The Disney Investor Day call revealed huge plans to expand the Marvel Cinematic Universe onto the Disney+ streaming service. In addition to bringing in new characters that will be presented on both the big and small screen, the expansion of the MCU will allow for established characters to continue their journeys as well.
One of the announcements made during the event was a new series coming to Disney+ called Armor Wars. The series will star Don Cheadle reprising his role of James Rhodes aka War Machine. Armor Wars refers to a seven issue story arc from David Michelinie and Bob Layton that brings one of Tony Stark’s greatest fears to life; the theft of the Iron Man technology. Elements of the story were utilized in Iron Man 2 with the introduction of Justin Hammer and Rhodes bringing one of the original prototype Iron Man suits to the military.
With Robert Downey Jr’s time as Iron Man over in the MCU, the mission will fall to James Rhodes to complete. While no official synopsis for the series has been released, we can’t speculate on whether the new series will bring in comic Armor Wars characters like Stilt-Man, Shockwave or the Mandroids, but Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer is still alive in the MCU and could definitely be setup as the main protagonist in Armor Wars.
If War Machine is tasked with recovering or destroying Tony’s rogue tech in the series, at least he won’t have to do it alone. With the announcement of an Ironheart live action series coming to the streaming service as well, Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) would more than likely join the series to not only partner with War Machine, but also lead into her own series. In the comics, Riri Williams crafts her own Iron Man suit and gets the attention of Stark and others.
With Armor Wars, it looks like Disney+ and the MCU are looking to continue the legacy of Iron Man on the big and small screen. The series is the perfect vehicle to do that while also moving that legacy into a new direction with Ironheart.
What do you think of an Armor Wars series? What would you like to see in the series? Let me know in the comments below.