It’s been less than 24 hours since director James Gunn announced at San Diego Comic-Con that he’d be back to write and helm a sequel to his upcoming Marvel space epic Guardians of the Galaxy, but fans are already speculating about which characters may show up in the next film.
One superhero whose name has been tossed around and wound up on several fan wishlists is Richard Rider a.k.a. Nova. For a while a rumor speculated that Nathan Fillion would play him in a cameo, but those rumors were shot down and it was announced that Nova wouldn’t be in Guardians at all. However, he’s a major part of the cosmic side of the Marvel universe, and the Nova Corps is a key part of Guardians, so it’s not too much to assume that he’ll show up at some point.
On the press circuit for Guardians of the Galaxy, Kevin Feige revealed that Nova was actually in the first draft of the film, but was eventually left on the cutting room floor, and in a new interview at San Diego Comic-Con, Feige said that the character showing up in Guardians of the Galaxy 2 was a good possibility:
“I think, you know, if Guardians works the way we certainly hope it works, that would probably be the franchise to meet a lot of those people, that would be our entrance into numerous other cosmic folk. If we spin any of those out into individual movies, that’s a question for down the line, but I think we would see a lot of those characters in a future Guardians movie.”
So, do you think Nova could be one of those cosmic characters introduced in the sequel? Who else would you like to see join up with Star-Lord and his band of misfits? Sound off in the comments below.
Guardians of the Galaxy hits UK theaters on July 31st, and heads into US cinemas on August 1st. With or without Nova, Guardians of the Galaxy 2 will arrive on July 28th, 2017.
Originally published July 27, 2014. Updated January 18, 2020.
