With Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) dead, James “Rhodey” Rhodes a.k.a. War Machine (Don Cheadle) is the armored champion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And he’ll be getting a bigger spotlight in his own Disney+ series, Armor Wars.
Very little is known about the show at this time, but Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige announced its development as part of the Disney Investor Day presentation. The original “Armor Wars” storyline was published in 1988 in the pages of Iron Man and other Marvel comics.
The premise of the story was all about Tony Stark who discovered that his own technology had been stolen, thanks to his rival Justin Hammer (played by Sam Rockwell in Iron Man 2). Hammer used this technology to enhance just about every armored supervillain in the Marvel Universe, nearly all of whom Stark found himself battling over the course of the story. At one point, he accidentally killed his Russian opponent, Titanium Man, who was a hero to the people of his country. This made Stark a target by both the Russian and U.S. governments. (The name “Armor Wars” has since been used for newer tales.)
But… Tony Stark is dead. If Rhodey were to discover that ne’er-do-wells were using Stark’s tech to commit crimes, he would certainly set out on a mission to disarm them all. But how would he make that discovery? Rhodes might wear the War Machine armor, but he didn’t make it. It has never even been hinted that Rhodes has any sort of scientific or engineering aptitude.
This could involve the return of Justin Hammer. That could be fun, right?
Certain elements from the original comic could certainly be adapted for the Armor Wars series, but then again, this could be like Avengers: Age of Ultron, which took the name from a comic book story and ONLY the name. (Or it could borrow from more recent “Armor Wars” stories, which I am not familiar with.)
At this time, all we really know for sure is that Armor Wars is coming and it will focus on War Machine. Check back for news as it arrives!
Source: ComicBook.com
