One of the more unsung heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is James Rhodes AKA War Machine. He’s been there since the very beginnings of the franchise (albeit played by Terrence Howard in his first appearance) and has always had his pal Tony Stark’s back in both the Iron Man movies and team-up events such as Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War. But what’s next for Rhodey in Avengers: Infinity War?
While speaking to members of the press during a set visit, Don Cheadle – who’s played Rhodey since 2010’s Iron Man 2 – teased what we can expect from War Machine in Infinity War. Understandably, he’ll be somewhat out of his depth when coming up against Thanos and his Infinity Stones. Fighting all-powerful alien warlords is a long way from his origins as an Air Force pilot, after all. Though just like his fellow heroes, he’ll continue to give the fight his best shot.
“Well I think as always we’ve seen that Rhodey would prefer to deal with real world things and that’s kind of what he understands,” Cheadle said. “And when we start leaving the planet and talking about things coming from outer space, he’s like, ‘Dude, I don’t even know what that, what is that? I know how to fight guys and in tanks and weapons and that. That’s something that’s beyond my pay grade!’ But he’s been thrown into the deep end, so they all are, in a way, in this one. So, everybody’s gonna have to figure it out on their feet.”
Last time we saw Rhodey, he was recovering from a serious injury caused by friendly fire during the battle between the Avengers over the Sokovia Accords. Specifically, a stray blast of Vision’s looked like it would cost him the loss of his legs – though Iron Man was able to devise a doohickey that aided his recovery. By the time Infinity War rolls round, Rhodey will be well enough to suit up as War Machine once again.
“Clearly there was a pretty significant moment for Rhodey at the end of Civil War, where he was accidentally shot out of the air by Vision,” Cheadle said.
“Who is now my mortal enemy. No, I think we worked it out over the break. And now he’s coming back to the Avengers to, back to his team. A little ambivalent I think with a new rig by Tony, which of course he had to put his name on. So Tony! Like I’m gonna not know who made them. And he’s rejoining the team and reintroduced back here in this Wakanda storyline.”
With such a powerful threat to best, Cheadle went on to tease that the fierce battle might cost the team some casualties. They might be Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, but they can still “go down,” as War Machine knows all too well.
“I think the stakes have been raised. And we understand that we’re not invincible and super heroes can go down.”
But will Rhodey be one of those heroes set to bite the dust in Avengers: Infinity War? We’ve got just over a month before we find out, as the movie hits theaters on April 27th.
