Don Cheadle has been one of the staples of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for his portrayal of James Rhodes AKA Rhodey AKA War Machine, for a long time. The role was first played by Terrence Howard in the very first Iron Man film but when he stepped away due to disagreements with the studio, Don Cheadle took over the role in the second Iron Man and ever since then, Cheadle has made many appearances throughout the MCU including playing key roles in films such as Iron Man 3, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
But despite being a fan favorite, Rhodey has always been a side character and never really took the center stage, until recently in 2020 when it was announced that Rhodey will be getting his own Disney+ series called Armor Wars.
However, despite being announced 2 years ago Armor Wars had no major update in terms of release date even at this year’s Comic Con which announced the entire Marvel phase 5 and phase 6 line up.
Now, things are changing. Armor Wars just got a major update as The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that show is being transformed into a film instead. Which means that Don Cheadle’s James Rhodes will finally be playing the lead role of a Marvel film. All the Rhodey stans are going to be celebrating undoubtedly today.
According to The Hollywood Reporter Marvel are committed to “getting the story told the right way,” which is why they are reconsidering the 6 episode series and moving in favor of a feature film.
The plot of Armor Wars has not been revealed so far, but it is known that it will be set after the events of the upcoming Secret Invasion which will also be featuring Don Cheadle in the role of James Rhodes (or perhaps a skrull pretending to be James Rhodes).
After so many years of simply playing Iron Man’s partner, it is good to see Don Cheadle’s Rhodey getting some actual cinematic spotlight in the form of a feature film.
