One of the most heavily-rumored characters from the comic books that isn’t officially on their way to the Marvel Cinematic Universe yet is Nova, who many fans are expecting to eventually play a major role in the cosmic side of the superhero franchise.
At the beginning of the year, Kevin Feige was asked whether we’d be seeing the Richard Rider or Sam Alexander iteration of the intergalactic defender, to which he replied “yes and yes”. While hardly illuminating, it does at least indicate that plans are afoot.
However, in an interview with ComicBook, the architect of the MCU played his cards even closer to the chest when addressing if Nova would debut as a full-formed protagonist in a solo movie or Disney Plus series, or if he’d be introduced in another project first.
“It’s a good question. It’s a good question. We have plenty… Well, you know, we oftentimes…. Black Panther is a great example. We were always working on a Black Panther standalone, the world of Wakanda, how to dive into that. Then the opportunity for him to appear first and Civil War came up. So, it always varies.”
The most recent slice of scuttlebutt claimed that Nova was deep into active development, to the extent cameras were poised to begin rolling in 2023. However, none of that information has been confirmed or corroborated by anyone from Marvel, but it hasn’t been debunked either. It’s surely only a matter of time, though, even if the chances of a first appearance coming in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 have been debunked by James Gunn.