In recent days, we've once again started hearing rumblings about Marvel Studios' plans for Nova. The character has been ignored for far too long, with Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn happily admitting the hero never interested him.
The expectation is that when the character does finally appear in the MCU, Sam Alexander will hold the Nova mantle. There may, however, still be plans for Richard Rider to act as a mentor or partner to the teenager.
Talking to Screen Rant, Marvel Studios Head of TV, Streaming, and Animation, Brad Winderbaum seemed to strongly hint that Nova is destined to take flight on Disney+
"It's new territory for us, developing more shows than we produce," he started. "Nova certainly is exciting to us, we've got some great ideas simmering. I think there's a lot of potential there. I love Nova, also, from the comics, especially the Richard Rider era...we'll see what happens."
"Like you said, there's only so many release slots in the schedule, but we want to make sure everything we make is as good as it could possibly be," Winderbaum added. "But I will say that is a particular project we are excited about and excited about developing."
Another big takeaway from these comments is the fact that, while Nova remains in development alongside a slew of other MCU TV shows, it's not officially in the works (though some scoopers claim otherwise).
Unless most of the action is set on Earth, Nova is likely to be a big budget project, making a streaming debut questionable when Disney is looking to reduce costs.
Nova, whose real name is Richard Rider, first appeared in The Man Called Nova #1 in 1976, created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist John Buscema. Richard Rider becomes Nova when he is chosen by Rhomann Dey, a dying member of the intergalactic police force known as the Nova Corps, to inherit his powers and duties.
As Nova, Rider gains superhuman strength, flight, and the ability to absorb and project energy, all granted by the Nova Force, the source of the Nova Corps' power. He also wears a helmet that provides advanced life-support functions, communication, and access to the Xandarian Worldmind, a supercomputer containing the knowledge and experiences of the Nova Corps.
Sam Alexander is the second character to take on the mantle of Nova in the Marvel Comics universe. He was created by writer Jeph Loeb and artist Ed McGuinness and first appeared in Marvel Point One #1 in 2011.
Sam is a teenage boy from Carefree, Arizona. His father, Jesse Alexander, was a member of the Nova Corps, but Sam initially knows him only as an unreliable janitor. After Jesse goes missing, Sam discovers his father's Nova helmet, which grants him access to the powers of the Nova Force.
Stay tuned for updates on Nova as we have them.