Back in July, we spoke with Marvel president Kevin Feige about an earlier draft of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ which included the cosmic superhero character Nova. Back then, Feige alluded to the fact that since they had originally intended for the character to appear in the first film, we’d likely see him appear in an upcoming sequel. Which sequel? Well, don’t count on it being ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 2,’ according to director James Gunn, who says he has no current plans to include the character.

As you’ll recall, last week Gunn posted some thoughts on the flaws of the shared universe model being adopted by movie studios in the wake of Marvel’s success. In the comments of that post, Gunn was asked if we’d see Nova in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 2,’ and here’s what he had to say (hat tip to Slashfilm):

I don’t want Nova right now because I think Quill being the only earthling is important. That serves the entire movie going audience and not just the handful of Nova fans… I have nothing against Nova in future movies, but it doesn’t serve the movie right this moment.

Like Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, Nova (aka Richard Rider) is also from Earth, and has fought against major villainous players like the Kree. He’s acted on behalf of Xandar and Nova Corps, the intergalactic military force from ‘Guardians of the Galaxy.’ As previously mentioned, Nova was written into a first draft for the first film, but ultimately scrapped, and going by Feige’s previous comments and Gunn’s most recent comment, it seems like we will eventually see Nova in a future ‘Guardians’ sequel or Marvel film … just not ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 2.’

‘Guardians of the Galaxy 2' is set to hit theaters on May 5, 2017.

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