Marvel Studios is reviving a shelved Disney+ project, but with one significant change. The series was put on the back burner early last year, a development that frustrated many fans, since it centered on an important Marvel Comics character. The move came amid Marvel’s plan to reduce its Disney+ output. However, the powers that be found a way to resurrect the shelved project, and the new direction is even better than the initial plan.
Nova is officially being developed as a movie at Marvel Studios instead of a Disney+ series, with Loki showrunner and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness writer Michael Waldron set to pen the script and potentially direct. In early 2025, the original series format was put on hold alongside two other projects, Strange Academy and Terror, Inc. With Nova getting new life, it makes one wonder if the other two will return in some form.
Deadline first reported the revival, but Kevin Feige made it official at San Diego Comic-Con in a post-panel interview with Brandon Davis. Asked what was happening with Nova, Feige answered, “Not a damn thing, but it’s a movie.” The shelved series had Criminal Minds producer Ed Bernero as showrunner, replacing Sabir Pirzada, with Head of <a href="https://comicvibe.com/ibm-and-confluent-bring-granite-time-series-models-to-streaming-data/” title=”IBM and Confluent Bring Granite Time Series Models to Streaming Data”>Streaming, Television and Animation at Marvel StudiosBrad Winderbaum describing it as an ensemble piece with shades of Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica.
The film is still in early development, so fans shouldn’t expect it on the big screen anytime soon. For those unfamiliar with the character, Nova is a mantle within the Nova Corps, the intergalactic police force introduced in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and its bearer serves as one of the galaxy’s most powerful law enforcers. Different characters have held the title, with Richard Rider being the most prominent. There’s also Sam Alexander, who inherited the mantle from his father.
It hasn’t been confirmed which of these characters the film will center on, but given the events of Avengers: Infinity War, where it was revealed that Thanos had wiped out the Nova Corps on Xandar off-screen to retrieve the Power Stone, Richard Rider is the likely choice. In the comics, Rider is the sole surviving member of the Nova Corps when the Annihilation Wave wipes out Xandar. A similar event has already happened in the MCU, so Rider is a natural fit for that plot, which has also never been depicted on screen. Marvel could finally show audiences how Thanos decimated Xandar for the first time.
Nova being first conceived as a Disney+ series shows how important the platform is to the MCU. Although Marvel is reducing its output on the streamer, its projects include numerous intriguing elements that will be infused into the studio’s upcoming blockbuster films.
Upcoming MCU Films Set To Adapt Elements From Disney+ Shows
Avengers: Doomsday
Avengers: Doomsday is the biggest blockbuster of the year, and a crossover film this huge will naturally draw from diverse corners of the MCU, and Disney+ is one of them. The Doctor Doom movie deals with incursions and the fallout from tampering with time. That premise instantly brings Tom Hiddleston’s Lokiinto play, since it dealt extensively with how timelines in the MCU work.
The Disney+ show ended with the God of Mischief destroying the Temporal Loom and taking his place at the End of Time, holding the multiverse’s branches together with his own magic. This will factor into Doomsday, and Loki’s TVA card, as well as the character himself, was shown in the movie’s latest trailer.
X-Men Reboot
The X-Men will officially be rebooted in the MCU after Secret Wars, with Jake Schreier helming a movie that features Cyclops, Rogue, Professor X, Jean Grey, and Mister Sinister. X-Men ’97 has been widely successful on Disney+, and it’s hard to imagine Marvel not borrowing some of its best elements for the reboot.
The studio already showed a willingness to go the comic-booky route the series took when it unveiled the costumes the Fox-era X-Men will wear in Avengers: Doomsday. That film’s Scott Summers sports a blue-and-yellow suit identical to what Cyclops wears in X-Men ’97, and Schreier’s movie will likely feature more brightly colored costumes of its own.
Ghost Rider
Phase 7 will bring forth the MCU’s first Ghost Rider film, with Ryan Gosling playing the titular character and Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy behind the camera. The movie was unveiled at San Diego Comic-Con and received a July 28, 2028 release date. It hasn’t been confirmed which version of the Spirit of Vengeance Gosling will portray, but there’s one major Disney+ character with ties to Ghost Rider lore.
Ironheart introduced Sacha Baron Cohen as Mephisto, the demon who rules over hell and loves to make shady deals with other Marvel characters. In the comics, Johnny Blaze made a pact with Mephisto to save his stepfather from dying of cancer, and just like any deal with the devil, it didn’t go so well for Blaze. If Gosling plays the Johnny Blaze iteration of Ghost Rider, it’s very likely Mephisto makes an appearance.
Black Panther 3
Ryan Coogler announced Black Panther 3 at SDCC and unveiled David Jonsson as the new Black Panther, playing a grown-up T’Challa Jr. The film arrives on December 15, 2028, and Denzel Washington is set to make his MCU debut in the sequel. With Coogler serving as a producer on the Disney+ series Eyes of Wakanda, elements from that show could seep into his live-action threequel.
Eyes of Wakanda dove into Wakanda’s hidden history, following the Hatut Zaraze, Wakandan warriors who traveled the world to recover stolen vibranium artifacts.
