Avengers 4: Five Marvel heroes that can be introduced

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Nova

As you may know, Feige recently told comicbook.com that Nova has “immediate potential” in the MCU, and nearly appeared in the first GOTG.

As Nova is obviously a character Marvel Studios is interested in, suggesting him is not thinking outside of the box on my part. However, he remains the best, most intuitive character to introduce in Avengers 4.

In the comics, Nova is either Richard Rider or Sam Alexander, a human who inherits the power of the Nova Corps, the super-powered peacekeeping force of Xandar. Even though the Nova Corps was nowhere near as powerful in GOTG, the MCU is still extremely well positioned to introduce him.

You’ll recall that Thor said in AIW that Thanos had devastated Xandar while stealing the Power Stone. That doesn’t allow the MCU to follow Rider or Alexander’s origin to the letter, but it still works well. The Xandarians could have harnessed the Nova Force, Nova’s power source, after Ronan’s invasion during GOTG. A Xandarian – Rhomann Dey, ideally – could have fled with a Nova helmet during Thanos’ invasion, in order to keep a weapon and conduit to the Nova Force out of Thanos’ hands. Dey could then find his way to Earth, where I believe the helmet should find its way to Sam, not Richard. Rider is the classic Nova, yes, but Sam has a better, fresher origin. (I make the case for Sam here.)

Regardless of who becomes Nova, he wields an impressive slate of powers that would make him a valuable ally against Thanos. Like Captain Marvel, he has heightened physical abilities, energy manipulation, flight, and, unlike Captain Marvel, is capable of faster-than-light travel and surviving in deep space.

Bringing Nova and Captain Marvel also offers another interesting possibility. Nova provides a liaison to Xandar as Captain Marvel would provide a liaison to the Kree. They might be able to forge an alliance between those advanced civilizations and Earth, giving the Avengers galactic backup against Thanos and his remaining army.

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The only risk with Nova is that he would fulfill the same role as Captain Marvel; Avengers 4 arguably only needs one of them. If he’s in the movie, he needs to be strongly differentiated from Captain Marvel and used sparingly. Scriptwriters would be wise to emulate Black Panther’s restrained, but highly effective, introduction in Captain America: Civil War.