Don Cheadle Comments on if War Machine Would Become the Next Iron Man

Armor Wars star Don Cheadle remains coy about the possibility of War Machine becoming the new Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It would be a move not unlike Sam Wilson taking over for Captain America in Steve Rogers’ absence. It has also happened in the comics, with Rhodey first donning Iron Man’s armor in Iron Man #170, published by Marvel in 1983. However, while Tony Stark’s death in the MCU still weighs heavily on Rhodey’s mind, Cheadle claims the idea of Rhodes taking over as the new Iron Man is new to him when asked about it at the D23 Expo. 

“It’s the first I’ve heard of that, so I guess no comment,” Cheadle tells Extra. As for it potentially happening in the future, he said, “I don’t know. I mean, I think that Rhodey is his own dude. I don’t think that anyone can really step into the Tony Stark, Iron Man shoes. I think he did that as well as anyone could ever do. But I think we’re going to learn a lot more about what Rhodey does want and who he is and what his sort of place in the firmament of MCU will ultimately be. I honestly don’t know that much more than you know. That’s not true, but I can’t tell.” He concluded by saying he knows “there is a future” for him in the MCU.

As for Tony Stark’s death and how it affects Rhodey, Cheadle told ComicBook.com at D23 that fans will find Rhodey’s head “At a very different place in a way that is something that I can’t talk about,” when Armor Wars begins, “but it’s going to very surprising to a lot of people. And the great thing is there’s just going to be so much opportunity to learn a lot about him and for him to learn about himself and for us, hopefully, to really be able to get behind what makes him tick.”

Cheadle also brushed against the idea of being a legacy character while discussing what it’s like being an MCU stalwart among so many new additions. “I think that’s what’s the fun of it, how expansive it can be,” he says. “We don’t lose the old character, but we bring in new characters, then we get to bring the newer and older characters together and that creates its own sort of thing. So that’s the most fun of being in these shows, the opportunity to cross-pollenate each other’s projects and find ways that these relationships continue to work and conflicts that we continue to cook up, and I think they do a great job of it, always making it interesting, exciting, and things you can’t really anticipate.”

Armor Wars is a six-episode Marvel Studios series for Disney+. Production is expected to begin in Atlanta in early 2023.