One of the more surprising revelations from Avengers: Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo was the news that Nova is actually in the final battle scene with Thanos. The Easter Egg came out of a Twitter Q&A that raised the question of why the Nova Corps weren’t represented in the fight, only for the Russos to point out that Richard Rider himself appears as Nova in the background of a shot.
Cue Marvel fans scrambling to find the evidence within the digital/Blu-ray releases of the movie. Except, they’ll likely come up short, as Joe has now revealed that he was just joking. Yep, after setting the internet ablaze and sending fans off on a wild goose chase, the director has admitted that he was only kidding and Nova isn’t in the movie, after all.
But given that it took him a few hours to issue that update, people had already begun their search and below, you can find a few examples of what they came up with:
https://twitter.com/StreakyOfficial/status/1163529574279520256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1163529574279520256&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fmarvel%2F2019%2F08%2F19%2Favengers-endgame-where-is-nova-scene-directors-cameo%2F
— Big Low (@Big_Low125) August 19, 2019
Nova pic.twitter.com/MPGyWqbpBg
— Big Low (@Big_Low125) August 19, 2019
We also got some takes on Nova appearing more prominently in the sequence:
https://twitter.com/TVH117/status/1163535913219219456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1163535913219219456&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fmarvel%2F2019%2F08%2F19%2Favengers-endgame-where-is-nova-scene-directors-cameo%2F
Or riding a space bike:
Yo, if Nova IS in #AvengersEndgame, he's def riding in on one of those dope space bikes, Cosmic Ghost Rider style. pic.twitter.com/TlYg04OVfv
— Charlie Ridgely (@charlieridgely) August 19, 2019
Alternatively, some fans thought this could be Nova:
https://twitter.com/21roy_/status/1163540592112164864
Even though the whole thing turned out to be a joke, it’s still fun to speculate on how Nova and the Corps in general will fit into the MCU, with the character likely turning up in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in preparation for a reported spinoff movie. Our sources also suggest that Marvel will cast a person of color as Richard Rider as part of the diversification of the franchise going forward.
Whatever ends up happening, with many reports of a Nova standalone film being on the cards, we wouldn’t be surprised if the character ends up finding himself a key part of Phase Four. Even if he’s not in Avengers: Endgame after all.