Even though Marvel may be reassembling the OG Avengers, rebranding an upcoming spinoff movie too good for Disney Plus as a sequel is a bad idea

It’s becoming more and more clear that Marvel Studios is as desperate for the MCU to return to its glory days as the fans are.

The latest reports are claiming execs are even considering inviting back first-generation heroes last seen in Avengers: Endgame. But could that cause upcoming projects to be retrofitted into established brands? While there’s no official indication of that just now, in the wake of the shocking info that Marvel is tempted to bring back Robert Downey Jr., folks are wondering… could Don Cheadle’s Armor Wars become Iron Man 4?

As per a lively discussion on the /MarvelStudios subreddit, Redditor u/WhatIsAName88 pondered, “Would an Armor Wars film do well or far better if it was released as a fourth Iron Man film with a lot of mention of Stark or what about a lot of cameos of Avengers and other big name characters?” While that concept would no doubt appeal to a studio looking to recapture the love for the Infinity Saga, hardcore MCU followers are — perhaps surprisingly — against the notion.

How about we let Cheadle, who’s been around since 2010’s Iron Man 2, and Rhodey, a character who goes back to 2008’s Iron Man, just have their moment?

And does everything have to be about cameos? Loki season 2 is being held up as a “great example” of how the MCU can still appeal without resorting to crowbarring in old faces.

Is there really anything wrong with making Armor Wars a mid-budget movie with a strong script, like maybe what Blade is going to turn out to be?

It’s nice to see that Rhodey’s role in the universally panned Secret Invasion hasn’t hurt his reputation among the fandom, but it remains to be seen how the chips will fall with Armor Wars, which might’ve been bumped up from a Disney Plus drop to a theatrical release but has yet to be assigned an official place on the slate.