Don Cheadle has been a regular fixture of the Marvel Cinematic Universe since replacing Terrence Howard as Rhodey beginning with 2010’s Iron Man 2, but the longtime supporting character has always been tied directly to Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark.
With the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist having been killed off in Avengers: Endgame, his best friend is ready to step out of the shadows and take center stage in his own Disney Plus series. We know that Armor Wars will be loosely based on the comic book run of the same name, which saw Stark Industries technology fall into the wrong hands, but that’s about as much information as we’ve got.
However, during an interview with Angelique Roche, the actor simply got up and abandoned the Zoom call the second Armor Wars came up. He did come back, though, and offered up some new insights as to what we can expect in terms of Rhodey’s past, present and future, none of which has been explored much at all in the MCU to date.
“I think the most exciting part is yet to come. I think we don’t have a super-strong idea of who he is, really. Outside of that bubble of the Avengers. Outside of his friendship with Tony. Now, he’s going to be untethered from all of that. So, it’s an opportunity to discover who he is, that we have not had before with concentrated time and focus on Rhodey, and Rhodey’s journey. Hopefully, some stuff about his past. Teeing up some things about his potential future. Who knows how long this Marvel thing goes. It seems kinda unending.”
Shooting on Armor Wars is expected to begin in early 2022, but it might not hit streaming until the year after, so Cheadle had better get used to the questions coming up every time he speaks to the press, especially when he’s got a number of projects lined up that don’t require him to strap on the motion capture leotard and save the world.
