Undoubtedly the Marvel Comics stories that brought the Guardians of the Galaxy back to the forefront of fans' minds -- and shaped the versions of the characters that appear in the movie that opens next week -- were Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest.

Those series were also a bit of a revival for another character, Nova. And in a recent interview with ScreenCrush, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige said some early drafts of the Guardians of the Galaxy script included the Richard Rider version of Nova.

Said Feige:


Interesting that Feige would phrase it that way, given there are four other characters under the Guardians banner (a raccoon, a tree man, a green wrestler, and a green assassin), but it makes sense that the movie would want to pare down its roster of characters to something more manageable and have just one non-alien protagonist. (Though Drax is also human in origin -- in the comics, at least.)

The movie does introduce a movie-universe version of the Nova Corps, with Glenn Close taking on the role of Nova Prime. But if you were expecting Richard Rider to make a cameo, you're probably out of luck, unless he pops up post-credits.