Brad Winderbaum, Marvel Studios’ Head of Television, Streaming, and Animation exclusivity told ComicBook.com that Marvel Studios is set to bring the iconic superhero, Nova into live action. The character who has been eagerly anticipated since the debut of the Nova Corps, is one of the characters fans hope to see in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Fans are eagerly anticipating the addition of Nova to the future slate as the MCU continues to expand with new addition of heroes and villains.
Nova’s MCU Debut Update
With his potential speculated appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame, Nova has been a subject for years. Despite being promised immediate potential by Marvel boss Kevin Feige in 2018, the character has remained dormant. However, with X-Men ’97 on the horizon, Marvel’s head of streaming, animation, and television Brad Winderbaum has confirmed that Nova is in development at Marvel Studios.
On 16th March, in an exclusive interview with ComicBook.com, Winderbaum said,
“We love Nova. We are in really early development on Nova. We have a new system behind-the-scenes at Marvel Studios. We’re more like a traditional studio now. We’re developing more than we actually will produce. There are plans to develop Nova. I love Nova, too. I love Rich Rider, too. I hope it gets to the screen. The world is always chaos. There’s always things. You gotta conjure these things to make them happen but I would love to see a Nova show, one day.”
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Nova, created by Marv Wolfman and John Buscema, first appeared in Marvel Comics in 1976. The Richard Rider edition character is the last surviving member of the Nova Corps, an Xandarian force that spread Nova powers. In 2011, Marvel introduced the Sam Alexander version, created by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness. The Sam Alexander character has gained popularity in animation and ensemble event comics. The origin story for Richard Rider in the MCU is not fully established, with Thanos destroying Xander before Avengers: Infinity War.
Marvel Studios may be saving Nova’s movie or TV show for Phase 7 after The Multiverse Saga, as the studio has been making changes, including firing Jonathan Majors as Kang. It remains to be seen if Nova will finally headline his own MCU series or film in the coming years.
A brief on Nova And His Powers
In 1966, Marv Wolfman created the character Nova, originally known as the Star, as an alien doctor named Denteen who found a spaceship containing pills giving him different superhuman powers every five minutes. In issue #6, Wolfman and writer Len Wein reimagined him as a prisoner named Kraken Roo, who becomes the superhero Black Nova. Wolfman and artist John Romita Sr. later tweaked the character’s uniform design and origin story.
Nova was introduced in The Man Called Nova #1 in 1976. The original series lasted 25 issues and featured a homage to Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s Spider-Man. Nova’s plot was resolved in Fantastic Four and Rom: Spaceknight. He then disappeared into obscurity until he returned as a member of the original New Warriors team in The Mighty Thor #411 in 1989.
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Nova appeared in The New Warriors #1-75 and Annuals #1-4 from 1990 to 1996. Nova’s storyline continued in subsequent titles, including The New Warriors #1-18 (1994-1995) and The Human Rocket (1999-2000). After a four-issue miniseries, Nova (vol. 4) ran for 36 issues, tying into Annihilation: Conquest, Secret Invasion, and War of Kings. After the series’ cancellation, the remaining plot threads were addressed in The Thanos Imperative, a six-issue miniseries.
Nova derives his powers from an energy source called the Nova Force which all Nova Corps Centurions wield. This energy was transferred to Rider by the Nova Centurion Rhomann Dey. The Nova Force affords Rider superhuman powers including flight, superhuman strength, speed, and durability, as well as the power to absorb energy directed against him and release it as gravimetric pulses and beams, either from specific parts of his body or from his entire body.
