Back in December, Marvel Studios One-Above-All, Kevin Feige, surprised fans with the Investor Day announcement that the late 80’s Iron Man comic book arc Armor Wars was being adapted into a Dinsey Plus series. With Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark out of the picture, Don Cheadle’s James Rhodes is set to take center stage in the project. While discussing his upcoming movie, Space Jam, with the Associated Press, Cheadle gave some insight into when production on Armor Wars will get underway and what to expect.
“We are just talking about what that show is going to be. We probably will start filming sometime next year and are just kind of cracking the story right now, deciding what’s that journey gonna look like, what’s Rhodey’s…the iteration of this going to be. Obviously people know Armor Wars-if they know Armor Wars they know what the series is about but it’s also kind of figuring out how to establish and dig really deep into who Rhodey is because we haven’t really seen a lot of that in the movies.”
WAR MACHINE BOOTS UP – @DonCheadle teases upcoming Marvel series “Armor Wars” in which he will return as James Rhodes, aka War Machine. pic.twitter.com/hHy6b6mRLE
— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) July 15, 2021
Earlier this year, Cheadle mentioned that the show’s writer’s room was expected to open up around March and given the precedent other Disney Plus shows have set, it’s possible the show could go into production as early as March 2022. Armor Wars represents the types of projects that fans are going to be regularly treated to on Disney Plus. As Cheadle pointed out, Rhodey hasn’t had much character development since being introduced in 2008’s Iron Man; however, a 6-8 episode streaming series provides the time to not only develop Rhodey but a world full of supporting characters around him, similar to how The Falcon and The Winter Soldier built those worlds for Sam and Bucky.
Armor Wars will stream exclusively on Disney Plus.