Chris Pratt took the stage to honor Kevin Feige on September 30 as the Marvel Studios boss was named the 2026 Pioneer of the Year at the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation’s annual dinner at the Beverly Hilton.
Pratt thanked Feige for Star-Lord, calling it the role of a lifetime.
The timing is worth noting.
Two weeks earlier, word dropped that a space-based team-up movie featuring Star-Lord, Nova, and Silver Surfer is in development for the MCU’s next saga.
“I Dance, Baby, I Dance”
In video posted by The Hollywood Reporter, Pratt kept it heartfelt before going full Star-Lord.
“Kevin, thank you for taking that chance on me. Thank you for your trust and friendship, and for gifting me with the role of a lifetime,” said Pratt.
Pratt then brought up Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love,” the song behind Star-Lord’s opening dance in the first Guardians of the Galaxy.
“Every time ‘Come and Get Your Love’ comes on, I look around and I’m like, don’t fucking make me dance. I’m done with this,” he joked.
“And I’m just kidding. I dance, baby, I dance,” Pratt continued.
He closed by telling Feige the honor was earned.
“Congratulations. This award is incredibly deserved. Not just for your ability to see and spotlight talent, but for being one of the kindest people in this business as well,” Pratt said.
Feige used his own speech to say Marvel has “a lot more movies to make,” with Avengers: Doomsday only the studio’s 39th.
The Star-Lord, Nova And Silver Surfer Team-Up
On September 18, X user James Mack claimed a space-based team-up movie for the MCU’s next saga is in development, and that Star-Lord, Nova, and Silver Surfer will be part of it.
The Nova piece is already real.
Kevin Feige confirmed Nova is a movie at Comic-Con, Deadline reported Michael Waldron is writing it and wants to direct, and it all traces back to the WGA listing reported here on July 8.
Waldron broke his silence on the project last month, saying “I love Rich Rider” and calling Annihilation the go-to Richard Rider story.
Everything about the movie points at Annihilation, Marvel’s 2006 cosmic war event where Richard Rider is the last Nova standing. Its sequel featured Star-Lord and the Guardians (nowhere near as good as the first one, though).
Regarding the Silver Surfer, Julia Garner’s Shalla-Bal introduced was in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, but she disappeared at the end with Galactus. Let’s hope Feige goes with the real deal this time around with Norrin Radd.
And Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 sent Peter Quill back to Earth with an on-screen promise: the legendary Star-Lord will return. Maybe he will be back with Richard Rider?
Expect A Less Goofy Star-Lord?
If Pratt suits back up alongside Nova, let’s also hope it won’t be the dance-off version.
Nova was part of the first Guardians of the Galaxy script before James Gunn cut the character and redid the script into the goofy version that hit theaters.
And when Nova was in development as a series, Marvel TV boss Brad Winderbaum compared it to Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica. Nothing like Gunn’s Guardians movies.
The series died when Disney slashed Marvel’s streaming spending, and the project jumped to theaters, hopefully with that serious tone intact.
The MCU’s next saga kicks off after Avengers: Secret Wars, which opens December 17, 2027. The Nova movie does not have a release date yet.
Pratt spent the night thanking Feige for the role of a lifetime. It sure sounds like he isn’t done playing it.
