Don Cheadle Teases How Avengers: Endgame Sets Up Iron Man Disney+ Spin-off, Armor Wars

War Machine actor Don Cheadle commented on his time as James Rhodes and what he can reveal about the expectations fans should have for his character in the upcoming Disney+ show, Armor Wars.

By Russ Milheim Updated:
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One of the announced Marvel Studios Disney+ series that fans know the least about is Armor Wars. The famous comic book by the same name features Tony Stark's Iron Man and James Rhodes' War Machine seeking out people who the superhero hadn't realized had been using his technology for their destructive suits.

The series is said to be similar to this storyline, taking place after Avengers: Endgame where the secrets of Stark's technology will leak into the wrong hands—something that would easily make the late superhero roll in his grave.

Not much progress has been made on the series since it was announced only having recently hired Yassir Lester as head writer. Even the series' star, Don Cheadle, has admitted that work has just begun and that they are still far out from beginning production.

But with what little Cheadle may know about the show, what can he tell fans about it?

Don Cheadle Teases Endgame's Set-Up of Armor Wars

Disney Armor Wars
Marvel

In a conversation with ACE Universe, Don Cheadle discussed his role of James Rhodes, aka War Machine, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

When it comes to what is most exciting about the character for the actor, he teased "the most exciting part is yet to come" and mentioned that Armor Wars is "an opportunity to really discover who [Rhodey] is in a way that we have not had before:"

"Well, I think that the most exciting part is yet to come. I think we don't really have a super-strong idea of who he is really outside of that, sort of, bubble of the Avengers. Out of necessarily his friendship with Tony. And now he's going to kind of be untethered from all of that. So it's an opportunity to really discover who he is in a way that we have not had before; with concentrated time and focus on Rhodey and Rhodey's journey, and with, hopefully, some stuff about his past. And teeing up some things about his potential future. Who knows how long this Marvel thing goes. It seems kinda unending. We might all die on set one day."

The actor continued on to say that "things were hinted at in Endgame... [as to] where this character might go:"

"What's most exciting is yet to come, and I think those kinds of things were hinted at in Endgame, you know, where this character might go, and things that may be in the offing for him. It's very early in the process of Armor Wars. We just hired my boy Yassir [Lester], which I'm very excited about, [he] wrote on Black Monday. [I've] become really good friends with him and close with him. Great guy. A lot of great ideas. But honestly, we're just really trying to crack the spine of what its going to be and chop it up. I couldn't really five you the answers if you asked them because we're  super in the clay mode right now."

Armor Wars are Just Around the Corner

When it comes to what Avengers: Endgame may have teased for Rhodes, the easy answer is his ties to the government and juggling that with his friendships among the other Avengers. After all, as seen in the final battle, Rhodes still has a version of the Iron Patriot suit. That, and, well, the fallout of Tony Stark's death, of course.

It still seems strange that Armor Wars was announced fairly early, as writing has only recently started. There are already two unannounced Disney+ projects, Echo and Werewolf by Midnight, which are both rumored to begin production early next year before Cheadle's series.

As for what may actually happen in the show, fans should expect to see plenty of Iron Man armors in play. In fact, one of the biggest fan hopes is to see Sam Rockwell's Justin Hammer return for the show. After all, the premise of the project is literally perfect for the character.

It's also likely that Dominique Thorne's Riri Williams, aka Ironheart, will make an appearance, having created a suit of armor herself which may or may not have been done with Stark's tech. Another potential return? Paul Bettany's Vision. While not quite Stark's armor tech, if the show is about rogue technology in general, then White Vision fits the bill.

The real question, is, will Don Cheadle actually win the Emmy this time around?

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- About The Author: Russ Milheim
Russ Milheim is the Industry Relations Coordinator at The Direct. On top of utilizing his expertise on the many corners of today’s entertainment to cover the latest news and theories, he establishes and maintains communication and relations between the outlet and the many studio and talent representatives.