‘I was given some requirements’: ‘Secret Invasion’ had one job it needed to do to set up ‘Armor Wars’

Warning: Spoilers for Secret Invasion to follow.

Secret Invasion has finally ended, and we haven’t seen consequences of studio meddling this egregious since those Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania reshoots; indeed, while it’s difficult to definitively pin the blame for Secret Invasion‘s exhaustingly poor finale, it’s looking more and more likely that the MCU’s poorly-timed edits to the continuity went a long way in squandering Nick Fury’s solo showcase.

Speaking of continuity, the ending of the show means we can look ahead to what’s next, namely the second season of Loki and Secret Invasion‘s theatrical follow-up The Marvels, but the latter won’t be the only place where the political thriller’s seeds will begin to grow.

Indeed, joining The Marvels on the list of Secret Invasion‘s direct follow-ups is Armor Wars, the still-gestating feature film that’s set to gift Rhodey his long-overdue solo outing after being one of the MCU’s most prominent mainstays since his first appearance in 2008’s Iron Man. And, apparently, Rhodey had to suffer a very specific consequence in Secret Invasion to set him up for Armor Wars, according to series director Ali Selim in a recent interview with Screen Rant.

I was given some requirements for the next movie. You have to put Nick Fury up in space. For the next beat, you have to make sure that Rhodey’s legs don’t work for Armor Wars.

Rhodey, of course, was freed from one of the Skrulls’ stasis chambers at the end of Secret Invasion, having spent several years being impersonated by the Skrull Raava. Upon his release, however, he appeared to have trouble walking, and we know now that that was no small detail.

Indeed, the fact that Armor Wars will apparently require Rhodey to not have use of his legs is infinitely curious; why make something like that such a key hurdle for your protagonist, and how many ways might it manifest in whatever plight Rhodey finds himself in once Armor Wars drops? Whatever the case, here’s hoping the MCU boat will have steadied itself a bit more by then; it needs all the luck it can get at this rate.

Secret Invasion is now streaming in full on Disney Plus.