Marvel Brings Don Cheadle Back as War Machine in SECRET INVASION and the Skrulls Are "Building in Numbers"
Back in 2020, Marvel announced that Don Cheadle’s War Machine would be getting his own series titled Armor Wars. It was explained at the time the series would focus on what happens when Stark’s advanced technology falls into the wrong hands.
This weekend at Comic-Con, Marvel made lots of big announcements involving the next two phases of The Multiverse Saga, and Armor Wars was not mentioned. Maybe it’s one of the unannounced shows in Phase 6. But, that doesn’t mean we won’t see Don Cheadle back in the role of Jim Rhodes, a.k.a. War Machine! He’s set to appear in Secret Invasion!
Marvel showed off an exclusive trailer for Secret Wars during their big presentation and we got our first look at Cheadle back in the role. He joins a previously announced cast that includes Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Cobie Smulders, Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), Kingsley Ben-Adir (Peaky Blinders), Killian Scott (Love/Hate), Carmen Ejogo (Fantastic Beasts), Christopher McDonald (Ballers), and Olivia Colman (The Crown).
In the footage we saw, Nick Fury returns to Earth, and we learn that he’s been avoiding Maria Hill, who has been trying to get a hold of him for help. Fury is pretty stressed out as Skrulls are causing some big issues on Earth, and Talos is trying to figure out what is going on. In one scene, Rhodey is questioned about his security detail. The trailer also features a lot of Marvel-style action with shapeshifting Skrulls. Then there’s Talos, who wants to know what the Skrulls want from Nick Fury.
When talking about the Skrulls in the series, Smulders shared with CB: "When we think about the world that they're in, the Skrulls have been around since we saw them in Captain Marvel. They've been building in numbers, are they good? Are they bad? We're going to find out in the show. But there's certainly a lot of them and so it sort of turns into this. Can I trust you? Can I not trust you? And it's really cool. It's certainly fraught with a lot of tension."
Secret Invasion will be released on Disney+ in Spring 2023 as part of Marvel's Phase 5 plan.