While 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy introduced the Nova Corps, there was no sign of Nova himself, a character fans have been desperate to see on screen for years now. In fact, the Nova Corps didn't appear to be anything more than a regular intergalactic police force, leaving us to think Marvel Studios had no immediate plans for Richard Rider.
Well, eight years on, and Nova is finally expected to make his MCU debut in a Marvel Studios Special Presentation from Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel writer Sabir Pirzada.
Over the years, a narrative has been created suggesting filmmaker James Gunn may not like Nova. Now, though, he's elaborated on why the character isn't one he felt had a place in his Guardians of the Galaxy movies (the new DC Studios boss will conclude his trilogy next May).
"I never had Richard Rider in anything. He's just too big of a character and he seemed too...I didn't want to...from the beginning, when I came on board Guardians, I didn't want to have two human beings," Gunn explains to Phase Zero. "I wanted to have one human being so that he could be surrounded in this world of aliens."
"And then we realized little by little, that all of these characters are the only of their kind, they're the only human being to them, you know?"
While Gunn won't be introducing Nova in either The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special or Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, he will soon join the MCU and is likely to be part of whatever form the team takes moving forward. The director won't be involved with that given his new DCU commitments, but we can't imagine the team being shelved for too long after the threequel.
Avengers: Infinity War confirmed the Nova Corps was destroyed by Thanos, and the expectation is that this Special Presentation will focus on both Richard and Sam Alexander.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is set to be released in theaters on May 5, 2023.