If anyone has updates on Marvel’s Armor Wars project, its star, Don Cheadle, would love to hear them. Armor Wars has had a rocky road ever since its original announcement at Disney’s 2020 Investor Day. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige revealed that Armor Wars would be a streaming series for Disney+, one of the many projects to come post-Avengers: Endgame that would give other heroes like Don Cheadle’s James “Rhodey” Rhodes the spotlight. While things seemed to be progressing with Armor Wars, Marvel made the decision to switch Armor Wars from a TV series to a feature film. So where do things stand now with Armor Wars? That’s a question even Don Cheadle is asking.
TVLine spoke to Don Cheadle about his new Peacock miniseries Fight Night, Cheadle was asked where things stand with Armor Wars. “You can find out and let me know,” the actor responded. When asked if there were any updates since Armor Wars was changed from a TV series to movie, Cheadle added, “Yeah. I think the word that’s the most salient in that sentence is “switched.” [Laughs] I don’t know, I’m not sure where anything is right now. I think things are going through a lot of changes, and we’ll see what happens, we’ll see what it is.”
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Don Cheadle responds to Rhodey’s Skrull revelation in Secret Invasion
Don Cheadle was a part of the cast of Secret Invasion, an adaptation of the Marvel Comics storyline where the alien Skrulls infiltrated Earth and impersonated several heroes. Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion was a six-episode event series on Disney+, with Cheadle reprising his role as James “Rhodey” Rhodes, who was often in conflict with Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury. As viewers eventually learned, Rhodey was actually a Skrull named Raava who had been impersonating Rhodey for an unknown amount of time.
When the real Rhodey was discovered by Talos’ daughter G’iah (Emilia Clarke) inside the Skrull compound, Rhodey was wearing a hospital gown, insinuating that Rhodey may have been abducted shortly after he suffered a spinal injury in Captain America: Civil War. The ramifications of this are huge, because it means that the Rhodey who fought alongside Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame was a Skrull, who also watched Tony Stark sacrifice himself to stop Thanos.
One would think that Armor Wars would feature Cheadle’s character addressing these developments, but there has to be some progress on Armor Wars for fans and even its star to feel positive that will happen. Cheadle was asked for his reaction when he learned he’d be playing a Skrull in Secret Invasion.
“Uh… you know, there was no… it wasn’t a demand. It was a request. ‘What do you think about playing this?’ And it was to set up stuff in the following thing. So, if the following thing happens, and all those things were set up, then that’s one thing. If, as you said, it doesn’t, then we can talk about how I feel about it after!” he said.
How Marvel’s new release strategy impacts Armor Wars
The state of limbo that Armor Wars exists in can most likely be chalked up to changes behind the scenes at Marvel Studios. The company is changing its strategy from releasing several projects within a year to scaling back and being more selective with the content it’s putting out. To give an example, Deadpool & Wolverine is the only Marvel movie to hit theaters this year, and the only live-action series to be released in 2024 are Echo and Agatha All Along.
When both iterations of Armor Wars (TV show and movie) were conceived, Marvel was working to put out as much content as possible, mostly to pump the subscriber base for Disney+. With things slowly down, it allows Marvel to give each project the care and attention it deserves. This could be what’s happening with Armor Wars. So while Don Cheadle may appear to be in the dark like most of us, it could wind up being a positive in the long run.