Though the Nova Corps have already appeared in the MCU by way of Guardians of the Galaxy and may even show up again in the near future if fan theories are to be believed, Nova himself has so far remained absent from the big screen. Still, the rumors are ongoing that Marvel Studios has a film for Richard Rider in mind, and a recent statement from Kevin Feige himself has basically confirmed this.
When ET Online caught up with the producer last week, they told him that four things they really want in the MCU are a Nova movie, an LGBT superhero, Kamala Khan and Taika Waititi to announce his next Marvel film. In response, Feige offered up the following:
“I think all of those are percolating and– Let’s put it this way: They’re all percolating. I do want to keep the focus on this one and on the immediate future, but everything you just named are percolating, some closer than others.”
That’s certainly exciting to hear, and already, the seeds have been planted for the character’s arrival. If you’ll recall, we learned in Infinity War that Thanos “decimated” Xandar in an attempt to grab the Power Stone. What’s significant about this is that the planet’s home to the Nova Corps, and given that the Mad Titan no doubt severely depleted their numbers, it’s looking as if Marvel is beginning to set up Richard Rider’s origin story.
In the source material, Rhomann Dey – played by John C. Reilly back in Guardians of the Galaxy – goes to Earth after the Corps’ destruction and gives the Nova Force, their power source, to Rider. With Xandar having now been destroyed in the MCU, folks are beginning to think that a similar arc is starting to unfold on the big screen.
That, combined with Feige’s statements above and the fact that Marvel has made clear their intention to head in a more cosmic direction with Phase 4 means that the door is wide open for Nova‘s cinematic debut, and until the day that he finally does arrive, the fans will be waiting.