ARMOR WARS Writer Yassir Lester Weighs in on Marvel's Switch From the Project Being a TV Show to a Film

Way on Marvel’s backburner is the project Armor Wars, which will tell the deeper story of James “Rhodey” Rhodes, aka War Machine, who has been a peripheral character in the MCU so far.

It was four years ago that the project was announced as a Disney+ series, and two years ago that it was reoriented to be a film, and star Don Cheadle has been along for the ride for all of it.

Though even as recently last last week, he was quoted as saying he has no idea what’s going on with the project.

The movie’s writer, Yassir Lester, who originally wrote the script for the series, recently sat down with ComicBook to discuss his upcoming film The Gutter, which he wrote and co-directed with Isaiah Lester, and he was asked about his stance on Armor Wars.

Lester weighed in on the project, and its evolution, saying:

“I think that, like, Marvel is constantly in a state of, like, ‘What is the most interesting?’ And I … honestly believe some of their films should have been series and some of their series should have been films. And I think that they’re taking that more into account, giving that a little bit more thought now.”

On a technical level, Lester claims that there’s been no massive creative disruption by turning Armor Wars from a TV series into a movie, “As long as they haven’t started shooting it yet, it’s kind of like, who cares?” That said, Lester did admit, “I think that the story that I told is a very fun series.”

According to the writer, the biggest change to the Armor Wars MCU project has been having the film simply get to the meat of Col. James Rhodes’s continuing story faster than the long-form character study that would’ve been the TV show. He also hinted that poor reception of Marvel Disney+ series like Secret Invasion may have also been a factor. He explained:

“Given like with Secret Invasion – all these other things [like] the way Rhodey’s story needs to fit into the bigger universe, there is a quicker version that kind of propels him back into the story a little bit quicker, as opposed to a meditation on who the character is.”

When both Yassir and Isaiah Lester were asked if they’d be willing to direct the Armor Wars movie, Isaiah was unabashedly for it, “Absolutely. Absolutely. I will do it. I would do it. Yeah,” but Yassir had a major caveat- the money has to be right. “You know, a lot of people say ‘yes’ or ‘no idea,’ [about] ‘Would you direct a Marvel movie?’ And we’re like: look, what were the Russo brothers paid?”

“Put me in a cave, Marvey, and pay me $50 million. I’ll do whatever you said,” Isaiah added.

But with Cheadle even being in the dark about the project, it doesn’t look like anything is happening anytime soon. Hopefully we get an update in the near future. Are you looking forward to Armor Wars?