‘Armor Wars’: Marvel Hires ‘Black Monday’s Yassir Lester As Head Writer

Marvel Studios has long toyed with the idea of solo movies for supporting characters, but most of those ideas migrated to limited series for television on Disney+. “Hawkeye” is one of those coming in November, and another one announced in December is “Armor Wars,” a vehicle for Don Cheadle’s War Machine character. In the classic “Iron Man” storyline from the comic books, Tony Stark’s technology falls into the hands of some really nasty people leading to him tracking down multiple armored villains (Crimson Dynamo and Titanium Man are good candidates). In this version, Cheadle’s James “Rhodey” Rhodes will step in for Stark.

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And now the project is moving forward as Marvel Studios has hired another writer of a hit comedy series to help shape their television side of the MCU. The Hollywood Reporter reveals the studio has tapped “Black Monday” writer/co-producer Yassir Lester as the head writer of the show; a familiar face to lead actor Don Cheadle who stars on that Emmy-nominated Showtime comedy series. The duo clearly knows each other well from “Black Monday,” and it’s very possible that Cheadle pushed for his involvement.

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While Lester is only mentioned as the head writer, he’s well-known as an on-screen comedic actor, and taking a supporting role on “Armor Wars” wouldn’t be that surprising given he acted alongside Cheadle on “Black Monday” and Marvel’s recent trend of hiring comedians for roles big and small.

“Armor Wars” also hopefully opens the door for Oscar-winner Sam Rockwell‘s Justin Hammer from “Iron Man 2” to make a glorious return to the MCU as he’s an antagonist in the comic book incarnation and was the one who attempted to trick out the War Machine armor.

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Given the machinations of this story, it’s not hard to speculate that Emily VanCamp‘s Sharon Carter/Power Broker could appear, using her government access to sell Stark Tech on the black market as exactly teased at the end of “The Falcon & The Winter Soldier.”

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Dominque Thorne‘s Riri Williams is officially making her debut in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and could also easily have a connection to “Armor Wars” given that Williams builds her own armor suit to become “Ironheart.” The connectivity of the MCU allows the two to cross paths on their respective shows.

Hiring Lester suggests that Marvel will hopefully tap into Don Cheadle’s comedic chops for “Armor Wars.”