marvel 2. He could be used as a guest character who teams up with Thor (Chris Hemsworth) or Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) during an adventure in space. He could also be a team member in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. He’d certainly have more to do in one of these films than he would have had in Infinity War or Endgame, but Marvel shouldn’t take any of these routes. It would be better if the studio follows the comics when it comes to bringing in Nova.

What the MCU’s Richard Rider needs is a fully realized origin story on Earth. In the 1970s, the Nova comic was marketed as a new version of the Spider-Man story. This comparison felt accurate, considering that in his early days, Richard Rider had a lot in common with Peter Parker. Both were relatable teenagers who became superheroes by chance. Neither asked to be given super powers or the responsibilities that came with them. The relatable aspects of Rider should be on display in the MCU, and that’s something Marvel would miss out on if they moved him off-world right away. Admittedly, Marvel made Spider-Man work without an origin story, but Nova is a different case altogether. Marvel skipped Peter Parker getting bit by the radioactive spider because audiences already knew how this happened, but they can’t approach Nova in the same way since he’s never been in a movie before.

It’s hard to imagine Marvel being able to give Nova’s backstory a sufficient amount of screen time in another character’s movie. For this reason, Marvel should hold off on Rider until they can give Nova a solo movie. Since Marvel has several upcoming films with no release dates, it’ll be 2023 or possibly 2024 before they’ll be any room for him. After he gets at least one movie on Earth surrounded by a cast of human characters, the time will be right for Nova to be fully integrated into the cosmic corner of the MCU.

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