Marvel’s Most Ambitious Film No Longer Happening?

Armor Wars has had a tangled development cycle, even by the standards of Marvel films. In 2020, it was announced as a Disney+ series, but in 2022, the House of Mouse confirmed it would be a feature film instead. Many (including us) were hyped for a film where the talented Don Cheadle takes center stage, but now the actor seems unsure about what is happening with the project, admitting to TVLine that “I’m not sure where anything is right now.”

In the interview, Cheadle didn’t seem to think the Armor Wars project was dead…instead, he said, “I think things are going through a lot of changes, and we’ll see what happens, we’ll see what it is.” It’s possible that Disney is still restructuring this film, adjusting it to account for what has recently worked well (like Deadpool & Wolverine) and what has fallen flat (like The Marvels). The best-case scenario, then, is that the powers that be are taking their time to make Armor Wars the best possible film it can be.

The worst-case scenario, though, is that Armor Wars could suffer the same tortured development cycle as Blade, an MCU film we may never actually see as Marvel endlessly tinkers with its script. Should that happen, it won’t just be the fans who will suffer but Cheadle himself. In the TVLine interview, he was quite blunt that Armor Wars not coming out would retroactively ruin what the MCU had done with his character.

In the disappointing Secret Invasion series, we discover that presumably all of Rhodey’s appearances since he was injured in Captain America: Civil War were actually appearances by a shapeshifting Skrull. When the interviewer asked Don Cheadle how he reacted to the news he would be playing a Skrull for almost all of Secret Invasion, he clarified that “it wasn’t a demand” but instead “a request” from Marvel. He agreed because he wanted to “set up stuff in the following thing” (presumably Armor Wars).

However, he was quick to point out that “if the following thing happens, and all those things were set up, then that’s one thing. If… it doesn’t, then we can talk about how I feel about it after!” 

Cheadle seemed careful not to publicly diss his employer (always a good idea), but the message seemed clear: he accepted this disappointing revelation about his character, one that retroactively ruins several of his biggest appearances, because it set up big things for his character. If those big things never happen–if Armor Wars gets quietly scrapped–then Marvel will be guilty of ruining Rhodey for no real reason.

We can only hope that doesn’t happen…since he replaced Terrence Howard in the role of Rhodey, Don Cheadle has brought such great humor and warmth to a role that was once nothing more than Tony Stark’s sidekick. He developed War Machine into a compelling character in his own right, and a solo film might be just the thing to anchor the beleaguered MCU. But if this ambitious film project slips through Marvel’s fingers, that’s simply more proof that it’s past time to reboot this tired cinematic universe.

Source: TVLine