It’s been a long time since Marvel Cinematic Universe fans have seen the real James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Don Cheadle). Last year, Marvel Studios revealed in its poorly received miniseries, Secret Invasion, that a shapeshifting Skrull named Raava had been secretly posing as Rhodey for an indefinite amount of time. It was later confirmed by Secret Invasion director Ali Selim that Rhodey was originally kidnapped by Raava and her fellow Skrulls shortly after he experienced his spinal injury in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War.
This twist proved to be extremely divisive among MCU fans. Many found it disconcerting to discover that — among other things — it isn’t really Rhodey who is shown mourning the death of his best friend, Tony Stark, at the end of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. Don Cheadle, however, doesn’t seem to mind the twist… so long as Marvel Studios actually follows through on its original plan for Rhodey.
The actor revealed as much in an interview with TV Line. When asked about his reaction to the Secret Invasion storyline, Cheadle revealed, “It wasn’t a demand. It was a request. ‘What do you think about playing this?’ And it was to set up stuff in the following thing.” The “thing” Cheadle mentions is, as in-the-know Marvel fans may have already been able to guess, Armor Wars.
Armor Wars, which is set to star Cheadle in a lead capacity, was originally meant to be one of Marvel’s many Disney+ original series. The studio abandoned that plan in 2022, though, when it was announced that Armor Wars was being redeveloped as a feature film. Very few updates about the project have come since that announcement was made two years ago, and it sounds like Cheadle is just as in-the-dark right now as fans.
When he was asked by TV Line about Armor Wars‘ status, he responded, “You can find out and let me know.” In response to a follow-up question, Cheadle added, “I’m not sure where anything is right now. I think things are going through a lot of changes, and we’ll see what happens.” When the outlet then observed that it would be “sad” if the last time viewers ever got to spend meaningful screen time with Rhodey was when he was being impersonated by a Skrull, Cheadle jokingly remarked, “Yeah, no s**t.”
While he isn’t sure what will happen with Armor Wars, Cheadle does seem confident about the impact it could have on the way both he and viewers see Secret Invasion‘s Rhodey twist. “If the following thing happens, and all those things were set up, then that’s one thing,” he noted. “If, as you said, it doesn’t, then we can talk about how I feel about it after!”
Secret Invasion is streaming now on Disney+.
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