Following the recent news that Michael Waldron has boarded Marvel Studios' Nova movie (the project was originally being developed as a series), we have some intriquing rumors about some very powerful characters and a possible tee-up for a future MCU event.
According to Alex Perez in the latest Cosmic Circus Q&A, the villainous Annihilus is still set to make his MCU debut, along with Gladiator and Quasar.
The Nova Corps was introduced in the first Guardians of the Galaxy, which led to speculation that Richard Rider would eventually find his way into the GOTG franchise. James Gunn showed little interest in the character, but the Nova film will most likely spin out from Thanos decimating most of the Corps in the build-up to Avengers: Infinity War.
"You’d be surprised by the details I’ve heard about Nova," Perez said when asked about the movie. "There’s been a lot of cool ideas thrown around. One of the ideas they discussed involved a group of Nova Corps members who were off-world when Thanos destroyed Xandar. So it’s very likely they could incorporate that. However, it’s important to note that if the universe is reset, who’s to say Xandar was destroyed by Thanos in this new iteration of the universe? What if someone else destroyed Xandar?"
"It’s important to note that one of the reasons why this project is taking so long to get off the ground is because Marvel wants the story to connect a larger plot they have in mind down the line, which doesn’t completely discard the idea of an Avengers-level movie dealing with the Annihilation Wave," he added.
With rumors of a soft reboot being implemented after the Multiverse Saga concludes, it's fair to wonder whether Secret Wars will be the final Avengers movie for the foreseeable future, but Disney/Marvel is well aware of how profitable the Avengers brand is. It obviously remains to be seen how successful Doomsday and Secret Wars prove to be, but we're going to go out on a limb and say: Very!
While speaking to The Wrap about season 2 of Chad Powers during a recent interview, Waldron was asked how work on Nova is progressing.
"I don’t know if I can say anything about anything I’m doing with Marvel. But I will say, I love Nova. I love Rich Rider. However we expand the cosmic side of the MCU will be really cool."
When the interviewer pushed for a little more information, Waldron obliged - while stopping short of actually confirming that he's boarded the project!
"Annihilation is, I mean, I guess that’s the go-to, right? But the character spans a lot of generations, and I think maybe that’s why it’s taken some time to get him to the screen: figuring out where do you start that story? Do you start him on Earth? Do you start in space, as part of the Nova Corps? Whoever does it, I hope they do a good job."
Finally, Waldron was asked if Thanos decimating the Nova Corps to get his hands on the Power Stone would be addressed.
"They would have to reckon with that. Yeah," he responded.