The studio is transferring the project tentatively titled 'Armor Wars' to the big screen as they realize the story of Colonel James 'Rhodey' Rhodes is better suited for cinema.
- Sep 30, 2022
AceShowbiz - Marvel's "Armor Wars" project is being reworked as a feature film. The project - where Don Cheadle was due to reprise his long-running MCU role as Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes AKA War Machine for a Disney+ series - has been transferred to the big screen instead.
The studio was "committed in getting the story told the right way" and, in the development process, realised "a feature was better suited" for the project, sources told The Hollywood reporter.
Besides Don remaining on board to star, Yassir Lester, who was hired as head writer for the series, is staying with the project and will write the film. While Marvel had intended to start production on the series in 2023, it is now unknown when work will commence and as yet there is no director officially attached.
Marvel boss Kevin Feige first announced plans for the live-action series - which was named after a celebrated storyline in the "Iron Man" comics in 1987 and 1988 - in late 2020 and a logo for the six-part programme was unveiled at Disney's D23 Expo earlier this month.
Don will next play War Machine in the 2023 series "Secret Invasion", which also stars Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn. The 57-year-old actor - who first played the character in 2010's "Iron Man 2" when he replaced Terrence Howard in the role - recently said working on "Secret Invasion" had been "lots of fun."
He said, "In the trailer, you see that [Rhodes] got to confront Nick [Fury]. He and Fury are gonna go at it throughout this show, as far as what they need to do, given what's happened on this planet at this point. It's kind of a thriller and a different kind of show than you usually see in the MCU, which is great that we can continue to keep changing it up and switching it up. It's lots of fun."
