Armor Wars: Everything we know – cast, plot & more

Cameron Frew
Armor Wars logo

Here’s everything we know so far about Armor Wars, Don Cheadle’s solo MCU movie, including whether there’s a release date and trailer, cast, plot, and other details.

Boom, you looking for this? When the Marvel Cinematic Universe launched with Iron Man in 2008, Rhodey was played by Terrence Howard, who famously quipped, “Next time, baby” while looking at the suits at the end of the film.

He was recast for Iron Man 2, with Don Cheadle stepping in and becoming a fan-favorite, not to mention a key player in Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Endgame.

Now, War Machine is set for his own movie – so here’s what we know about Armor Wars, including details about its release date, cast, and plot.

Armor Wars: Is there a release date?

While Armor Wars doesn’t have an official release date at the time of writing, we can expect it to be released sometime in 2024, if not 2025.

Armor Wars has switched around a bit. It began development in 2011 as a movie, before Kevin Feige announced it would be a Disney+ series instead in 2020.

Now, as per The Hollywood Reporter, Armor Wars is being redeveloped as a feature film that will be released theatrically. And after being held back by a long development process. the film is reportedly finally about to begin shooting in April of this year.

“After 2 years in development hell, Armor Wars will begin filming in April 2023, and will last for 4 months, until August 2023.”

Cheadle will next appear in Secret Invasion alongside Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn, which is due for release in 2023.

Armor Wars: Is there a trailer?

No, there isn’t a trailer for Armor Wars at the time of writing. We’ll update this space once it’s been shared online, but it will likely be a while before we see any footage.

You can watch the latest trailer for Secret Invasion below for a glimpse at the return of Don Cheadle’s Rhodey:

Armor Wars cast: Who’s in it?

Don Cheadle will star as Colonel James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes, aka War Machine, in Armor Wars.

Walton Goggins is also expected to appear as Sonny Burch, who originally debuted in Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Other cast members haven’t been announced at the time of writing, but given the film’s title, one could expect Sam Rockwell to return as Justin Hammer.

Armor Wars plot: What’s it about?

Marvel’s official synopsis reads: “What happens if Tony Stark’s tech falls into the wrong hands? Don Cheadle returns to the role as James Rhodes – AKA War Machine – who must face these tech consequences in this classic Marvel story.”

It’s believed the plot will be based on a seven-issue Iron Man arc of the same name, published between 1987 and 1988. It follows Tony Stark after he discovers his technology has been stolen by Spymaster and sold to Justin Hammer.

The Armor Wars logo

Speaking to Phase Zero at D23, Cheadle said we’ll see how Rhodey is affected by the death of Tony in the movie.

“[Rhodey is] at a very different place in a way that is something that I can’t talk about, 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.

“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.

“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.”

We’ll update this article upon further announcements.

About The Author

Cameron is Deputy TV and Movies Editor at Dexerto. He's an action movie aficionado, '80s obsessive, and Oscars enthusiast. He loves Invincible, but he's also a fan of The Boys, the MCU, The Chosen, and much more. You can contact him at cameron.frew@dexerto.com.