ScreenCrush: The Podcast! - Did Marvel Just CANCEL IRON MAN 4? - Armor Wars Cancellation, Explained

Episode Date: September 19, 2024

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So I'm going to explain everything we know about this and why I think that Marvel made a huge mistake by not prioritizing Armor Wars and making Don Cheatel its franchise. player. I'm even going to walk through an alternate phase four and five where Rodey joins the Dark Avengers. But guys, there is actually still hope here. All hope is not yet lost. There is a possibility that Marvel's recent course correction could include a focus on Rody that could finally give this character his due. Now look, the MCU has made a lot of mistakes over the past few years, but neglecting Rody has been a huge miscalculation. This character has been around since the

first MCU film. Fans love him. He's hilarious. Why don't we just find baby he's played by a world-class Oscar-nominated actor and in the background of these movies he's taken his character on a full journey I wasn't always like this me either but we work with what we got right but the MCU has squandered Rody and his Armor Wars film okay so what's Armour Wars all right so Armour Wars is a project that would focus on War Machine James Rhodes Tony's best friend and the comics, the story is about Tony Stark's technology getting out to the rest of the world, and he has to find a way to put the genie back in the bottle, you know, to keep super villains from

having Iron Man armor. Now, the live-action armor wars would be about James Rhodes coping with the death of Tony Stark, but also trying to keep Tony Stark's legacy alive by trying to contain the technology that his best friend had invented. Now, a war machine movie has been in development since 2011, with Don Cheadle telling Entertainment Weekly in 2019 that Joe Robert Cole's script had a lot of tension between his job as a military, man and his allegiances to the code that he swore an oath to uphold versus, you know, changing the world. And then, at Disney Investor Day on December 10th, 2020, Kevin Feige announced armor wars, and the show became semi-official. But this would actually end up being one of the darkest days

in Disney's history. But why? Well, because then-CEO Bob Chepeck pressured Kevin Feige and Kathleen Kennedy of Lucasfilm to announce projects that were just in the beginning stages of development. Now, this was at the height of the pandemic, and Paycheck just wanted to reassure stockholders that their biggest IPs were still pumping out content. So this is why Lucasfilm announced several projects that never came to fruition, like the Lando TV series, Rangers of the New Republic, or Rogue Squadron. And not for nothing, but Marvel also dropped like four trailers in one day, and that was a shitty thing to do to us YouTubers.

The thing is that studios are always developing a lot of projects like this, but we never actually hear about them until they're ready. So this announcement actually set up Marvel and Lucasfilm to fail. Now, Marvel had to deliver armor wars, whether it was ready or not. And if they didn't deliver the show or movie, well, then it would look like they failed to give us armor wars. Now, from then on, various reports would trickle in. On the Bro Bible podcast, Cheeto said the death of Tony Stark would play a major role in the series. Cheeto even told Entertainment Tonight in February 2021 that the series would start filming in a couple months.

Liar Lester was hired to write this series, but then filming just kept getting pushed back. Until finally, in September 2022, the Hollywood reporter said that the series would be redeveloped as a film. And now there is news from Don Cheadle and leakers that suggest that Armour Wars might not actually happen. And I think it all comes down to Marvel not spending their money in the right places. I mean, you have to spend your money wisely. Hi, I'm from Empty Box Month, a subscription service that sends you an empty box every month. Here's your empty box. Oh, that's fun.

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So again, go to rocketmoney.com slash screencrush rewind to get started today. Now, back to Armour Wars. Don Cheedle recently appeared on the Today Show, and when they asked him about Armour Wars, he replied, Obviously, he's joking, but back home we call that Kidding on the Square, and that is not a good look for this show. And then, very reliable leaker Daniel RPK told the direct, as for Marvel, they have at least five live action series and development. I also hear that a final decision on the fate of Armor Wars and Blade is expected in the coming months. So none of that looks very good for Armor Wars, and I hate this.

So let me explain why the MCU needed Armor Wars in Phase 4. Now look, I do think before I get to start complaining and stuff, that the MCU is on an upswing, overall. They course corrected to prioritize quality over quantity, and they brought the band back together to make sense of the Multiverse saga and Secret Wars. So I don't want to bash the MCU too much, but when you look back over the past few years, Armor Wars really should have been a top priority for the studio. It is unbelievable to me that projects like the Eternals, Agatha, Echo, Moon Knight, hell, even Shang-Chi were prioritized over this story. Armor Wars should have been a linchpin film of Phase 4. Now, like I said earlier, in the comics, it is a

story about Tony losing control. Just like in the films, Tony's always trying to keep his genius from falling into the wrong hands. Now, this theme has been present since the very first Iron Man movie. Tony became Iron Man because terrorists got their hands on his weapons. So, it's a fair question. With Tony Stark gone, who keeps his secrets safe? Who makes sure that people like Justin Hammer don't get their hands on the secrets of time travel? That is the premise of armor wars. Now, Phase 4 had a common theme in all of its projects, grief and legacy. Nearly every project in the phase was about people moving on from the snap or grappling with the past. So Armour Wars is a perfect fit for this theme.

And I think that, just as Falcon and the Winter Soldier was about Sam taking on the mantle of Captain America, Rodey should have eventually become the new Iron Man. I mean, this happens in the comics in the 80s when Tony couldn't control his alcoholism. He asked Rody to be Iron Man for him, and then he was Iron Man for years, until the helmet was too tight and it drove him crazy and Tony had to come back. Comics are weird. So in the original Secret Wars, like, this was not Tony Stark here. was Rody. There's even an issue where Rhodes asked Reed Richards if he was surprised to see there

was a black man underneath the armor. Rody was filled with self-doubt and this overwhelming burden of Iron Man's legacy, which is just like Marvel Studios in Phase 4. It seems like the studio, like Rody, never recovered from the death of Tony Stark. But I am excited for Robert Downey Jr.'s return, which is why we made this Downey Dume shirt in the style of the Obama Hope poster for sale at our merch store. And we also have this brand new, ooh, I'm about to make a name for myself. I'm about to make a name for myself, yeah. Guys, we love designing these shirts for you.

We have lots of fun, MCU-related designs and parody shirts on our website, and shopping our merch store is the best way to directly support our channel. The links are below. Now, while we're on the subject of Rody being underused, I think it's a crime that he has been just relegated to the background for so long. He's always been used just as a support player, someone whose suffering only exists to further the character growth of Tony Stark. Like, we don't know where Rody's from, or his parents' names,

if he has brothers or sisters, or even if he has any other friends. Like, this guy is a blank canvas that a great writer and director team could have formed into a great character and kicked off a revitalized franchise. The MCU could still be making Iron Man movies. And it also seemed like the Iron Man films

were naturally leading us in that direction. In Iron Man 2, Tony Stark is dying. And who does he trust to take his armor? Rode. Yeah, but Rody store the armor after they had a fight. Nah, come on, Tony, let him take it. In fact, Nick Fury basically tells him that in the next scene. You're Iron Man and he just took it?

Is that possible? Well, according to Mr. Stark's database security guidelines, there are redundancies to prevent unauthorized usage. In Iron Man 3, Tony did let the government have use of an Iron Man suit, but only if Rodee was the only person with the password to use it. Give me your login. War machine rocks with an X, all caps. So guys, the MCU had been seeded the story of Armor Wars for years.

It seemed like they were planning on passing the baton to Rody. In fact, when you take a step back and you look at phases four and five, you can see how armor wars really should have been at the center of the story they were telling. Well, look, when you step back and you look at the multiverse saga, I think Marvel made three big mistakes, and these are really no-brainers. Number one, no Avengers films to culminate phases. Number two, obviously trying to do too many things and too many projects. And number three, they didn't prioritize the right characters. Armour Wars before Agatha, I say. Not that I don't want an Agatha show, but come on, it's Rodey.

We should have had a roadie story by now. So first, I want to talk about the lack of Avengers films. Avengers movies were fun because they forced characters to interact who normally wouldn't fit together. Like that first shot of Iron Man and Captain America standing beside each other, that sold the MCU. But Avengers movies were also important because they kept the franchise on the same page. Films like Captain America Civil War, which is basically an Avengers movie,

like those movies informed all of the other movies in the universe. You know where everyone stood, and you can see how all the pieces would fit together. whereas the Multiverse saga has felt very siloed and disconnected. Wanda Vision barely even connected to the Multiverse of Madness with Wanda's character wildly changing off-screen. Have you seen it? And no, they had not seen it because it wasn't finished yet. In fact, Elizabeth Olson even recently told Collider that she would love to return to Scarlet Witch when there's a way to use her well.

She also said, I think that people didn't know what to do with me for a second there. If there's a good way to use her, I'm always happy to come back. Now, look, I will say that if the point of like the Multiverse saga is that the Avengers have been disassembled, then use that. Make that the focus of your story. Like in the comics, following Civil War, Norman Osborne set up a team of Dark Avengers. These were villains or anti-heroes who were opposing as superheroes, and I really, really think the MCU should have done this at the end of Phase 4.

Have the government set up their own team of A-Holes. Maybe Rody could even have been a part of this team, at first. After all, Osborne's Iron Patriot was the leader of the Dark Avengers in the comics, and Rody was the Iron Patriot and Iron Man 3. You see, this experience of leading a team of government-controlled villains would have shown Rody that he cannot blindly serve his government any longer, and this would have been a great setup for Armor Wars. Because, I mean, look at everything else that has happened

that would augment this Armor War story. In Spider-Man No Way Home, the government sees Stark technology, and then we saw damage control using Stark drones irresponsibly in Ms. Marvel. Like, the pieces are all there. Armor Wars should be about Rody realizing that this technology had been leaked, and then he's working to track it down. Maybe he discovers somebody flying an Iron Man suit up in Boston, so he investigates,

and then he finds out that Riri Williams made her suit in a garage from a box of scraps. That would have been a much more natural setup for Ironheart than Wakanda Forever. You see, in the past few years, Marvel has rushed to set up new characters, but then failed to give those characters any kind of follow-through, no Shang-Chi sequel. And then they squeezed Iron Heart into Wakanda Forever to set up a show that wouldn't even come out for four years. Whereas she would have been a perfect fit for Armour Wars. Like in the comics, Riri is a genius teenager from the rough part of Chicago.

She invents her own Iron Man suit at MIT, and then she gets expelled for it. But then her mentor is an AI version of Tony Stark, who trusts her to continue on after Tony's death. Now, imagine you take that story and you mirror it with Don Cheadle's arc in armor wars. Don Cheadle is trying to figure out who can be trusted with Iron Man technology, who can carry on the legacy. And lo and behold, there's Riri Williams, who can not only continue on Iron Man's legacy as a genius, but as a superhero. And look, I know that making movies and TV shows is difficult, and I know that I am armchair quarterbacking here. Kevin Feige has been under an enormous amount of pressure to pump out more content under the, the Chepec regime. As noted in the book, the reign of Marvel Studios,

Feige achieved creative control, but not necessarily quality control. But you have to admit, guys, that Secret Invasion really did this character dirty. Rody as a scroll should have been a huge turning point, a moment that shocked us out of our seats, but instead was revealed over a phone call. I need to speak to grab it. Yeah, well, you're talking to me. And, you know, why was Rody a scroll? It's like they made a list of characters who could be scrolls who didn't have any movies on at the time and who they thought they could get to play them super cheap. And look, I know I dunk on Secret Invasion a lot. But this show is a mess behind the scenes, with reported reshoot so massive that they basically shot the show twice, with the series ballooning to a cost of more than 200 million

overall, which is a lot, considering the bulk of the series seems like it was filmed in little rooms and hallways. But the good news is that Marvel has course corrected. They are no longer under pressure to make content. Instead, they have a mandate to tell stories. The TV division has been reorganized to reflect traditional TV structure, and Avengers Doomsday is going to breathe new life into the Multiverse saga. Unfortunately, though, when you cut back on some movies and TV shows, some projects have to get cut. And it looks like Marvel never really knew what to do with Don Cheatel or with War Machine. Like, here's how he reacted to the news that Robert Downey Jr. was back in Doomsday. He told Collider, I was like, what the f***? Everything is clay right now. They're rewriting,

they're reworking, and so I honestly can't even tease anything. Like, I'm still holding out hope that Armor Wars gets fast-tracked. Like Secret Invasion for all its flaws, was a great setup for armor wars. Imagine Rody, who has been in a coma since the events of Civil War, waking up to discover that the government has seized Stark drones and stark technology. Imagine a Rody who is suddenly realizing that without him or Tony Stark, the world has suddenly fallen to shit. Imagine that Rody is a person who has to lead the Avengers into killing a variant of his best friend, or that Rody is the only one who can get into Downy Doom's head and save the multiverse. Marvel has a chance here to let Don Cheadle be the center of their saga, and I really hope that they do not waste that

chance again. But guys, that's just my thoughts. Let me know what you think down in the comments below or you can at me on X Twitter. And if it's your first time here, please subscribe and smash that bell for alerts. For Screen Crush, I'm Ryan Erie.