At Disney Investor Day on December 10, 2020, Armor Wars was announced alongside other Marvel projects such as Secret Invasion, Ironheart, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, and Fantastic Four. While none of these projects have yet to debut, it seems that the Disney+ series Armor Wars is the one most forgotten about.
Secret Invasion and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania have wrapped filming and Ironheart was reported to be currently filming, leaving the only two projects from Disney’s Investor Day 2020 up in the air to be Armor Wars and Fantastic Four. Rumors have been buzzing about who may be cast as the Fantastic Four, as well as who may be directing the film but there has been mostly radio silence for Armor Wars since the announcement in August 2021 that Yassir Lester would be the show’s lead writer. Why? We have some theories…
Two Armored Shows
What may be the biggest prevailing theory is that despite announcing them at the same time, Marvel may not be able to focus on two armor-centric shows at the same time. While Armor Wars is said to be about what happens when Tony Stark’s technology falls into the wrong hands, Ironheart is about Riri Williams, a genius inventor who creates the most advanced suit of armor since Iron Man. As Ironheart is already filming, it may be the priority and focus for Marvel right now, rather than the Don Cheadle-led Armor Wars. Though we aren’t sure where either of these shows is headed, what we do know is that Ironheart star Dominique Thorne is confirmed for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is set to debut on November 11, 2022. With this being her character introduction, they may want to get her show out as soon as possible, possibly with a Summer 2023 release.
Cast Delays
To go along with the previous theory, it may be possible that cast delays are the reason for the silence. We can speculate that cast members for Ironheart, such as Dominique Thorne and Anthony Ramos, along with other cast members, may also be involved in Armor Wars, which means that it can’t begin filming until Ironheart wraps. It has also been long-rumored that Walton Goggins would be reprising his role as Sonny Burch from Ant-Man and The Wasp and that Sam Rockwell would be reprising his role as Justin Hammer from Iron Man 2. If those rumors are true, their availability may also be causing delays as Goggins is currently filming the Fallout television series and Rockwell is currently starring on Broadway in American Buffalo.
Production Woes
There are signs that Armor Wars was set to film as far back as 2021. Even though there had been no writer announced at the time, in February 2021, Don Cheadle, while speaking about Armor Wars to Entertainment Tonight, said, “We’re going to start filming in a couple months and we’ll see.” Then after that, Production List updated their listing in March 2021 to say that the Armor Wars filming start date would be April 2021. Of course, we know that it has still not filmed as of June 2022. Is it possible that the show had been ready to film that soon? While it seems unlikely, it may have been. Things are constantly changing in the Marvel Universe, so it is possible that the show was ready but they decided that it needed a complete overhaul and scrapped the original plan.
What We Know About ‘Armor Wars’
Well, truthfully, not much. We know that the name comes from a seven-issue comic arc from Iron Man #225-#232, where Tony Stark discovers that his armor designs were stolen by Justin Hammer and developed for criminals to wear. We also know that elements from this story were already used for Iron Man 2. Of course, with Tony out of the picture, the comic arc may not have a ton of influence on the series with Rhodey as the main character.
Don Cheadle said in July 2021 that Armor Wars would “probably” begin filming in 2022 and that they were just “cracking the story” at that time and figuring out what it would be.
In May 2022, Cheadle said that Armor Wars is “happening soon.” Of course, we can’t be sure what “soon” means, but all signs are currently pointing to the show filming before the end of the year.
Earlier this year, it was confirmed by Samuel L. Jackson on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that Don Cheadle would be reprising his role as James Rhodes in Secret Invasion which currently has no release date but is speculated to be released in Late 2022 or Early 2023. We don’t currently know the size of his role in the Disney+ show, but it is possible that it will somehow tie-in or help lead in to Armor Wars.
Although none of this is confirmed, Marvel may have already started planting the seeds for the show. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, the Department of Damage Control took the Stark Industries Combat Drones as evidence from the Spider-Man and Mysterio fight in Spider-Man: Far From Home. The DoDC also began investigating missing technology from Stark Industries, but they may have taken some for themselves, as in the film, they’re seen leaving Stark Industries with several large semi-trucks. We later see in the film that Happy Hogan was responsible for at least some of the missing Stark Tech, but this could have opened the door for more down the line.
We recently saw the Department of Damage Control in Ms. Marvel Episode 2, using what appears to be two of the Stark Industries Combat Drones. It seems as if they’re using Stark’s technology for themselves. Could they be part of the “wrong hands” that the tech falls in to? While this is all speculation, it is something to think about as we move forward in the MCU.
When Will We Hear More?
As Ironheart films, more information about Armor Wars may come out if the two projects are related but that is completely up in the air at this point. We are also moving into summer convention season, and although Marvel was reported to be skipping San Diego Comic Con, banners have been popping up around the city for She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, indicating that it may have some presence at the convention.
The most likely time for announcements is between September 8 and September 10. Disney is holding a Disney+ Day on September 8. At Disney+ Day 2021, Marvel announced a few new shows, first looks, and updated logos for upcoming series. Armor Wars also received a slightly updated logo, but this change was never reflected on the official Disney+ page or the official Marvel.com page. Depending on if Armor Wars has started filming by then, we may get a first look photo or even another updated logo, but I wouldn’t expect anything more than that.
From September 9 to September 11, Disney will be hosting the 2022 D23 Expo with the Marvel Studios presentation taking place on September 10 to showcase upcoming theatrical and Disney+ titles. If Marvel were to announce anything, such as a director, composer, or additional casting, this would be the place to do it. For now, only time will tell what’s happening with Armor Wars.
