Update 9/8: Michael Waldron has now called Annihilation “the go-to” Richard Rider story.
Marvel Studios has a theatrical production company on the books named Dredge, nothing announced under it, and the name traces directly to the prologue of Annihilation.
Per Murphy’s Multiverse, Marvel currently has five production companies registered for unmade projects: Atlas Hall (the X-Men movie), Fragment (Black Panther 3), Throttle (Ryan Gosling’s Ghost Rider), and two without a match: Dredge, registered as a theatrical production, and Veil, registered as television. Both look set to film in the UK.
Murphy’s connects Dredge to Nova.
That’s speculation, but the comics make it an easy call.
Dredge 01 is the prison transport that crashes outside Coot’s Bluff, Alaska, in Keith Giffen’s 2005 Drax the Destroyer miniseries, the direct lead-in to Annihilation.
Dredge 02 is the ship that then hauls Drax and Cammi to Xandar, where the Annihilation Wave hits and the two run into Richard Rider, the last Nova Corpsman standing.
Kevin Feige confirmed Nova is a movie at Comic-Con, Deadline has Michael Waldron writing and eyeing the director’s chair, and per Murphy’s, the streaming version was built around Rider taking on the Annihilation Wave.
Put it together and Marvel’s cosmic movie is the one fans have wanted since Guardians introduced Xandar: Annihilation, with Annihilus, long rumored as the villain, finally getting his shot.
Infinity War already did the setup
The MCU has been sitting on the opening of Annihilation for eight years.
Thanos and the Black Order wiped out Xandar for the Power Stone at the start of Infinity War, entirely off-screen.
In the comics, the Annihilation Wave does the same thing and kills the entire Nova Corps, leaving Rider as the sole survivor with the whole Nova Force downloaded into him.
So Richard Rider may already be a Nova when the movie opens, and the last one.
The other route is the classic origin: Xandar’s fall sends John C. Reilly’s Corpsman Rhomann Dey crash-landing on Earth, where a dying Dey passes the power to Rider, straight out of 1976’s The Man Called Nova #1 from Marv Wolfman and John Buscema.
Either way, don’t expect James Gunn’s goofy Guardians.
When Nova was a series, Marvel TV boss Brad Winderbaum compared it to Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica, and that’s the tone that survived the jump.
The jump itself was budget math.
Disney slashed Marvel’s streaming spending, which killed the Nova show, and Marvel TV is reportedly pivoting to cheaper live-action projects with little connection to the greater MCU.
A space war with an Annihilation Wave in it doesn’t fit that model. A theatrical release does.
Richard Rider casting and what Waldron should adapt
Nothing is official on casting, but Glen Powell is the name Waldron put on record last October, the two co-created Chad Powers, and the full case for Powell as the frontrunner is here.
The fan castings: Jacob Elordi, who keeps surfacing as a James Bond contender and answered a 007 question at the London premiere of The Dog Stars this week with “I’m here on holiday,” and Timothée Chalamet, rumored years ago for a Marvel role thought to be Nova.
Whoever suits up, Waldron’s source material is clear: Wolfman through the 2007 Nova run by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. Everything after isn’t any good, and Feige should leave it alone.
And Nova hype is already kicking off.
He’s a playable lead in Marvel Cosmic Invasion, the beat ’em up built around Annihilus and the Annihilation Wave, and Marvel is marking his 50th anniversary with Marvel Gold ’76 #1 from Stephanie Phillips and Madibek Musabekov, out September 9, in which Thanos hires Bullseye (for some reason) and Nova, Star-Lord and Jack of Hearts step in.
Dredge has no project attached, Nova has no release date, and Murphy’s floats it as one of Marvel’s three 2029 films. Confirmed: it’s a movie, and Waldron is writing it. Everything else is the comics doing the talking.
Feige, it is critical you pay attention at this time: you know where to find me.
