Don Cheadle Says War Machine Will Appear In 'Falcon & The Winter Soldier'

The Marvel universe is expanding and about to cross-pollinate itself in a major way. “WandaVision” is on Disney+ now and will lead into “Doctor Strange And The Multiverse of Madness,” and five additional Marvel limited series are scheduled to hit this year. The next one, “The Falcon And The Winter Soldier,” due in March, is tied to the world of Captain America, but also the U.S. government, espionage, and the political side of the MCU, as seen in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and some of the other films. That series centers on its titular characters played by Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, but a new, previously-unknown MCU character is also showing up: Don Cheadle’s War Machine character. In an interview with the Observer, Cheadle said his James “Rhodey” Rhodes will “show up” at some point.

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“That’s some of the fun of the MCU is that we all get to show up now in each other’s stories, and there’s ways that we are cross-platforming these characters,” the Academy Award-nominated actor said. “They become storylines sometimes in the movies, and the storylines in the movies sometimes become storylines in the shows. It’s really fun and interesting.”

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Cheadle will also star in his own series, “Armor Wars,” which centers around the idea of what if Tony Stark’s tech falls into the wrong hands? “By all imagination, it’s completely open-ended; this can go anywhere,” Cheadle said about the MCU’s cross-pollinating ideas. “So, it’s great. I can’t wait to get in the room with the writers and for us to figure out how all those things happen. You know, Rhodey shows up in ‘Winter Soldier and Falcon’s show, so it could be a lot.”

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Of his own “Armor Wars” show, Cheadle said Tony Stark’s death and legacy would factor into the series. “The death of Tony Stark, I’m pretty sure, will play a role in the series,” he said.

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“Where we’ve been sort of progressing Rhodey—even in the last film where he’s now up again, and he’s now walking again, and he’s now mobile again,” he explained. “But really, figuring out a way to bridge what’s happening in the comic books with what’s happening on screen in the MCU and how we’re going to make those worlds work, that’s really exciting.”

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“The Falcon And The Winter Soldier,” is due on Disney+ March 19 and also features MCU spy characters like Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter, Daniel Brühl as Baron Helmut Zemo, and many more. William Hurt‘s Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross U.S. Secretary of State will reprise the role in the upcoming “Black Widow” movie and is expected to appear in ‘Falcon & Winter Soldier.’ Still, none of that is confirmed as of yet.