- The Avengers writers reveal how the Marvel hero, Nova,
almost changed Infinity War and Endgame.
With the stacks of cash that both Avengers: Infinity War
and Endgame pulled in at the box office,
it's not too much of a stretch to say
that it feels like almost everybody on the planet
has seen the thrilling conclusion to Phase 3
of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its Infinity Saga.
But it turns out that what happened
on the big screen and what was originally being planned
were two very different things.
While we've often heard about things
getting left on the cutting room floor
or being excised from a script for being too out there,
like having Hulk bust out of the Hulkbuster armor
in Avengers: Infinity War, or having Thanos
tossing Captain America's decapitated head on the ground
in Avengers: Endgame.
Such things are often changes made
that already involved characters that we knew
would be in the films.
However, new details are dropping about the conclusion
to the Infinity Saga, thanks to an interview
with Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely,
the writers of Avengers 3 and 4, over at Comicbook.com.
And it reveals how they almost introduced
a whole new MCU hero that would've changed the course
of the films in a major way.
Everyone's favorite helmet-wearing human rocket, Nova.
In case you don't know who Nova is,
don't worry, we got your back.
First appearing in 1976 with issue number one of Nova,
or the Man Called Nova, if you fancy,
the story follows Richard Rider,
a high schooler who is imbued with the power
of the Nova Force, which gives him flight, speed,
strength, and energy blasts, among other abilities.
He is the member of the intergalactic peacekeepers
known as the Nova Corps, or as some fans, not all,
but some fans would argue the poor man's version
of the Green Lantern Corps.
While Nova has yet to make his cinematic appearance,
the Nova Corps and their home planet of Xandar
were introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1,
and it's ultimately where the Power Stone
was hidden at the end of that film.
However, that's pretty much the last we see of them
because when Avengers: Infinity War begins,
we see Thor and the remaining Asgardians
under attack by Thanos, who had already destroyed Xandar
and the Nova Corps to gain the Power Stone
before the film started.
But guess what?
This wasn't the original plan for the film.
According to the writers, the goal was
to have seen Thanos's conquest and destruction of Xandar
on the big screen, and from there, the movie
would've played out much differently.
Nova would've been introduced as the lone survivor
of the attack and would travel to Earth
with the Xandarian Worldmind
to warn the Avengers about Thanos.
Markus said, "In this conception, he would be the herald,
"not unlike the Hulk, who was actually standing
"in for the Silver Surfer, but that one member
"of the Nova Corps survived Thanos's attack.
"The Xandarian Worldmind would be the voice
"of the Glenn Close, because you had her and why not?
"And that he would be Richard Rider
"and he would come to Earth."
To think we were this close to having Glenn Close
in the movie, oh well.
Guess we will close the book on that dream (laughs).
While this would've been a nifty way
to get a character's entire backstory out of the way quickly
and introduce him to the rest of the MCU characters,
this would've led to two very different Avengers films
than we got, so why didn't this happen?
Mainly because Infinity War was already dealing
with a lot of spinning plates at once.
McFeely put it this way,
"You're introducing a whole new character
"when we're trying to say goodbye
"to all the ones that you know."
So while seeing the destruction of Xandar
would've been exciting, it made more sense
to have the film start with Thor and Loki.
Plus, this would've added an additional speed bump
of trying to figure out how to get the Hulk to Earth.
Ultimately, it made more sense to have Bruce Banner
be the one to warn the Avengers that Thanos was on the way
to pick up some Infinity Stones.
Plus, it allowed fans to spend more time
with characters they already know and love.
Despite all of this, even we will admit it's cool
that so long after the release of Infinity War,
we're still learning so much about how it was made,
and it's amazing that new details are still popping up.
Now, this all isn't to say that Nova
is off the table for the future.
Heck, this isn't even the first time he's almost
made the cut in an MCU film.
He was reportedly in the initial drafts
of the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
Even Infinity War and Endgame directors, The Russo Brothers,
joked that he could be seen in the big final assemblage
of Avengers during Endgame's big fight.
Turns out they were trolling.
We know that Marvel definitely has plans
to introduce the character at some point in the future,
and we wouldn't be surprised to see him pop up
in a film like Thor 4 or The Eternals.
Or even make his official debut in his own solo film
for Phase 5, but what do you folks think?
Would you have wanted to see Nova in Infinity War?
Do you think we might see him sooner
in the MCU than later?
And why is the best Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, Josh?
Let's discuss.
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