James Gunn Reveals Why Nova Didn’t Make the Cut in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’

The Nova Corps first appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) as Xandar’s peacekeepers, protecting the galaxy and the Orb, which turned out to be the Power Stone. Later, in Avengers: Infinity War (2018), it’s revealed that Thanos destroyed Xandar off-screen to take the stone.

Even though the Nova Corps were shown multiple times, their most famous member, Nova, was left out and doesn’t seem to exist in the MCU yet. James Gunn recently explained on Threads that he didn’t include Nova in the Guardians movies because he wanted only one human character in the story.

View on Threads

This isn’t the first time James Gunn has applied this reasoning. He previously explained that he changed Drax’s origin for a similar reason—he didn’t want too many humans in a space-centered story.

Gunn felt a space adventure full of Earthlings wouldn’t make sense and would be tricky to explain quickly. Instead, he aimed for the Guardians to be a diverse group of aliens and misfits from different planets, making the team feel more unique and fitting the story’s tone.

I didn’t want to make a space opera with a dozen earthlings who just coincidentally found themselves in space,

How could I even explain that in the 1st 20 minutes of a movie? I wanted a group of aliens & orphans from different planets who banded together.

James Gunn could have introduced Nova but chose not to. However, if all goes well, Nova will be introduced soon.

About six months ago, Marvel announced plans for a live-action Nova series but reminded fans that early development doesn’t guarantee a project will happen. Recently, Marvel’s Winderbaum gave an update on the Phase Hero podcast, saying the Nova show has moved past early development and is making good progress.

It’s in development, you know, like we talked about at D23, we’re developing more than we make so it is kind of brewing in the pot. But there’s a lot to be excited about. What I’ve seen so far is extremely promising. I’ll say that.

Especially like tonally. The vibe of that show is very unique and very cool.

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