9 Weird (But Plausible) Superhero Casting Choices That Need To Happen
2. Nova - Chris O'Dowd
If the MCU's Nova is going to be the Richard Ryder version, then Marvel should ask themselves, why not use a character named Richard that's already in the MCU?
This character is, of course, the one that Chris O'Dowd briefly portrayed in Thor: The Dark World (him being Jane Foster's hopelessly outmatched date, if you'd forgotten). While that movie is not remembered by most in the greatest light, O'Dowd's brief contribution was amusing and sufficiently charming, even if his competition was Thor himself.
The actor's work outside of the second Asgardian outing has proved that charisma and comedy are qualities not unique to those few minutes of screen time, meaning that his talents would be befitting of a more overtly superheroic role such as Nova.
As for the problems that O'Dowd isn't American or of high school age - Nova's origin is simply that he was selected by a member of the corps to wear the helmet, so making the character of a slightly different background needn't be an issue. Plus, having some decent Irish representation in the MCU would be nice.