Marvel Animation’s “X-Men ’97” is just days away from premiering on Disney+. In the run-up to the series, Marvel exec Brad Winderbaum, a production & development executive at Marvel Studios, is making the press rounds and revealing some fascinating tidbits about how things are changing at Marvel. In the process, the exec has confirmed rumors that a “Nova” project is in the works.
“We love Nova. We are in really early development on Nova,” Winderbaum told ComicBook.com this weekend, explaining how Marvel’s development process is beginning to change. “We have a new system behind the scenes at Marvel Studios,” he continued. “We’re more like a traditional studio now. We’re developing more than we actually will produce. There are plans to develop Nova. I love Nova, too. I love Rich Rider, too. I hope it gets to the screen. The world is always chaos. There’s always things. You gotta conjure these things to make them happen, but I would love to see a Nova show one day.”
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In the comics, Nova is Richard Rider (though Sam Alexander is another version), a member of the intergalactic police force known as the Nova Corps (already introduced in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies). He has access to the Nova Force and superhuman abilities, including enhanced strength, flight, and resistance to injury. He has also been a part of various superhero teams, including the New Warriors (James Gunn also talked about Nova over the years as a character who could potentially crossover with his ‘Guardians’).
Back to Anderson, the “we’re developing more than we’ll produce” comment is telling and is more traditional. In the past, Marvel announced film projects and then worked to get them off the ground, generally always doing so. Some rare exceptions are the “Inhumans” and the “Runaways” movies, which were both scrapped and eventually turned into TV projects.
This new, more conventional approach is what most studios do: work internally on several projects, and if/when they’re good enough, they’re greenlight and go forward as a movie or show. Now, Marvel could potentially develop dozens of projects but not necessarily make them. This is probably where the rumors of projects like “Midnight Sons” and a solo Scarlet Witch come from. It’s easy to assume that many of these characters and teams are in development, but whether they’ll actually go forward really depends on the quality of the final product and if Kevin Feige and the powers that be like them.
Given that Disney CEO Bob Iger has vowed to scale back, it makes sense they’re taking this looser approach and are not forced to make things and/or eat crow when something that’s announced doesn’t go forward.
To that end, Winderbaum spoke about more of those changes at Marvel and how their more-is-more approach during the pandemic and Bob Chapek’s years has now reversed under Iger. Asked about the status of “Ironheart,” Winderbaum said it’s coming, but he says part of the delay is because of Iger’s new directive not to oversaturate the market with too much content.
 “In all honestly, there was a mandate to create as much as we could for Disney+, as quickly as we could,” he said. “And then, there was a shift. And then, all of a sudden, we had to start spreading our release dates out. So, that really accounts for a lot of the delays, he said, adding, “Now, we’re using that time, so [projects] stay in the oven; they can bake certain things a little more. It’s only going to make things better.”
“X-Men: ’97” debuts March 20 on Disney+, and we’re sure you’ll hear more about it soon.