James “Rhodey” Rhodes, a.k.a. War Machine, has been part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe since it launched in 2008 with Iron Man, and Don Cheadle took over the role from Terrence Howard in Iron Man 2. While Cheadle has now played/voiced the character in 10 MCU projects, including the Secret Invasion series airing to Disney+ subscribers now, he still has yet to lead his own story, but that will soon change. Initially developed as a show, Armor Wars will now be a movie, and a new rumor has emerged claiming that it’ll bring back a major Iron Man character: Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer, one of the antagonists from Cheadle’s MCU debut.
Let’s set the stage first. Similar to the same-named story comic book arc that ran from Iron Man #225-232, Armor Wars will follow Rhodey having to confront one of the late Tony Stark’s greatest fears when various pieces of Stark Technology end up in the wrong hands. According to The Cosmic Circus, the Department of Damage Control (DODC), which has been chronologically active in the MCU since post-The Avengers, has seized the technology as part of its efforts to start dealing with enhanced individuals and other threats on its own rather than rely on superheroes. That includes using the Stark tech to make an “Iron army,” i.e. putting individuals in Iron Man suits, but this initiative ends up getting hijacked by Armor Wars’ main antagonists. These villains, according to the outlet, are Justin Hammer and Julia Louis Dreyfus’ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, the latter of whom we’ve already seen in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Black Widow and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and will next be seen in Thunderbolts.
Per this rumor, Fontaine, who’s director of the CIA at this point, is the one pulling the DODC’s strings for her own schemes, and she’s recruited Hammer to “develop this team of Iron Men.” Assuming Sam Rockwell is indeed involved with Armor Wars, this will be his third MCU appearance. After being betrayed by Ivan Vanko and arrested by the authorities in Iron Man 2, he cameoed in the Marvel One-Shot short film All Hail the King, where he was incarcerated in the same prison as Ben Kingsley’s Trevor Slattery (who will next be seen in the Wonder Man series following his return in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings). He may not be able to exact vengeance on Tony Stark anymore, but I imagine Hammer would find causing trouble for Rhodey to be a nice consolation prize.
As if a Fontaine/Hammer partnership wasn’t bad enough, The Cosmic Circus also mentioned that Armor Wars may feature rogue AI, and there’s even been rumblings about Ultron somehow being brought back, though it isn’t clear if that’s truly on the table. The good news for War Machine, though, is that he supposedly won’t have to deal with all this on his own, as Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams is said to be suiting back up in this upcoming Marvel movie following her appearances in Wakanda Forever and Ironheart, with the latter series expected to arrive to Disney+ sometime in 2024. It’s also possible that Armor Wars will feature “the potential return of several characters related to the Iron Man franchise,” but that’s unconfirmed for now.
While Armor Wars doesn’t have a specific release date yet, this report claimed that it will be the next movie after Fantastic Four, which would slot it into July 25, 2025. If that or any of the rumored information mentioned in this piece is verified, we’ll let you know. Until then, keep track of what else is coming up in the MCU with our upcoming Marvel movies and upcoming Marvel TV shows guides.