The Marvel Cinematic Universe might be hugely populated with heroes already, but there’s still a roll call of comic book crusaders that fans are waiting to see make their big-screen debuts, and Nova is right at the top of the list. 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy introduced the Nova Corps – essentially Space Police – but we’re still waiting to see the heroic human member of the Corps, Richard Rider, make an appearance.
Fan artist Okera Damani has had enough of waiting, though, and has created an awesome piece of concept art for how Nova could look in the MCU. He’s adapted the more uniformed appearance of the Nova Corps from Guardians, meaning the colors are a little more washed-out than in the comics, but he’s still kept the recognizable elements of the character.
What’s most interesting is that the artist has imagined an origins story here for how Nova could be introduced. Notice that the hero’s surrounded by the corpses of his fellow Corpsman, his fist glowing with rage. In Avengers: Infinity War, we learned that Thanos had destroyed the Nova Corps on Xandar. So, the perfect way to introduce him would be to have Rider as the last surviving member of the force who goes off into space to get revenge.
Clearly, if Nova is ever going to come to the MCU, the best time would be in the next few years. Thankfully, Kevin Feige has said that he’s one of the characters with immediate potential. However, his remarks came before the big delay to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3, which would be the natural place to sow the seeds for Nova’s arrival, if not feature him outright.
It looks like we might just have to be patient and wait for Nova‘s MCU debut, then. But rest assured, he’s on his way. It’s just a matter of when he’ll arrive.