James Gunn Explains Why He Never Included Nova In 'Guardians Of The Galaxy'

Along with introducing characters like Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket and Groot to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, 2014’s "Guardians of the Galaxy" also spotlighted the Nova Corps, the military/police force for the planet Xandar. As such, that would have been a good platform to show off Richard Rider, the first human to join the Nova Corps in the comics. But that didn’t happen, and nearly a decade after the Marvel movie’s release, Gunn has explained why he didn’t bring in Nova. The filmmaker’s refusal to include Nova wasn’t due to not liking the character, as James Gunn claimed a few years back; he’d read three-fourths of all the Nova comics published up to that point. However, during an interview with Comicbook.com to plug "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special" (which Disney+ subscribers will be able to watch starting November 25), Gunn explained that it was important to him that "Guardians of the Galaxy" only feature one human protagonist, and Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord, a.k.a. Peter Quill, already filled that role.