The month of March has been pretty good for Marvel fans. Last week saw the first trailer for this June’s Ms. Marvel, and in a few days, we’ll finally get to see Oscar Isaac step into the supernatural side of the MCU and become the Moon Knight. Just before the weekend, the news broke that another of Marvel’s heroes is on the horizon: Nova, the Human Rocket, is receiving a solo project courtesy of Moon Knight writer Sabir Pirzada.
Fans of the cosmic side of Marvel’s comics have been hoping for Nova to show up in the MCU any day now: after the Nova Corps were brought in for the original Guardians of the Galaxy and later wiped out offscreen in Avengers: Infinity War, the hope was that the most well known Nova, Richard Rider, would show up in Endgame to help kick Thanos’ butt. (He didn’t.) Despite being a non-entity in the MCU thus far, Marvel’s been giving the character a steady stream of comic appearances after his death in 2013 and subsequent resurrection a few years later. He headlined a short-lived Nova comic along with his successor, Sam Alexander. Once that book ended and Sam was permanently transferred over to the teen superhero team the Champions, Rich became a representative of the Nova Corps throughout the galaxy and has become an active player in recent cosmic Marvel events. (See: Empyre and Annihilation: Scourge.)
For Richard, getting his own TV show or film is a big deal. Outside of comics, his appearances largely amount to video games, as he was a playable character in both Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. More recently, he was name dropped in the Guardians of the Galaxy game, but he didn’t have a character model or voice attached to him. In Marvel’s various animated series pre-Disney+, Nova either doesn’t exist or is explicitly Sam, making this live action property the first real experience that many will have with the character.
With that in mind, we want to know: who do you think should play Dick Rider when Nova finally hits? Whether it’s a real answer or a complete shitpost (just rehire Chris Pratt!), let us know your casting suggestion in the comments below.