Secret Invasion revealed that James Rhodes has been in the MCU for a while, but Don Cheadle has been hinting at this reality for a minute now. In previous interviews, there’s a steady trail of breadcrumbs for fans to follow to figure out the reveal. Now, with the Disney+ series completed, you can look back at the interviews and see the clever way the War Machine actor was trying to gesture towards his character being a Skrull. Cheadle was basically putting it out there before Secret Invasion even started streaming on the platform.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The choice to have Rhodey be Skrull has not come without certain members of the fanbase feeling like they’ve been had. With War Machine being replaced in Captain America: Civil War, that means the version of the character they’ve been adventuring with for years now has been an imposter. Still, if you can work past that, there’s a lot of dramatic heft coming in Armor Wars. That fresh start is at the core of every one of these interviews with Cheadle discussing the Rhodey movie. He’s missed out on a lot, and its time to get back out there in a brave new world. Check out the clues for yourself!
Did you like the Skrull reveal in Secret Invasion? Let us know down below!
Going Back And Re-Watching Rhodey’s Scenes
“It’s fun to fold that in and know that that’s what’s happening underneath all of these Rhodey scenes,” Don Cheadle told Marvel.com. “Rhodes is not who he appears to be.”
From very early on in Secret Invasion, it was clear that something was up with Rhodey. At first, fans couldn’t be sure if it was supposed to be a takeout or not. But, as the episodes stacked up, the truth was undeniable: Rhodey is a Skrull. So, now fans are pouring over other moments. It feels like there’s clearly a lot to unpack as the series concludes.
The Chance to Explore Something New?
“I just kinda take it as it lies, you know what I mean? [Armor Wars] is something that was pitched to me, was something they wanted to do, and it was interesting and sounded fun,” Cheadle told Yahoo Entertainment’s Kevin Polowy. “An opportunity to actually do more with this character. So yeah, I’m in. You know, at this point… we know there’s going to be more opportunities to do it, nobody’s [twisting] anybody’s arm. It’s like, does this sound like something that would be fun? Is this something where we could really do something that is exciting and is interesting? Cause if not, we don’t need to show up.”
Armor Wars does sound a bit more interesting with a completely swamped Rhodey in the mix. Now, we know why the movie seems to be so “interesting or fun” for the actor when they pitched it. He’s totally going to have an opportunity to do more with the character. It was going to take a lot for an actor like Cheadle to sign on for multiple years with the studio, and Armor Wars presents a unique challenge for the new tenure.
Being The New Iron Man?
“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,” Cheadle said to Extra at D23 last year. “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.”
So, he clearly knew about the reveals by then and was playing a bit coy here. The War Machine actor would provide a more concrete link to Tony Stark’s legacy. That’s exactly what you would expect from an Armor Wars movie. However, “we’re going to learn a lot more about what Rhodey does want and who he is?” Now that’s some hiding in plain sight that should be absolutely commended. Don’t think that
Fans Will Finally Get To Know Rhodey
“We’re finding Rhodey, as you said, he’s someone who’s gone through a lot,” Cheadle said on Marvel’s Instagram. “That’s what’s the fun about doing the Armor Wars series is that we’re going to have an opportunity to really dig into that. What’s he dealing with emotionally? What’s he dealing with psychologically? So that’s why I said ‘yes’ to it, because I think it’s going to be a lot of fun to get to know him in a way that, even if that this many years we’ve known him, we really don’t know him.”
Whew boy. We should have really paid a ton of more attention to this one at the time huh? “Even if that this many years we’ve known him, we really don’t know him!” My god Don Cheadle was basically waving a red flag in our faces and no one really batted an eyelash at it right? In addition, hinting towards the emotional struggles seemed to be him grappling with Iron Man’s demise, but it takes on a whole new meaning now that we know he wasn’t there at The Battle of Earth.
Cheadle Addresses the Plot of Armor Wars
ComicBook.com’s Brandon Davis had to ask the Avengers actor about the plot of the movie last year: “If you know anything about the lore, and you’ve read the comic books, you understand that it’s a series that was built around Tony’s Stark Tech getting out and Rhodey taking it on to go get this tech back from the bad hands, the bad actors whose hands it is in,” Cheadle revealed. “And as Marvel does, it’s also an opportunity to take the mythology and tip it on its head a little bit and come up with different ways to tell the story, so it’s doing that and has done that in spades.”
Armor Wars is well-trodden ground in a bunch of different Iron Man media. It feels like almost every adaptation of Tony Stark has had to deal with it at some point. However, this time it’s more about Rhodey. Skrull Rhodey could have been giving access to that tech without his knowledge. It’s only a matter of time before his best friend’s work could fall into the wrong hands. There would be a strong emotional imperative to try and get it back under control. (A clever parallel to Tony Stark’s changes in Iron Man I as well!)
Reflecting on Losing Tony Stark
“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.”
This is some ACTING right here. Because, at D23 2022, he knew Rhodey had been replaced. But, you have to say something to ComicBook.com’s Brandon Davis when he asks about it. So, we get some “we don’t lose the old character, but we bring in new characters,” from the MCU veteran. That’s fun as he’s lightly alluding to War Machine’s new status quo. Keep a close eye on that “things you can’t really anticipate” too. Things like a beloved character being a Skrull for a decade.
Cheadle Talks Developing Hook For Armor Wars
“It’s going to be interesting. We are just talking about what that show is going to be,” Cheadle explained to AP Entertainment. “We probably will start filming sometime next year and are just cracking the story right now. Deciding what that journey [is] going to look like, what the iteration of this is going to be. Obviously, if people know Armor Wars [from the comics] they know what the series is about. But it’s also figuring out how to establish and dig really deep into who Rhodey is because we haven’t really seen a lot of that in the movies.”
From the rip, the MCU star is talking about digging deeper into Rhodey’s character. That would make a lot of sense as we haven’t spent nearly as much time with the Avengers as we thought. However, Cheadle really decided to pull the knife out with the “we haven’t really seen a lot of that in the movies.” Indeed, what a wild choice.
Cheadle’s Been Dropping Hints For A While
“I think the most exciting part is yet to come. I think we don’t have a super-strong idea of who he is, really. Outside of that bubble of The Avengers. Outside of his friendship with Tony. Now, he’s going to be untethered from all of that,” Cheadle explained at ACE Comic-Con. “So, it’s an opportunity to discover who he is, that we have not had before with concentrated time and focus on Rhodey, and Rhodey’s journey. Hopefully, some stuff about his past. Teeing up some things about his potential future. Who knows how long this Marvel thing goes. It seems kinda unending.”
The Marvel actor really laid it out, “The most exciting part is yet to come.” He’s really been untethered fro the larger Avengers framework in a real way. If the other people in the MCU had trouble adjusting after The Blip, can you imagine being pulled out of stasis since Captain America: Civil War? It’s a fascinating story. Rhodey’s journey really feels like it’s just beginning in the MCU. We’re really going to get to meet the character for the first time again. It’s a bit of a risk but an interesting one!
