Avengers: Infinity War and its sequel that’s currently breaking box office records left, right and center, Avengers: Endgame, brought together every single hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, despite the many theories and rumors that argued otherwise, neither movie ended up introducing any new heroes we hadn’t met before. That wasn’t always the case, though, as it turns out Nova featured in early versions of the storyline.
Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about their initial plans for the epic two-parter event that brought the Infinity Saga to a close and one of the juiciest reveals was that Nova would have appeared at the beginning of Infinity War, taking Hulk’s place as the character that warns Doctor Strange that Thanos is on his way.
“I remember going through several scenarios of Nova. Thanos could come and kill all the Nova Corps, except one guy. Richard Rider, who then becomes … I think in that scenario he became the herald, kind of like the Hulk was [in Infinity War when he crashed into the Sanctum Santorum]. Someone who could come out and tell people.”
The only vestige of this early plan in IW is a brief bit of backstory Thor gives the Guardians of the Galaxy, explaining that Thanos decimated Xandar and the Nova Corps a week prior the movie’s events in order to get the Power Stone. This was enough to have fans theorizing that the destruction of the space police could lead to the introduction of Richard Rider. Though that hasn’t come to pass so far, it sounds like it’s a possibility for the future of the MCU.
Just last week, in fact, a new report claimed that Marvel is developing a Nova solo movie. He’s definitely one of the most popular heroes left in the comics that’s yet to appear on the big screen so if true, that’s very good news. Rumors also point to the character featuring in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. It’s too early to confirm that just yet, but at least we now know Nova came close to showing his golden helmet in Avengers: Infinity War.