Draft:Armor Wars (film)

== Premise ==

== Premise ==

[[James Rhodes (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|James Rhodes / War Machine]] must confront one of [[Tony Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|Tony Stark / Iron Man]]'s greatest fears when Stark's tech falls into the wrong hands.<ref name="DisneyInvestorDay" />

[[James Rhodes (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|James Rhodes]] must confront one of [[Tony Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|Tony Stark]]'s greatest fears when Stark's tech falls into the wrong hands.<ref name="DisneyInvestorDay" />

== Cast ==

== Cast ==

* [[Don Cheadle]] as [[James Rhodes (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|James "Rhodey" Rhodes / War Machine]]:<br />An officer in the [[U.S. Air Force]] and [[Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|Avenger]] who operates the [[War Machine's armor (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|War Machine armor]].<ref name="DisneyInvestorDay" /> New and different types of armor for Rhodes are featured.<ref name="MarvelD232022" /> Cheadle said ''Armor Wars'' would be the first time seeing "who [Rhodes] is and what makes him tick" separate from [[Tony Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|Tony Stark / Iron Man]] and the [[Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|Avengers]].<ref name="CheadleJul2021EW" /><ref name="CheadleOct2021ComicBook" />

* [[Don Cheadle]] as [[James Rhodes (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|James "Rhodey" Rhodes / War Machine]]:<br />An officer in the [[U.S. Air Force]] and [[Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|Avenger]] who operates the [[War Machine's armor (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|War Machine armor]].<ref name="DisneyInvestorDay" /> New and different types of armor for Rhodes are featured.<ref name="MarvelD232022" /> Cheadle said ''Armor Wars'' would be the first time seeing "who [Rhodes] is and what makes him tick" separate from [[Tony Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|Tony Stark]] and the [[Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|Avengers]].<ref name="CheadleJul2021EW" /><ref name="CheadleOct2021ComicBook" />

* [[Walton Goggins]] as [[Sonny Burch (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|Sonny Burch]]: A "low-level criminal-type" who sells technology on the black market<ref name="CheadleComicInspiration" />

* [[Walton Goggins]] as [[Sonny Burch (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|Sonny Burch]]: A "low-level criminal-type" who sells technology on the black market<ref name="CheadleComicInspiration" />

* [[Dominique Thorne]] as [[Riri Williams (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|Riri Williams / Ironheart]]: An [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] student and genius inventor from Chicago who creates a suit of armor that rivals [[Iron Man's armor (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|the one]] built by Stark<ref name="ThorneSeriesCast" />

* [[Dominique Thorne]] as [[Riri Williams (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|Riri Williams / Ironheart]]: An [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] student and genius inventor from Chicago who creates a suit of armor that rivals [[Iron Man's armor (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|the one]] built by Stark<ref name="ThorneSeriesCast" />

At the end of September 2022, Marvel Studios decided to rework the series into a feature film after realizing the story they were trying to tell was better suited as a film than a long-form series. Cheadle remained on board to star and Lester was remaining as the film's writer. The project was no longer expected to make its planned filming start in early 2023.<ref name="ChangeToFilm" /> Marvel Studios executive [[Nate Moore (film producer)|Nate Moore]], who was producing the film with Feige, said the ideas "felt too big" for a series and its limited budget compared to that of a film, which could better portray the "beautiful imagery" of the comic and leverage ideas to affect future films.<ref name="MooreNov2022" /> By January 2024, filming was expected to begin in 2025.<ref name="ProductionWeeklyJan2024" /> That May, Disney CEO [[Bob Iger]] said there would be less Marvel films released a year moving forward as part of Disney's larger strategy to reduce its content output and focus on quality.<ref name="IgerContentOutputMay2024" />

At the end of September 2022, Marvel Studios decided to rework the series into a feature film after realizing the story they were trying to tell was better suited as a film than a long-form series. Cheadle remained on board to star and Lester was remaining as the film's writer. The project was no longer expected to make its planned filming start in early 2023.<ref name="ChangeToFilm" /> Marvel Studios executive [[Nate Moore (film producer)|Nate Moore]], who was producing the film with Feige, said the ideas "felt too big" for a series and its limited budget compared to that of a film, which could better portray the "beautiful imagery" of the comic and leverage ideas to affect future films.<ref name="MooreNov2022" /> By January 2024, filming was expected to begin in 2025.<ref name="ProductionWeeklyJan2024" /> That May, Disney CEO [[Bob Iger]] said there would be less Marvel films released a year moving forward as part of Disney's larger strategy to reduce its content output and focus on quality.<ref name="IgerContentOutputMay2024" />

Cheadle expressed uncertainty about the film's development progress in October 2024 and said it was "going through a lot of changes".<ref name="CheadleOct2024" /> Lester said the change from a series to a film had not been too disruptive since filming had not yet begun. He thought the planned series would have been fun and described it as a "meditation on who the character is", while the film would be "a quicker version that kind of propels [Rhodes] back into the story". He attributed the change to Marvel wanting to find the most interesting version of the story, and to the impacts of ''Secret Invasion'' which Kofi Outlaw at ''[[ComicBook.com]]'' believed was a reference to that series' poor reception. Yassir Lester and his brother Isaiah both expressed interest in directing the film, though Yassir said it would depend on the how much he was paid.<ref name="LesterOct2024" /> In December, Moore announced plans to exit his role at Marvel Studios in March 2025 to pursue producing outside the studio,<ref name="MooreExit" /> and he was no longer involved in ''Armor Wars'' by February 2025. He noted that work on some projects, such as ''Armor Wars'', had slowed down since the studio began reducing content output and focusing on quality.<ref name="NoMoore" /> In June 2025, [[Sam Rockwell]] stated that he had been in talks to reprise his role as [[Justin Hammer (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|Justin Hammer]] from ''[[Iron Man 2]]'' (2010) and ''[[All Hail the King]]'' (2014) with the character still being in prison back when ''Armor Wars'' was set to be a television series, but expressed interest in the project now that it was set to be a film without specifying whether he would still be a part of it or not.<ref name="SamRockwell" />

Cheadle expressed uncertainty about the film's development progress in October 2024 and said it was "going through a lot of changes".<ref name="CheadleOct2024" /> Lester said the change from a series to a film had not been too disruptive since filming had not yet begun. He thought the planned series would have been fun and described it as a "meditation on who the character is", while the film would be "a quicker version that kind of propels [Rhodes] back into the story". He attributed the change to Marvel wanting to find the most interesting version of the story, and to the impacts of ''Secret Invasion'' which Kofi Outlaw at ''[[ComicBook.com]]'' believed was a reference to that series' poor reception. Yassir Lester and his brother Isaiah both expressed interest in directing the film, though Yassir said it would depend on the how much he was paid.<ref name="LesterOct2024" /> In December, Moore announced plans to exit his role at Marvel Studios in March 2025 to pursue producing outside the studio,<ref name="MooreExit" /> and he was no longer involved in ''Armor Wars'' by February 2025. He noted that work on some projects, such as ''Armor Wars'', had slowed down since the studio began reducing content output and focusing on quality.<ref name="NoMoore" />

=== Filming ===

=== Filming ===

<ref name="NoMoore">{{Cite web |last=Blevins |first=Adam |date=February 6, 2025 |title="That's Not My Project": 'Armor Wars' Gets a Confusing Update From Producer |url=https://collider.com/armor-wars-update-nate-moore/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250206212658/https://collider.com/armor-wars-update-nate-moore/ |archive-date=February 6, 2025 |access-date=February 6, 2025 |website=[[Collider (website)|Collider]]}}</ref>

<ref name="NoMoore">{{Cite web |last=Blevins |first=Adam |date=February 6, 2025 |title="That's Not My Project": 'Armor Wars' Gets a Confusing Update From Producer |url=https://collider.com/armor-wars-update-nate-moore/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250206212658/https://collider.com/armor-wars-update-nate-moore/ |archive-date=February 6, 2025 |access-date=February 6, 2025 |website=[[Collider (website)|Collider]]}}</ref>

<ref name="SamRockwell">{{Cite web |last=Peralta |first=Diego |date=June 21, 2025 |title='The White Lotus' Scene-Stealer, 56, Confirms Prior Talks of an MCU Return in 'Armor Wars' |url=https://collider.com/armor-wars-sam-rockwell-confirms-almost-cast/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250622113407/https://collider.com/armor-wars-sam-rockwell-confirms-almost-cast/ |archive-date=June 22, 2025 |access-date=July 4, 2025 |website=[[Collider (website)|Collider]]}}</ref>

<!-- FILMING -->

<!-- FILMING -->