'Nova' Movie Is In The Works From Marvel Studios With 'Loki' Showrunner
Image Source: Variety
It seems Richard Rider is taking flight after all! It’s been reported that a film based on the Marvel superhero Nova is in active development, with Michael Waldron set to write and potentially direct!
Created by Marv Wolfman and John Romita Sr., Nova made his debut in the comic The Man Called Nova back in 1976. Since then, he has become one of Marvel Comics’ most enduring space heroes. Fans have been waiting to see Nova appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since the release of James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014. Gunn had briefly considered having Richard Rider appear in the film, but opted to have Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord be the audience’s sole human point-of-view character to ease them into the cosmic side of the MCU. Avengers screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely revealed in interviews that Nova was briefly considered to appear in Infinity War. While promoting the film Vice, Academy Award winning filmmaker Adam McKay (who co-wrote the first Ant-Man film) expressed interest in helming a Nova film. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has frequently expressed interest in getting a Nova film made. Rumors of a Nova movie began to circulate in 2020, but the recent news is the first concrete reporting regarding a Nova film. Sabir Pirzada (who wrote episodes ofMoon Knight and Ms. Marvel) was briefly tasked with writing a Nova TV series for Disney+ but was later replaced by Ed Bernero. The series was shelved in 2025.
Michael Waldron began his professional career as an assistant writer on the Dan Harmon NBC sitcom Community. Waldron then joined the writing staff on the fourth season of Rick & Morty, which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award win for Outstanding Animated Program. In 2021, he created the Starz wrestling drama Heels, starring Stephen Amell and Alexander Ludwig. The series received critical acclaim, but was cancelled after 2 seasons. The series has since gained a cult following due to audiences discovering it on Netflix. Waldron also gained attention for his currently-unproduced screenplay, The Worst Guy Of All Time, And The Girl Who Came To Kill Him, when it landed on The Black List in 2019. Waldron was briefly attached to write a Star Wars movie produced by Kevin Feige before it was shelved in 2023. In 2025, Waldron co-created the Hulu sports comedy series Chad Powers alongside Glen Powell, who plays the titular football player. While the series received mixed reviews, it was a ratings success and was renewed for a second season, which will air sometime this year.
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Image Source: Variety
Michael Waldron is no stranger to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He acted as showrunner on the first season of Loki, of which he wrote the premiere episode and the season finale. Waldron was hired to write Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness during the early days of Loki’s production. Loki received highly positive reviews, was a massive ratings success, and is frequently hailed as one of Marvel’s best series. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness became the highest-grossing superhero film of 2022 and received mostly positive reviews, but received criticism for its screenplay. Xochil Gomez (who played America Chavez in the film) has defended Waldron from fandom backlash, claiming that he was forced to rewrite the screenplay over 22 times during filming. Waldron was hired as a writer for Avengers: Secret Wars in October 2022 andthen replaced Jeff Loveness on Avengers: The Kang Dynasty in November 2023. After multiple delays, story pivots, and real life legal issues with Jonathan Majors, The Kang Dynasty was retooled into Doomsday. Despite rumors that Waldron was replaced by Stephen McFeely, Kevin Feige confirmed they were writing both Doomsday and Secret Wars together in July 2025.
Rumors of Waldron being attached to Nova circulated just last week when his profile on the WGA website listed Nova as one of his upcoming projects. In addition to writing the film, Waldron is eying to direct it as well. Should he be hired for the job, Nova will be Waldron’s feature directorial debut. While Waldron’s only directorial credit is the season 1 finale of Chad Powers, Waldron has expressed interest in directing in the past, going as far to shadow Sam Raimi on Multiverse of Madness. Sources close to the writer of this article have described Nova as a major passion project for Waldron and he reportedly “begged” Kevin Feige to work on it for over a year.
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Source: Deadline
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