Marvel Studios has put its Nova plans on hold, leaving us in the dark when it comes to Richard Rider's MCU future. We also don't know whether it will be a movie or TV series, though it had been developed as the latter, last we heard (possibly with VisionQuest's Terry Matalas as showrunner).
Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness writer Michael Waldron has been making the rounds to promote his new Hulu series, Chad Powers, which stars Glen Powell.
Talking to The Playlist, he suggested that The Running Man and Twisters lead would be an ideal choice to bring Rider into the MCU. "He'd be a pretty good Nova," Waldron, who has been helping out on Avengers: Doomsday, acknowledged, echoing the hopes of many fans.
Powell had a small role in The Dark Knight Rises, but has yet to come close to landing a major Marvel or DC role. It's hard to imagine an actor better suited to Nova than Powell, but only time will tell whether Marvel Studios agrees.
Explaining how his MCU work compares to Chad Powers, Waldron said, "Athletes are sort of real-world superheroes. My favorite stuff, in sports stories and superhero stories, is taking these high-status characters and finding their vulnerabilities. That’s what I did with Loki, and I find myself doing it again here."
Rumour has it Nova was going to revolve around Rider rebuilding the Nova Corps after Thanos' attack on Xandar, just as Annihilus and his Annihilation Wave were invading. Glenn Close and John C. Reilly were being eyed to return as their Guardians of the Galaxy characters, with Sam Alexander also expected to appear.
"We developed Nova, we developed Strange Academy," Marvel Television boss Brad Winderbaum said last month. "We develop a few shows, some of them get redeveloped, some of them get kind of paused for a little bit to be revisited later."
"We launched a lot of shows in a short period of time, and I think many of them could have had a second season, a third season, but the system wasn’t really set up that way," he added. "It was set up to create limited series and have characters cross back and forth between the features."
"Not everything is going to be produced. We’re like a normal studio developing more than we make and only putting forward what we think is the best stuff and stuff that can sustain for multiple seasons...there are characters on the live action side I would love to explore in future shows. We have some ideas cooking right now that I think will be really exciting to see come to fruition."
Last August, Powell revealed, "You know, I've never gotten a call from DC or Marvel, but I'm a fan of everything they do. I just saw Deadpool & Wolverine. I freaking had a blast. I think what Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds did with that is extraordinary and just such a fun flavor for audiences. And I cheer for them, and I love what [they do.]"
"I think James Gunn, Peter Safran, and what they're doing at DC - I think it's going to be really, really good for that business," he added. "So, it's like, yeah, I cheer them all on. I'm a big fan of the movies."
Do you think the Chad Powers star would be a good fit for Richard Rider in Nova?