Marvel’s approach to Spider-Man in the MCU is good for a live-action interpretation of Richard Rider in Nova. Though nothing has been confirmed by Marvel or Disney as of yet, a movie about the Human Rocket is supposedly in development at Marvel Studios. Comments from Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige have indicated that Richard Rider has been on Marvel’s radar for some time now.
With Will Poulter’s Adam Warlock ing Avengers: Endgame, but still hasn’t been introduced yet. However, what Marvel has done with the Nova Corps in the MCU means the groundwork for his debut has been built. Assuming that he isn’t already out roaming the spaceways, Richard Rider could become Nova at any point in the MCU’s future.
Depending on how MCU Phase 5 chooses to use Nova, his introduction stands to benefit greatly from the handling of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in MCU's Nova an origin movie before moving him off-world for a sequel or a crossover. That would be a problem though, if the introduction of Spider-Man in the MCU had included Peter's origin. If it had, a comic-accurate version of Richard Rider’s transformation into Nova would feel repetitive. That’s attributed primarily to the strong similarities between the two characters and what happened when they got their powers.
While they don’t have much in common as adult superheroes, Nova was conceived in the 1970s as a new take on Marvel’s Spider-Man formula. Looking to recreate what made Peter Parker so popular in the beginning, Marvel introduced Richard Rider, a teenager who went through an experience that closely resembled Peter’s. Like Peter in his younger days, Richard was just a normal kid until his life was upended when he suddenly received superpowers. His were of a different nature to Spider-Man’s, but his story went in the same direction. Since he was a just a kid who was overwhelmed by all these new powers, his stories often followed the same “with great power, comes great responsibility” theme that was common in Spider-Man’s early adventures.
With most Spider-Man stories, the character actually becoming the hero from the comics is an important experience that viewers expect to see from any version of Peter Parker, but Marvel skipped it in the MCU. Spider-Man already had his powers when he showed up for the first time in Civil War, and Homecoming ed on an opportunity to look back on it. It was an unorthodox approach to a Spider-Man story, but it made sense, considering that it was something that’s been seen before. The situation with Nova, on the other hand, will be different. Marvel can (and should) show how the teenage Richard Rider became the protector of the cosmos and how he came to with this huge, life-changing responsibility. Since Marvel never explored this avenue with the Spider-Man in the MCU on the big screen, it can go down this road with Nova instead.
