Though he never received his own solo movie, over the last decade, Colonel James Rhodes has easily become one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most important supporting characters. Aside from just being Tony Stark’s friend, confidant and conscience in the Iron Man films, we’ve also seen him in three Avengers movies, Captain America: Civil War and also in Captain Marvel’s post-credits scene.
Given his ties to the military, government, S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers, War Machine can easily make his way into any of the MCU’s standalone franchises and it wouldn’t be too difficult to find a role for him to play, but despite Cheadle always doing a good job with the part, it isn’t like there’s been a big cry for any sort of spinoff or standalone film for the character.
While whispers of a War Machine series for Disney Plus have surfaced here and there, nothing official has been announced just yet. And this week, we learned something that may just end the idea of a Rhodey vehicle once and for all.
In a recent interview, Cheadle revealed that he signed on for six Marvel movies when he first joined the MCU, saying:
“I was actually at my kid’s birthday party—a laser tag party—and I got a call from my agent, and they said, ‘Hey, so I want to connect you to these Marvel guys. They want to talk to you, but they want to offer you the part.’ I don’t think it was [Kevin] Feige. I don’t know who was on the phone. But they said, ‘Hey, this is the role. We want you to do this. It’s a six-picture deal.’ I was like, ‘What?! Oh, uh, okay…’ And I’m trying to do the math. I’m like, ‘That’s 11 or 12 years. I’m not sure.’ And they’re like, ‘Well, we need to know, because if you’re not saying yes, then we’re gonna move on to the next person. So you’ve got an hour.’
Seeing as the actor has already appeared in Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, Age of Ultron, Civil War, Infinity War and Endgame, that means his current contract would be expired and his time as War Machine technically at its end, as that’s six movies right there (not counting Captain Marvel‘s post-credits scene). However, it’s entirely possible that he’s extended his contract to include the aforementioned, rumored Disney Plus series.
It’s not like he’d be the first MCU actor to do so and when you think about it, a solo show may be a good idea, as it could dive deeper into the man inside the suit since we still don’t really know a lot about Rhodey. But again, the cry for a War Machine project hasn’t been that loud and until we hear something official from Marvel, all we can really do is wait and see.
Tell us, though, would you tune in for a series focused on Cheadle’s character? Let us know down below.
