Marvel Shakes Up ‘Armor Wars’: Don Cheadle Series Now Being Developed as a Movie (Exclusive) (original) (raw)
Marvel Studios has shaken up its_Armor Wars_ project, and what was to have been a series for Disney+ will be redeveloped as a feature film.
Sources say the studio was committed to telling the story the right way and realized that a feature was better suited for the project. Like all Marvel movies, Armor Wars is intended for a theatrical release.
Don Cheadle, who is reprising his longtime Marvel Cinematic Universe role as Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes, aka War Machine, remains on board to star. Yassir Lester, who was acting as head writer on the series, will remain as its feature scribe.
Marvel had been eyeing a 2023 start of production on the series, but the few people who were gearing up for that were notified Thursday of the change of direction. No directors had been officially attached, and it is unclear where an Armor Wars feature would slot in on Marvel’s timeline of movies and Disney+ series.
Little is known about Armor Wars, although earlier this month at Disney’s D23 Expo Cheadle joined Marvel Studios producer and president Kevin Feige onstage, revealing a logo for what was then touted as a six-episode event series. Feige first announced plans for Armor Wars in late 2020.
The title Armor Wars hails from a celebrated storyline that was published in the Iron Man comics in 1987 and 1988. Written by David Michelinie and Bob Layton with art by Mark Bright, it tackled the idea of the highly advanced technology of Iron Man falling into the wrong hands. The live-action series was seen as a way to showcase multiple types of armor.
Cheadle’s next Marvel appearance remains the MCU series Secret Invasion, which also stars Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn and is scheduled to debut in 2023. He has played the War Machine character since 2010’s Iron Man 2.
This is not the first time Marvel has pivoted the development of a title in this way. Hawkeye was originally conceived as a feature before the executive team decided to turn the idea into a Disney+ series. To date, Marvel has released all of its films in theaters.
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