Marvel Studios announced back in December that they would be moving forward with a War Machine series led by Don Cheadle. Armor Wars would be directly inspired by the classic Iron Man comic book story that sees a heap of armor suited villains coming out of the woodwork.
On Friday, it was revealed by The Hollywood Reporter that the series has finally landed a head writer with Black Monday writer/producer/actor Yassir Lester landing the gig. Cheadle leads Black Monday, which is a comedic take on the world of Wall Street and the show is essentially of the more bonkers things on television.
Lester could also land a supporting role given his acting career, but that remains to be seen and it’s interesting that Cheadle will be reuniting with a creative from Black Monday, will they pursue directors as well?
An interesting element of the comic book run of Armor Wars is that Justin Hammer is part of the story and would allow Marvel to bring back Sam Rockwell.
We’ll likely have to wait a little longer to know when Marvel Studios plans to announce a target release date or cast members/characters that will appear. I think there is a good shot we’ll see Iron Man baddies such as Crimson Dynamo, Titanium Man, and many others finally getting their live-action adaptation.
I wouldn’t be shocked if Sharon Carter/The Power Broker and Riri Williams/Ironheart showing up in the project.
While we know that Marvel’s Armor Wars series will see Don Cheadle’s War Machine finally getting his own solo project and will seemingly adapted the Iron Man storyline from the comics, we’re still sort in the dark concerning returning characters and who is exactly working on the show.
Don Cheadle recently spoke with Collider and mentioned they’re still only in the early development stage on Armor Wars.
“All I know is that we’re going to go into the room in a couple of weeks and actually start trying to break the spine of the story and figure out who, what, when, and where for all of it. It’s super early in the development stages so I couldn’t even spoil it if I wanted to. I don’t know what happens,” Don Cheadle said of Armor Wars’ current status at Marvel Studios.
The actor landed an Emmy nomination for his brief cameo in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier (has confused Don Cheadle just like the rest of us) and there is a good shot that we might see some connections to Armor Wars. At the end of the series, we see a villainous version of Sharon Carter revealed as The Power Broker, the show’s shadowy puppet master trying to get their hands on the super-soldier serum and willing to kill to get her hands on it.
Could The Power Broker move on to Stark Tech and armor suits?
Sharon Carter was able to keep her secret from the heroes and has now return to the U.S. with her access to government projects potential means that she’ll attempt to sell secrets/technology to whoever she was planning on selling the serum to before The Flag Smashers ended that. Interestingly enough, Carter and Rhodey have a connection of sorts. They both wore the Iron Patriot armor and the end scene could telegraph that she might want to get her hands on things like Stark technology and possibly doing a tight-rope act by trying to acquire stuff under the nose of the government and War Machine.
In the comics, the big antagonist is Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer and considering he was thrown in prison after the events of Iron Man 2, it’s unlikely that he’s been able to keep his government contract. But, Hammer could be the person Sharon Carter looks to build and repair the Stark Tech as he’s one of the few people that has got their hands on the suits when he was assigned by the government to put together War Machine in Iron Man 2.
They established Madripoor as a no-mans-land for all sorts of criminal enterprises and might be a location they could be building/selling armor suits to various high-end buyers looking to get their own advanced weapons systems. Carter moving between American and Madripoor could be extremely fun because that setting needs to be further explored along with how she operates over there.
I wouldn’t be that shocked if we see Carter and Hammer working together in Armor Wars, we’ll likely see Thunderbolt Ross and Val causing headaches as well.
Yesterday, fans discovered the possibility of Namor (Prince of Atlantis) villain Gargantos being involved in a fight sequence in Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness. It felt like a big hint that Namor is coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe or even the Doctor Strange sequel after Scott Derrickson had teased on Twitter before deleting the post and exiting the film leading to rewrites from Michael Waldron (Loki).
Despite believable rumors of Namor (alongside other characters) showing up in Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Atlantis and Wakanda having battled each other before), neither the trades nor Marvel Studios have confirmed this exciting potential. Given that Angela Bassett told Entertainment Tonight there have been at least five versions of the script means that things could have been tweaked/changed over the last year or two.
“There have been about five incarnations of the script and I hear another one’s coming,” Bassett said of the script development of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
While the Darkhold (book of dark magic) is being introduced in WandaVision and should play a large role in Doctor Strange 2, we could be seeing more dangerous items falling into the wrong hands.
The addition of Gargantos may mean another dangerous McGuffin could be coming to the MCU as well. As the comic that featured Gargantos included the former ruler of Atlantis, Naga of Lumeria. The Lumerians are sort of antagonists to the Atlanteans, and their leader Naga wears an object of interest of Marvel Comics, the Serpent Crown. Interestingly enough, Captain America: The Winter Soldier gave them a brief nod with the SHIELD ship in the opening sequence being called The Lumerian Star (seemingly a HYDRA operation).
The Serpent Crown has connections to various villains such as Mephisto (Marvel’s cosmic version of the Devil), Ophelia Sarkissian aka Viper, The Serpent Society (once led by Sarkissian), and the aforementioned Naga of Lumeria.
In the comics, Scarlet Witch, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and the Thing teamed up to fight against Quasar, who was possessed by the Serpent Crown.
The Serpent Society connection is a big standout here. Mainly, because it was the fake title (Captain America: Serpent Society) used before Kevin Feige announced that they would be making Captain America: Civil War and announced the casting of Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa/Black Panther. There had been reports that The Falcon & The Winter Soldier head writer Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson had been assigned to write Captain America 4, assumed to star Anthony Mackie. So, setting up the Serpent Society as a threat or giving clues to the Serpent Crown beforehand would be a good way to go.
The Serpent Society has a connection to Lumeria, which makes the Lumerian Star tease in Captain America: The Winter Soldier even more interesting given that it was controlled by HYDRA. Viper, also goes by the codename Madame Hydra. They could easily become the successors to HYDRA and make for foes for Sam Wilson’s new Captain America or even the Thunderbolts.
I wouldn’t be that shocked if Val (was an incarnation of Madame Hydra in the comics) or Sharon Carter’s Power Broker are part of this MCU incarnation of The Serpent Society, given that Viper once controlled the island nation of Madripoor, which seemingly we’ll be revisiting in the future possibly in Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings.
Roxxon’s Hugh Jones (who appeared in Agents of SHIELD) attempted to use the Serpent Crown to gain control of the U.S. government in the comics, it’s possible the MCU could reboot that character as they have with the Darkhold in WandaVision. The Loki series, that gave us a true introduction to The Multiverse, featured Roxxon’s Walmart proxy Roxxcart.
I guess we’ll have to wait on March 25, 2022 to known for sure if Namor, Atlantis, and The Serpent Crown are coming.
*WARNING! MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE FALCON & THE WINTER SOLDIER*
Yesterday, saw Marvel Studios release the finale for Falcon & Winter Soldier and cemented that Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson has moved from the Falcon persona to taking on the Captain America mantle from Steve Rogers. It was also reported that the studio isn’t wasting any time and has assigned screenwriters for Captain America 4 with Falcon’s Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson said to be working on a script.
I’m getting a strong feeling that Don Cheadle’s War Machine series Armor Wars could plant seeds for this upcoming Captain American sequel alongside the film’s potential threat. If you remember we saw Don Cheadle appear as Rhodey in the first episode of Falcon & Winter Soldier when Wilson donates the shield to the Smithsonian exhibit. I don’t think it was an accident that the two shared a moment in that first episode as Falcon and Armor Wars might be connected leading up to the events in Captain America 4.
Armor Wars will see James Rhodes crackdown on a wave of Stark technology getting into the black market and allows him to interact with a heap of Iron Man villains that likely wouldn’t have made the cut in feature films. Baddies such as Crimson Dynamo, Titanium Man, and others could finally get their live-action adaption alongside other canon-fodder characters. There could also be a link towards the introduction of Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams, who will be leading her own series Ironheart.
Armor Wars’ villains could be familiar faces with Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer, who featured predominately in the comic book the show is based on and if I had to guess could easily step-in for Norman Osborn in the Dark Avengers. You might remember that he turned War Machine into Iron Patriot for Iron Man 2, the armor was used by Osborn and briefly by Sharon Carter in the comics. I wouldn’t be shocked if Hammer is recruited into the Thunderbolts potentially combining Dark Avengers with Thunderbolts into a single entity. Traditionally, Baron Zemo is the leader but there are been multiple incarnations and the MCU does it’s own thing.
Speaking of Carter, it was revealed in Falcon & Winter Soldier that she was the mysterious arms dealer The Power Broker and is now going to use her newly returned access to government weapons programs for her benefit. There is a good shot that Sharon and Justin might join forces to get their hands on Stark’s armor tech.
Zemo crushed The Power Broker’s attempt to recreate the super-soldier serum and could attempt to help take-out villains that want to get their hands on Stark’s armor tech as well. At the end of Falcon, we see Zemo’s butler killing a batch of Flag Smashers that were heading to The Raft, suggesting that he’s still dangerous even behind bars.
We currently don’t know what Marvel is planning to do with Captain America 4, but it’s worth noting that the last installment, Captain America: Civil War, was essentially an Avengers event. There is a good chance that with Falcon & Winter Soldier out of the way they can now give Sam Wilson a massive blockbuster as he takes over the Captain America franchise.
One of the main attributes of the Captain America films is that Steve Rogers has fellow superheroes working alongside him with Bucky/Peggy Carter/The Howling Commandos in Captain America: The First Avenger, Black Widow/Falcon/Nick Fury in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Bucky/Falcon/Scarlet Witch/Hawkeye/Ant-Man/Sharon Carter in Captain America: Civil War. Seeing Rhodey and Sam further develop their relationship or even partner up in the future wouldn’t be surprising given their military backgrounds and both taking on superhero mantles.
Could the next Captain America film also become some Avengers event movie like Civil War?
A new Avengers roster is being assembled before our eyes by Marvel with Sam Wilson becoming Captain America, Rhodey is essentially taking up the Iron Man mantle from Tony Stark, Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster aka Lady Thor, Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova becoming Black Widow, Tatiana Maslany’s Jennifer Walters aka She-Hulk, a new yet-to-be announced Black Panther for the sequel shooting this summer, Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop aka Hawkeye, and Danny Ramirez’s Joaquin Torres taking Sam’s spot as Falcon. How this might intersect with plans for the Young Avengers and Thunderbolts remains to be seen.
Armor Wars dropping hints for the Thunderbolts/Dark Avengers to appear in future films like Captain America 4 could be great way to have things escalate for Sam’s first film as the new Cap and sort of amp things up in comparison to the Disney+ show.
John Walker becomes U.S. Agent
Wyatt Russell’s John Walker becoming U.S. Agent remains a bit of mystery if he’s going to be part of the MCU’s version of Thunderbolts or will become a pawn of The Serpent Society (faux title for Captain America 3), Zola, and the Mandarin’s Ten Rings. It likely comes down to the intentions of his new boss Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Julia was originally supposed to appear first as Val in Black Widow before the pandemic delayed the film’s release from May 2020 to July 2021. There are already suggestions that she’ll have some connection to Yelena joining the Thunderbolts but that needs to be confirmed. It’s confirmed that Florence Pugh is reprising the role in the Hawkeye series that could also have links to Thunderbolts.
Walker could return for Armor Wars as he teamed-up with The Jury and that group could be replaced with whoever ends up getting bootleg Stark-tech, potentially Val and Justin Hammer. I’d personally like to see The Serpent Society because they would make an excellent surrogate for a modern version of HYDRA and give Sam plenty of villains to battle for the next couple of years.
Thunderbolt Ross might become a very important figure in the very near future and there is a possibility he might appear in Armor Wars given that Rhodey could be activated under Ross’ supervision.
It could be interesting to see the new Avengers going head-to-head against a competing team like the Thunderbolts/Dark Avengers, who would likely be made up multiple villains selected by Thunderbolt Ross at The Raft. Ross himself is a member of a recent version of the team as Red Hulk, a character aspect that could be explored in the She-Hulk series. He’s always been lurking behind the scenes as a government stooge and helped create the Abomination. Having Ross spearheading Thunderbolts as his namesake would make a lot of sense and it’s starting to feel like Phase 4 is leading up to the two teams clashing on the big screen.
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE FALCON & THE WINTER SOLDIER
Marvel’s The Falcon & The Winter Soldier has finally ended it’s six episode run and while I feel the last episode was a little long for my liking, it did seem to streamline an ending that opens a bunch of doors for multiple character returns.
We see Baron Zemo conducting super-soldier busting while being behind a cell in Thunderbolt Ross’ super-max prison The Raft, killing four of the captured Flag-Smashers while they were on their way to The Raft as Zemo’s butler seemed to be the one that executed them with a bomb.
Only time will tell if we’ll see Daniel Bruhl return to the role in some Thunderbolts project down the line.
The cat is finally out of the bag and it’s been revealed that Emily VanCamp’s Sharon Carter is indeed The Power Broker, something that has been long suspected and the actress even commented on the theory not too long ago. While this turn might have perplexed some assuming that she was being given a second shot at a heroic run in the MCU, it’s not that dissimilar to that of other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents such as Jasper Sitwell, who seemed level-headed good guys until they were outed as HYDRA cohorts hiding within the ranks of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
To suggest that Sharon had a strong character arc in the Captain America films would be disingenuous and while people might not like the angle Marvel took with her in Falcon, it finally gave the actress something to do outside of being a glorified cameo doing random things off-screen only to be completely forgotten when it came to Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
Luckily for Sharon, she killed Batroc The Leaper before he was able to expose her secret and also shoots Karli Morgenthau. In the wake of the assassination attempts in New York City, Sharon Carter is given a full pardon in a post-credit scene and is speaking with someone that she now has access to intel/government weapons programs now that she is officially back on U.S. soil.
Could this hint to Sharon Carter’s involvement in Armor Wars?
While Sam Wilson’s costume (via Wakanda) reveal was spoiled by the toys it was interesting to see how faithful to the comic book design it was and that he’s decided not to take the super-soldier serum, which should be interesting moving forward given that Captain America is now going to be a tech-based superhero. I’m guessing everything he’s wearing is vibraium which should at least protect him from most weapons.
Another interesting thing is that we see Sam return to the home of Isaiah and Eli Bradley taking them to Smithsonian to reveal that Isaiah’s story will be told and history will remember him as he gets his own exhibit alongside Steve Rogers. While there had been rumblings Eli joining a Young Avengers project, there doesn’t seem to be any signs that he has any superpowers in his current state.
I have to assume that with Sam’s new super-suit and being established as the new Cap, we’ll get some sort of announcement concerning Captain America 4 moving forward at the studio.
We see Bucky make amends crossing-off the last name on his list and ending his therapy. I wouldn’t be shocked if he has a supporting role in future Captain America films alongside Mackie or is given a solo project at some point.
John Walker’s time as U.S. Agent begun as Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Val has outfitted him with a new costume and is giving him a second chance, however, her true intentions haven’t been revealed or who she is ultimately working for. Val seeming makes a statement suggesting she’s aware of how bonkers things will be getting with the Skrulls/Secret Invasion but doesn’t elaborate.
There are still some loose ends going on as we don’t know if Joaquin Torres is going to follow in Sam’s footsteps as the new Falcon and if Steve Rogers is really dead, it’s been suggested twice he’s on the Moon. Given S.W.O.R.D.’s upcoming presence in Captain Marvel 2 and Secret Invasion, I wouldn’t be shocked if they’ve established a base on the surface of the Moon leading to believe he’s up there. Nobody seems to talk about Steve being dead or a funeral, given we saw on-screen funerals for Peggy Carter and Tony Stark they would unlikely do that off-screen. Leaving things open is likely being done on purpose.
What did you think about the series and it’s finale?
As fans attempt to figure out who the mysterious Power Broker is in Marvel’s The Falcon & The Winter Soldier. The Hollywood Reporter was able to speak with actress Emily VanCamp on the “theory” that former S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Sharon Carter is in fact the villain dealing in super-soldier serum.
VANCAMP: “I think that’s a great theory. (Laughs.) I obviously can’t say anything. I’ve also been saying, ‘Yes, there are three episodes left, but there are characters yet to be seen, which is also exciting.’ But I think it’s great that there are things swirling out there. Can I confirm that? No, 100 percent not. But you never know.”
Sharon Carter certainly has reasons to be angry with both the U.S. government and the Avengers, as she mentioned in Episode 3 that she had been on the run since the events of Captain America: Civil War. In that film, Carter aided international fugitives and we didn’t see what she was up to between Civil War and Endgame, a lot of things could have happened to her in this period of time. Hiding out in Madripoor and suddenly being aware the trio arrived on the island seemed a little too convenient, unless she was tipped off by someone else.
I have my suspensions the Power Broker could end up being Tim Roth’s Emil Blonsky aka Abomination, given he’s expected to have a major role in the She-Hulk series and has taken the super-soldier serum himself in The Incredible Hulk. Blonsky would also seemingly be aware of the serum supply that Thunderbolt Ross (Ross gave him the serum) has and potentially could have acquired classified information about people like Isaiah Bradley over the years.
Although, someone like Tim Blake Nelson’s Dr. Samuel Sterns aka The Leader could just easily be interested in the serum too. Tim recently starred in HBO’s hit sequel series Watchmen.
Episode 1 ended with the U.S. government selecting Wyatt Russell’s John Walker as the new Captain America and in Episode 2 we see a little background on the character giving him a little bit of personality. Walker also has his own sidekick with Battlestar being confirmed. However, his existence seems to irk both Sam and Bucky as the latter is frustrated that Wilson turned down the shield letting an outsider take over Steve’s mantle which went against his wishes.
We see most of The Flash Smashers have been enhanced with the super-soldier serum and are on the run from The Power Broker, a Marvel villain that has been teased in the end credits. This might suggest the masked group might not be as villainous as they’ve been made out to be and are trying to keep themselves one step ahead of the real villain. The Power Broker threatening to kill them.
Bucky reveals to Sam that there was another secret super-soldier, Isaiah Bradley, played by Carl Lumbly and there is an assumption that Elijah Richardson was playing Isaiah’s grandson Eli Bradley aka Patriot. It’s mentioned that Bucky and Bradley came to blows during the Korean War along with the horrible revelation that he was thrown into prison to rot for 30 years. Sam is horrified that nobody knew that Bradley existed and there are overtones that Isaiah being a black man played a role to the government keeping that a secret.
Walker and Battlestar are keen to work with Bucky and Sam but the two established characters seem to be reluctant to do so. At the end of the episode our two protagonists attempt to get more answers from Zemo, who is still locked-up. Something is going to happen because we’ve seen multiple set photos and footage Zemo out in the world.
I’ll be curious to see if Walker, Zemo, and The Power Broker are connected.
I also wouldn’t be shocked to see the Bradley family has a link to Erin Kellyman’s Karli.
THE RONIN 