Jeremy Renner ended up getting his Hawkeye show and Scarlett Johansson finally got her Black Widow movie, but Don Cheadle has yet to get a Marvel Cinematic Universe project that was truly his. And it’s strange, not just because an actor of Cheadle’s caliber could obviously carry such a thing, but also because he’s a fairly bankable performer. If he’s first-billed, people would show up. Yet in Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, the tag scene of Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Secret Invasion he’s had at most a supporting role, and usually it’s more of a cameo.

Cheadle is never given much to work with, but there’s one MCU project that could change that, and it’s been on the docket for a long time now. That would be Armor Wars, and it’s about time for it to go from a promise to a product.

What Is the History of Armor Wars Production?

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The MCU output is being kept intentionally low to build up anticipation between movies and shows. As of right now there are three movies scheduled for release, which are Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Avengers: Doomsday, and the one MCU film for 2027, Avengers: Secret Wars. As for the small screen, we have Wonder Man, the second season of Daredevil: Born Again, the second season of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and VisionQuest in 2026. For 2027 there’s just Daredevil: Born Again Season 3 and the likely third season of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

In other words, it’s pretty slim pickings in 2027, and Armor Wars could easily fit in there somewhere. But there hasn’t been any word on its production in ages. Part of the problem is that Armor Wars was and or is supposed to follow the narrative of Secret Invasion, and that is one of the most universally disliked MCU projects in the universe’s canon.

But there is still a market for a James Rhodes movie, and the rumored plotline for Armor Wars is a good one. Back when it was just a War Machine movie, not necessarily an Armor Wars movie, Cheadle described it as presenting “a lot of tension between [Rhodes’] job as a military man and his allegiances to the code that he swore an oath to uphold, versus the changing world.”

It stands to reason that compelling internal conflict would have remained as it became Armor Wars. And should that have been the case, what would have caused said conflict? His dearly departed best friend’s weapons falling into the wrong hands.

But that raises another question. Once Kang was written out as the next MCU big bad, Robert Downey Jr. was brought back in, this time to play Doctor Doom. Does that mean we’re pretty much past the point where characters are grieving over Stark’s death in Endgame?

Stark died in October of 2023, and we get Peter Parker grieving over that in Spider-Man: Far from Home. But the next time we see Rhodes is in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier where, in 2024, he watches Sam Wilson donate Steve Rogers’ shield to the Smithsonian Institution. And somewhere between that point and the 2026 events of Secret Invasion, he’s kidnapped by Skrull general Gravik and replaced by one of Gravik’s agents, Raava. Eventually he is rescued by G’iah. We’ve never really seen Rhodes spend any real time grieving over Stark, and it would be great to see him go through that process essentially by preserving Stark’s legacy. But now that he’s going to be seeing his deceased friend’s faced as a green cape-wearing tyrant, is it too late for Armor Wars‘ narrative?

It is beginning to seem like the time for this particular project has passed. It was initially announced in 2020, when Kevin Feige said it would be a TV series on Disney+. And, in 2021, Cheadle confirmed what we were expecting, which was that Rhodey’s reaction to Stark’s demise would be a substantial focus in the series. And the very same day he said that he also said it would start shooting within a few months.

That didn’t happen, nor did it happen when the series was supposed to start shooting in October or November 2022. In fact, right around that time (September 29, 2022) was when it was announced that it would be redeveloped as a movie. And that was the last we heard anything concrete about it. And it seems the MCU has moved on from it. After all, Dominique Thorne’s Ironheart was supposed to return after debuting in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but she instead got her own Disney+ series.

The lack of momentum on Armor Wars is especially disappointing for Sam Rockwell fans. His Justin Hammer is one of the best secondary villains in MCU history, if not the very best, and his presence would make complete sense in Armor Wars. And Rockwell’s name was indeed often mentioned in the same breath as Armor Wars for a while there, but it now seems as though Hammer is going to stay a one-and-done in the MCU.