First announced as a six-episode series and then as a feature film, Armor Wars is no longer on the front burner at Marvel
Back in December of 2020, Marvel announced that they were developing a Disney+ series called Armor Wars, which would star Don Cheadle as James “Rhodey” Rhodes, the armor-wearing hero known as War Machine. In August of 2021, Yassir Lester, who worked with Cheadle on the Showtime series Black Monday, was hired to be the show’s lead writer – and it was said that Lester’s pitch for Armor Wars had really excited Marvel executives, as well as Cheadle himself. In 2022, it was said that the events of the Disney+ series Secret Invasion would lead directly into the story of Armor Wars, which was expected to start filming in 2023. But in September of 2022, plans changed. Marvel announced that the six-episode series was being changed into a feature film, as they were “committed to getting the story told the right way and in that process realized that a feature was better suited for the project.” Lester was still attached to write the feature, but no director was ever hired. And now, it has been said that Marvel decided to “slow down” the development of Armor Wars in favor of focusing on other things.
For the first couple of years, Nate Moore – who has worked on the Marvel projects Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Eternals, Hawkeye, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Captain America: Brave New World – was attached to produce Armor Wars alongside Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. In fact, Moore gave an explanation for why Armor Wars changed from a series to a movie in 2022: “There were some great ideas that were coming out for that show, but that, to be quite honest, felt too big for that show. […] Kind of conceptually, and from… You know, our Disney+ shows are awesome, and we love them, but the budgets are not the same as the features, that’s no secret. And when you’re talking about a show that wants to be about seeing all the cool armors and, you know, Don Cheadle interacting with all these armors and sort of the legacy of Tony Stark, that became kind of cost prohibitive to do as a show. And we realized as a feature, not only can we get into some of the beautiful imagery that is from publishing, and there’s certainly an Armor Wars run, but also there’s ways then to leverage the ideas of that movie and affect other movies down the line.” But during a new interview with Collider, Moore revealed that he is no longer involved with Armor Wars, and it’s not on the front burner at Marvel anymore. He said, “You know, that’s not my project, to be honest. But, I do know, as Marvel [Studios] continues to go through this phase, we want to make sure whatever we’re making is awesome. So that means we had to slow down some things that were on the front burner. It doesn’t mean we’ll never make it, but it does mean we just have to be a little bit more considered so that every time out, audiences are guaranteed quality.“
It’s not too surprising that Moore isn’t involved with Armor Wars anymore, since he recently announced that he’ll be leaving Marvel to pursue other projects – but he does still intend to produce Black Panther 3.
Recently, some scoopers have claimed that Armor Wars has been “cancelled” or is “as good as dead.” But, SuperHeroHype points out that scooper Daniel Richtman recently said that Armor Wars isn’t cancelled, it’s just on hold. Marvel is said to be “reworking it after the backlash from Secret Invasion And at this point, it’s looking like it’ll only happen post-Secret Wars. It’s also expected to focus on entirely different things than originally planned.“
The Disney+ series Secret Invasion revealed that the person we thought was Rhodey was actually a shape-shifting Skrull alien that had stolen his appearance and identity while the real Rhodey was being held captive. That would have been fine if the show hadn’t implied that the Skrull had been standing in for Rhodey since soon after the events of Captain America: Civil War – meaning that it wasn’t Rhodey in Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it was the Skrull. That idea did not go over well with fans.
Armor Wars was supposed to show us what happens when James Rhodes must confront one of Tony Stark’s greatest fears when Stark’s tech falls into the wrong hands. We’ll have to wait and see if it will ever actually get made. If it does and Richtman’s information was correct, it’s still a couple of years away, because Avengers: Secret Wars won’t be reaching theatres until May 7, 2027.
Would you like to see Armor Wars get made, either as a Disney+ series or a feature film? Share your thoughts on this Marvel project by leaving a comment below.
