The Nova Corps. were severely nerfed in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, and that raises some significant questions for Marvel Studios' upcoming Nova project.
The movies basically demoted the Nova Corps from cosmic superheroes to regular beat cops in starfighters.
Veteran comic readers know the original crew taps directly into the Nova Force, an energy pool maintained by the Xandarian Worldmind.
Furthermore, higher-ranking officers gain wild abilities from it, flying solo across galaxies, slinging energy blasts, taking heavy damage, and lifting hundreds of tons without blinking. They're essentially Marvel's answer to Green Lantern.
In the MCU, the Nova Force doesn’t seem to exist at all.
That said, introducing the Nova Force might be the whole point of Marvel's upcoming Nova project. We intentionally say "project" because it's had a rocky development path, constantly bouncing between a Disney+ streaming series and a full-fledged theatrical movie.
But whatever shape the Nova project comes in, Rhomann Dey actor John C. Reilly says he wants to reprise the role.
“I haven’t heard from those guys I don’t think since they talked to me when they were making the sequel but I guess there wasn’t room in the story for me in that one but yeah, I know that whole Nova story and I was like, ‘Yeah, when do I get my movie?’"
"But I mean, I was just happy to be part of it in the first place. It’s the only big Marvel movie that I’ve ever been a part of and I guess I’m in the universe now, as they say. I hope that comes back around,” he told Comicbook.com in a recent interview.
In a page straight from DC's origin story for Hal Jordan, it's a mortally wounded Rhomann Dey who passes his powers to the teenage Earthling Richard Rider.
Perhaps after suffering crushing defeats at the hands of both Ronan the Accuser and Thanos, the MCU's Nova Corps has begun experimenting with an unstable power source to give its members extraordinary abilities?
Michael Waldron, who wrote Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and Loki, is reportedly writing the script for Nova.
Back when the project was headed for streaming, Marvel’s head of streaming and animation, Brad Winderbaum, hyped the project as an "amazing ensemble piece with a great cast of characters." He also teased the overall vibe, promising the show will carry "shades of" sci-fi heavyweights like Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica.