Marvel fans were given an enormous amount of reveals as part of last weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con but were thrown by a few notable absences from the roster of upcoming shows and movies heading out of the Disney stable soon. Among those previously announced shows missing from the Phase 4 or 5 lineups was Armor Wars, the Don Cheadle-led series announced during Disney’s Investor Day back in 2020 and was expected to make up part of the current run of releases. Despite being dropped from the list, while other series announced at the same time, such as Ironheart and Secret Invasion, are all part of the upcoming phase, showrunner Yassir Lester has addressed speculation that the series has been canceled.It is not unfair to say that there is a phenomenal amount of content coming to Disney+ from Marvel Studios in the next two years, and while there are plenty of gaps to be filled in their partially announced Phase 6, and whatever comes beyond that, Armor Wars is one of the projects that was expected to fall within Phase 4 or Phase 5 of the MCU plan. While that now clearly isn’t happening, Lester appeared to indicate that there show will still go ahead at some point despite it not being part of the SDCC reveals. Discussing Film shared the writer’s Instagram story, which suggests everything is still moving forward but offers no indication of when we can expect to see it.
Armor Wars Has Been Pushed Back in the MCU Schedule
Disney
The logo and brief synopsis for Armor Wars was originally released in 2020, and in October last year, it looked like filming was set to commence in May 2022. However, by February this year, that plan seemed to have changed, with new reports suggesting the series had been pushed back to start its shoot in October or November 2022. With the series now clearly not expected to debut until 2024 or later, there is a question over whether that date will be pushed out again.
While there is a lot of uncertainty about the show, Don Cheadle will be returning to his role of James Rhodes aka War Machine in next year’s Secret Invasion series. There has been little released about how much involvement in the series, but it could just be a way of reminding audiences that the character is still around and a player in the larger Marvel universe. Cheadle previously shared details on his future, saying:
"The most exciting things are still to come, and those things were hinted at in Endgame. Where this character might go? What might be in the offing for him? It's very early in the process for Armor Wars. We just hired my boy Yassir [Lester], which I am very excited about. He wrote on Black Monday. Became friends with him, really close with him. Great guy, a lot of great ideas. Honestly, we're still trying to crack the spine of what it's going to be and chop it up. I couldn't give you the answers if you wanted them, because we're in the 'clay mode' right now."
Cheadle was last seen as Rhodes in his short cameo in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which earned him an Emmy nomination despite him only appearing for a few minutes on screen. Whether his Secret Invasion role will be a larger one is something we will find out early in 2023 when the series debuts on Disney+.