{"id":2041501,"date":"2026-07-13T20:41:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:41:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2041501"},"modified":"2026-07-13T20:41:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:41:02","slug":"nova-movie-in-development-at-marvel-studios-loki-writer-michael-waldron-to-write-and-direct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2041501","title":{"rendered":"Nova Movie in Development at Marvel Studios, Loki Writer Michael Waldron to Write and Direct"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-cy=\"article-content\" class=\"jsx-2870106660 article-content page-0\">\n<section data-cy=\"article-subtitle\" class=\"article jsx-3932497636 article-section jsx-862658659 news\" data-autopogo=\"true\">\n<section class=\"article-page\">\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Marvel Studios is looking to add another fresh hero to the MCU as it begins work on developing a film set around <a class=\"link jsx-1337145738 jsx-3925284146 underlined\" data-cy=\"styled-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/movies\/nova-marvel-cinematic-universe\">Nova<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\"><a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2026\/07\/michael-waldron-nova-movie-marvel-studios-1236981012\/\" class=\"link jsx-1337145738 jsx-3925284146 underlined\" data-cy=\"styled-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Deadline reports<\/a> that Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness writer Michael Waldron is set to write and potentially direct a Nova film. No details were shared on the project beyond the fact that it is in early stages, but it&#8217;s not the first time Marvel has tried to adapt the cosmic character. Nova&#8217;s MCU debut has been in the cards since the early 2010s, when the character was originally planned to appear in Guardians of the Galaxy. However, his character was eventually cut from the script.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Kevin Feige has <a class=\"link jsx-1337145738 jsx-3925284146 underlined\" data-cy=\"styled-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/2018\/04\/23\/marvel-studios-considering-nova-eternals-movies\">expressed interest in adapting Nova over the years,<\/a> and it almost happened. Moon Knight writer Sabir Pirzada was previously <a class=\"link jsx-1337145738 jsx-3925284146 underlined\" data-cy=\"styled-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/nova-mcu-project-in-the-works\">developing a Nova TV series<\/a>, likely for Disney+. However, the project was <a class=\"link jsx-1337145738 jsx-3925284146 underlined\" data-cy=\"styled-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/marvel-reportedly-pauses-work-on-nova-strange-academy-and-terror-inc-tv-shows\">put on the backburner last year<\/a>, seemingly as part of a larger shift away from Marvel shows on Disney+. However, it&#8217;s clear that Marvel wants Nova to be a piece of the MCU going forward by pivoting to a film centered around the character.<\/p>\n<p><button type=\"button\" style=\"display:none\" class=\"jsx-2228525885\"><\/button><span data-cy=\"slideshow-view-trigger\"><\/p>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-preview\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 slideshow-preview\">\n<h3 class=\"title5 jsx-62124236 jsx-1085005187\" data-cy=\"slideshow-preview-title\">Ranking Phase Five of the MCU<\/h3>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-images-container\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 images-container\"><button type=\"button\" data-cy=\"hero-image\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 hero-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"With Phase Five of the MCU now in the rear view, let&apos;s rank all of it!\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2896921488 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"><span class=\"button-text jsx-729543028 button button--primary jsx-3381835873 jsx-4266531355 row-pagination-button next contained centered round large\" data-cy=\"paginate next\" title=\"Open Slideshow\"><span class=\"ign-icon right-chevron jsx-2750866048 jsx-2919720488\" role=\"presentation\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-cy=\"right-chevron\" style=\"background:currentColor\"><\/span><\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-images-list\" class=\"scrollbar jsx-2072772685 jsx-4243969252 images-list\"><button data-cy=\"gallery-image\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 gallery-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"14. Secret Invasion&lt;p&gt;\n\nJust dreadful. It&apos;s such a shame that we waited so long for Nick Fury to get the spotlight, one even based on a famous comic arc, and it turned out so terribly. Nothing on paper was bad about this, mind you, but now Secret Invasion stands as the only canon series that Marvel fans would happily ignore. What&apos;s that you say? Maria Hill&apos;s still alive? Great. What else? Rhodey wasn&apos;t a Skrull during Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame? Perfect. What else? G&apos;iah doesn&apos;t now have the combined powers of The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Captain Marvel making her the most powerful being on Earth? Fantastic! Yup, if there was a Roger Rabbit-style &quot;Dip&quot; that could erase Secret Invasion from existence, we&apos;d happily fill our super-soakers.\u00a0&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;\n\nNote: Since Secret Invasion, the MCU has introduced two more impossibly-powerful characters in Sentry and Franklin Richards. The difference with them though is that there are clear plans for them in the next Avengers movie (and Sentry comes with a failsafe, of sorts). G&apos;iah absorbing the Harvest felt like Secret Invasion writing checks that the MCU had no intention of cashing.\n\n\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2896921488 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"rounded jsx-412047461 overlay progressive-image jsx-2338608387 expand\" data-cy=\"slideshow-image-overlay\">\n<div data-cy=\"element-caption\" class=\"caption jsx-1762799490\">View 15 Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/button><button data-cy=\"gallery-image\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 gallery-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"13. Captain America: Brave New World&lt;p&gt;\n\nIt&apos;s important to recognize the huge gap in quality between Brave New World and Secret Invasion. Even though this Captain America movie is ranked second-to-last, there&apos;s a gulf between these two Phase Five-ers.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;\n \nBrave New World is just a regular misfire, with some decent elements. Like you&apos;d hope for most of the time for things that miss the mark. The biggest issue with Brave New World is that Sam&apos;s major arc and best character moments happened on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Brave New World was actually a President Ross story (making it even sadder that William Hurt didn&apos;t get to play the role). Ross had the emotional journey here whereas Sam was relegated to just being a guy who went from not wanting to reform the Avengers to a guy who agrees to reform the Avengers. It&apos;s also clear from the film itself that Red Hulk was meant to be a a third act surprise, and that the audience was suppose to be guessing at Samuel Sterns&apos; plan (with those having read the comics in a better position to predict correctly). Marketing, however, went all in on Red Hulk. So much so you&apos;d assume he came in the middle of the movie and not during the final 10 minutes.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;\n\nReshoots don&apos;t mean a movie will be bad. Neither does a script still being written during filming. Good movies come from these conditions all the time. But when a film flops it&apos;s easy to look at a messy production like Brave New World (cut storylines, characters, etc) and see why it felt so half-formed. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;\n\nThat being said, it was pretty awesome to get Tim Blake Nelson back as Sterns as he was the original &quot;oh they&apos;ll never pay this off&quot; MCU loose end.\n\n\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2896921488 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"><\/button><button data-cy=\"gallery-image\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 gallery-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"12. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania &lt;p&gt;\n\nAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania kicked off Phase Five and even though it opened huge, it fell massively in its second week - a 70% drop off which was officially the largest second week decline in MCU history. The trailer had everyone hyped, and the idea of Kang being the new Thanos was a hit among fans (especially since he was a time traveler and Loki&apos;s first season set him up as a huge multiversal threat). So what went wrong? &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;\n\nIt was sort of a combination of things, the main one being that fans went into this movie thinking it would be a much bigger turning point for the Multiverse Saga than it would up being. It didn&apos;t need to be an Empire Strikes Back level entry but it needed to do something. Change something. By then end, Kang was defeated (some even scoffed at Ant-Man being the hero to destroy the Conquerer) and we got another empty promise in multiversal mayhem. Phase Four&apos;s Loki and Spider-Man: No Way Home opened the idea up wide but then Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness killed the momentum, despite it being a fun movie in its own right. Quantumania squashed the momentum again and everyone was back to wondering what was next. When would this ever get followed up on? Scott Lang&apos;s worried he made a big big mistake? That was over two years (and six movies) ago. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;\n\nOh, and Quantumania&apos;s stab at making M.O.D.O.K. work was also an unfortunate blight. It was a swing. It missed. Valiant effort. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;\n\nOverall, Quantumania&apos;s not as bad as you think it is, but it also didn&apos;t move us toward anything meaningful at a time when fans were very hungry for a Multiverse Saga through line.\n\n\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2896921488 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"><\/button><button data-cy=\"gallery-image\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 gallery-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"11. Echo&lt;p&gt;\n\nIn Phase Five we&apos;re going to be dealing with a handful of &quot;this would never have been greenlit today&quot; projects. These are spinoff shows based on characters who Marvel thought popped when they debuted elsewhere and now sadly got their series unceremonious dumped and swept under the rug. The first (and lowest ranked) on the list is Echo, centered on Native American hearing-impaired crime boss Maya Lopez from the Hawkeye series. As the first series released under the Marvel Spotlight banner -- indicating standalone street-level stories that won&apos;t affect broader MCU storylines -- Echo was released all at once. Or maybe dumped is the proper term, given that every previous Disney+ Marvel series was hyped up and rolled out weekly, lasting at least several weeks.\u00a0&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;\n\nBut the streaming waters were different now. The tide had rolled back but Marvel Studios still had shows in the can. Echo wasn&apos;t a total loss creatively though, despite what its unceremonious presentation might indicate. Star Alaqua Cox kicked all sorts of butt while both Echo and Hawkeye, as shows, ushered Wilson Fisk back into the MCU. In the end, sadly, Echo was still a middling offering, a character lost in a sea of increasingly banal origin stories and a swarm of streaming series that quickly wear out their welcome because they&apos;re designed to feel like overlong movies.\u00a0\n\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2896921488 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"><\/button><button data-cy=\"gallery-image\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 gallery-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"10. Ironheart&lt;p&gt;\n\nIronheart didn&apos;t get the full hatchet job that Echo received, since it was released over two weeks (three episodes at a time), but it still sat around for two years before airing, which made for a long two years since Riri Williams was in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and five whole years since the project was announced in 2020.\u00a0&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;\n\nAfter enduring a round of toxic review bombing, Ironheart, for the most part, was well-received, though always through the lens of &quot;there&apos;s too much Marvel and this should have come out a while ago and...holy s***! is that actually Mephisto?&quot; It was an intriguing blend of Stark-style tech and dark sorcery that hadn&apos;t been explored before in the MCU, all swirled up with Riri&apos;s grief over the death of her best friend and stepfather. It roped in deep cut characters from the world of Iron Man and Doctor Strange but it&apos;s medium okay-ness didn&apos;t help kick its &quot;also-ran&quot; label. It&apos;s a shame Ironheart ended in a cliffhanger since not only will there never be a second season but we may not ever even see Riri again. In fact, the character most likely to emerge from the ashes of Ironheart, in some other MCU project, is Mephisto. Which is funny considering how, for a few weeks, the internet went mad with theories about him behind behind everything in WandaVision.\n\n\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2896921488 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">For those unfamiliar with Nova, he&#8217;s a Green Lantern-esque character working with a space police force known as the Nova Corps. They harness a powerful cosmic energy known as Nova Force, allowing them to battle any being that crosses their path and protect the galaxy. It&#8217;s likely that Nova would be introduced following Avengers: Secret Wars, which is set to release next year. We&#8217;re not quite sure what the MCU will look like after Doctor Doom&#8217;s imminent rampage, but one has to imagine it will be pretty different and possibly allow for a bit of a reset for Marvel.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">There&#8217;s oodles of potential for a character like Nova, especially with the Guardians of the Galaxy likely being somewhat retired after James Gunn&#8217;s departure from the franchise. However, Marvel has had some difficulty introducing new characters post-Endgame, so it remains to be seen if audiences will gravitate to Nova when he makes his debut.<\/p>\n<div data-cy=\"accent-divider\" class=\"jsx-3449795453 divider jsx-2786329600\"><\/div>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\"><em>Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN&#8217;s news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n<p><span class=\"stack jsx-1475529924\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"jsx-2155806329 adunit-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"jsx-2155806329 bobble bobble-1 pogocnt pg-article\">\n<div data-mix-name=\"secondaryMedrec\" data-pos=\"1\" data-pogo-hide=\"1\" class=\"jsx-343126785 pogo-slot\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<section class=\"article-page\">\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Marvel Studios is looking to add another fresh hero to the MCU as it begins work on developing a film set around <a class=\"link jsx-1337145738 jsx-3925284146 underlined\" data-cy=\"styled-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/movies\/nova-marvel-cinematic-universe\">Nova<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\"><a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2026\/07\/michael-waldron-nova-movie-marvel-studios-1236981012\/\" class=\"link jsx-1337145738 jsx-3925284146 underlined\" data-cy=\"styled-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Deadline reports<\/a> that Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness writer Michael Waldron is set to write and potentially direct a Nova film. No details were shared on the project beyond the fact that it is in early stages, but it&#8217;s not the first time Marvel has tried to adapt the cosmic character. Nova&#8217;s MCU debut has been in the cards since the early 2010s, when the character was originally planned to appear in Guardians of the Galaxy. However, his character was eventually cut from the script.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Kevin Feige has <a class=\"link jsx-1337145738 jsx-3925284146 underlined\" data-cy=\"styled-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/2018\/04\/23\/marvel-studios-considering-nova-eternals-movies\">expressed interest in adapting Nova over the years,<\/a> and it almost happened. Moon Knight writer Sabir Pirzada was previously <a class=\"link jsx-1337145738 jsx-3925284146 underlined\" data-cy=\"styled-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/nova-mcu-project-in-the-works\">developing a Nova TV series<\/a>, likely for Disney+. However, the project was <a class=\"link jsx-1337145738 jsx-3925284146 underlined\" data-cy=\"styled-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/marvel-reportedly-pauses-work-on-nova-strange-academy-and-terror-inc-tv-shows\">put on the backburner last year<\/a>, seemingly as part of a larger shift away from Marvel shows on Disney+. However, it&#8217;s clear that Marvel wants Nova to be a piece of the MCU going forward by pivoting to a film centered around the character.<\/p>\n<p><button type=\"button\" style=\"display:none\" class=\"jsx-2228525885\"><\/button><span data-cy=\"slideshow-view-trigger\"><\/p>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-preview\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 slideshow-preview\">\n<h3 class=\"title5 jsx-62124236 jsx-1085005187\" data-cy=\"slideshow-preview-title\">Ranking Phase Five of the MCU<\/h3>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-images-container\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 images-container\"><button type=\"button\" data-cy=\"hero-image\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 hero-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"With Phase Five of the MCU now in the rear view, let&apos;s rank all of it!\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2896921488 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"><span class=\"button-text jsx-729543028 button button--primary jsx-3381835873 jsx-4266531355 row-pagination-button next contained centered round large\" data-cy=\"paginate next\" title=\"Open Slideshow\"><span class=\"ign-icon right-chevron jsx-2750866048 jsx-2919720488\" role=\"presentation\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-cy=\"right-chevron\" style=\"background:currentColor\"><\/span><\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-images-list\" class=\"scrollbar jsx-2072772685 jsx-4243969252 images-list\"><button data-cy=\"gallery-image\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 gallery-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"14. Secret Invasion&lt;p&gt;\n\nJust dreadful. It&apos;s such a shame that we waited so long for Nick Fury to get the spotlight, one even based on a famous comic arc, and it turned out so terribly. Nothing on paper was bad about this, mind you, but now Secret Invasion stands as the only canon series that Marvel fans would happily ignore. What&apos;s that you say? Maria Hill&apos;s still alive? Great. What else? Rhodey wasn&apos;t a Skrull during Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame? Perfect. What else? G&apos;iah doesn&apos;t now have the combined powers of The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Captain Marvel making her the most powerful being on Earth? Fantastic! Yup, if there was a Roger Rabbit-style &quot;Dip&quot; that could erase Secret Invasion from existence, we&apos;d happily fill our super-soakers.\u00a0&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;\n\nNote: Since Secret Invasion, the MCU has introduced two more impossibly-powerful characters in Sentry and Franklin Richards. The difference with them though is that there are clear plans for them in the next Avengers movie (and Sentry comes with a failsafe, of sorts). G&apos;iah absorbing the Harvest felt like Secret Invasion writing checks that the MCU had no intention of cashing.\n\n\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2896921488 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"rounded jsx-412047461 overlay progressive-image jsx-2338608387 expand\" data-cy=\"slideshow-image-overlay\">\n<div data-cy=\"element-caption\" class=\"caption jsx-1762799490\">View 15 Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/button><button data-cy=\"gallery-image\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 gallery-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"13. Captain America: Brave New World&lt;p&gt;\n\nIt&apos;s important to recognize the huge gap in quality between Brave New World and Secret Invasion. Even though this Captain America movie is ranked second-to-last, there&apos;s a gulf between these two Phase Five-ers.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;\n \nBrave New World is just a regular misfire, with some decent elements. Like you&apos;d hope for most of the time for things that miss the mark. The biggest issue with Brave New World is that Sam&apos;s major arc and best character moments happened on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Brave New World was actually a President Ross story (making it even sadder that William Hurt didn&apos;t get to play the role). Ross had the emotional journey here whereas Sam was relegated to just being a guy who went from not wanting to reform the Avengers to a guy who agrees to reform the Avengers. It&apos;s also clear from the film itself that Red Hulk was meant to be a a third act surprise, and that the audience was suppose to be guessing at Samuel Sterns&apos; plan (with those having read the comics in a better position to predict correctly). Marketing, however, went all in on Red Hulk. So much so you&apos;d assume he came in the middle of the movie and not during the final 10 minutes.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;\n\nReshoots don&apos;t mean a movie will be bad. Neither does a script still being written during filming. Good movies come from these conditions all the time. But when a film flops it&apos;s easy to look at a messy production like Brave New World (cut storylines, characters, etc) and see why it felt so half-formed. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;\n\nThat being said, it was pretty awesome to get Tim Blake Nelson back as Sterns as he was the original &quot;oh they&apos;ll never pay this off&quot; MCU loose end.\n\n\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2896921488 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"><\/button><button data-cy=\"gallery-image\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 gallery-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"12. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania &lt;p&gt;\n\nAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania kicked off Phase Five and even though it opened huge, it fell massively in its second week - a 70% drop off which was officially the largest second week decline in MCU history. The trailer had everyone hyped, and the idea of Kang being the new Thanos was a hit among fans (especially since he was a time traveler and Loki&apos;s first season set him up as a huge multiversal threat). So what went wrong? &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;\n\nIt was sort of a combination of things, the main one being that fans went into this movie thinking it would be a much bigger turning point for the Multiverse Saga than it would up being. It didn&apos;t need to be an Empire Strikes Back level entry but it needed to do something. Change something. By then end, Kang was defeated (some even scoffed at Ant-Man being the hero to destroy the Conquerer) and we got another empty promise in multiversal mayhem. Phase Four&apos;s Loki and Spider-Man: No Way Home opened the idea up wide but then Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness killed the momentum, despite it being a fun movie in its own right. Quantumania squashed the momentum again and everyone was back to wondering what was next. When would this ever get followed up on? Scott Lang&apos;s worried he made a big big mistake? That was over two years (and six movies) ago. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;\n\nOh, and Quantumania&apos;s stab at making M.O.D.O.K. work was also an unfortunate blight. It was a swing. It missed. Valiant effort. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;\n\nOverall, Quantumania&apos;s not as bad as you think it is, but it also didn&apos;t move us toward anything meaningful at a time when fans were very hungry for a Multiverse Saga through line.\n\n\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2896921488 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"><\/button><button data-cy=\"gallery-image\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 gallery-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"11. Echo&lt;p&gt;\n\nIn Phase Five we&apos;re going to be dealing with a handful of &quot;this would never have been greenlit today&quot; projects. These are spinoff shows based on characters who Marvel thought popped when they debuted elsewhere and now sadly got their series unceremonious dumped and swept under the rug. The first (and lowest ranked) on the list is Echo, centered on Native American hearing-impaired crime boss Maya Lopez from the Hawkeye series. As the first series released under the Marvel Spotlight banner -- indicating standalone street-level stories that won&apos;t affect broader MCU storylines -- Echo was released all at once. Or maybe dumped is the proper term, given that every previous Disney+ Marvel series was hyped up and rolled out weekly, lasting at least several weeks.\u00a0&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;\n\nBut the streaming waters were different now. The tide had rolled back but Marvel Studios still had shows in the can. Echo wasn&apos;t a total loss creatively though, despite what its unceremonious presentation might indicate. Star Alaqua Cox kicked all sorts of butt while both Echo and Hawkeye, as shows, ushered Wilson Fisk back into the MCU. In the end, sadly, Echo was still a middling offering, a character lost in a sea of increasingly banal origin stories and a swarm of streaming series that quickly wear out their welcome because they&apos;re designed to feel like overlong movies.\u00a0\n\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2896921488 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"><\/button><button data-cy=\"gallery-image\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 gallery-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"10. Ironheart&lt;p&gt;\n\nIronheart didn&apos;t get the full hatchet job that Echo received, since it was released over two weeks (three episodes at a time), but it still sat around for two years before airing, which made for a long two years since Riri Williams was in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and five whole years since the project was announced in 2020.\u00a0&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;\n\nAfter enduring a round of toxic review bombing, Ironheart, for the most part, was well-received, though always through the lens of &quot;there&apos;s too much Marvel and this should have come out a while ago and...holy s***! is that actually Mephisto?&quot; It was an intriguing blend of Stark-style tech and dark sorcery that hadn&apos;t been explored before in the MCU, all swirled up with Riri&apos;s grief over the death of her best friend and stepfather. It roped in deep cut characters from the world of Iron Man and Doctor Strange but it&apos;s medium okay-ness didn&apos;t help kick its &quot;also-ran&quot; label. It&apos;s a shame Ironheart ended in a cliffhanger since not only will there never be a second season but we may not ever even see Riri again. In fact, the character most likely to emerge from the ashes of Ironheart, in some other MCU project, is Mephisto. Which is funny considering how, for a few weeks, the internet went mad with theories about him behind behind everything in WandaVision.\n\n\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2896921488 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">For those unfamiliar with Nova, he&#8217;s a Green Lantern-esque character working with a space police force known as the Nova Corps. They harness a powerful cosmic energy known as Nova Force, allowing them to battle any being that crosses their path and protect the galaxy. It&#8217;s likely that Nova would be introduced following Avengers: Secret Wars, which is set to release next year. We&#8217;re not quite sure what the MCU will look like after Doctor Doom&#8217;s imminent rampage, but one has to imagine it will be pretty different and possibly allow for a bit of a reset for Marvel.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">There&#8217;s oodles of potential for a character like Nova, especially with the Guardians of the Galaxy likely being somewhat retired after James Gunn&#8217;s departure from the franchise. However, Marvel has had some difficulty introducing new characters post-Endgame, so it remains to be seen if audiences will gravitate to Nova when he makes his debut.<\/p>\n<div data-cy=\"accent-divider\" class=\"jsx-3449795453 divider jsx-2786329600\"><\/div>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\"><em>Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN&#8217;s news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marvel Studios is looking to add another fresh hero to the MCU as it begins work on developing a film set around Nova. Deadline reports that Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness writer Michael Waldron is set to write and potentially direct a Nova film. No details were shared on the project [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,243],"class_list":["post-2041501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-ign-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2041501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2041501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2041501\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2041501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2041501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2041501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}