Could A.I. Tony Stark Appear in Armor Wars?
During a Q&A session during the Credit Suisse 23rd Annual Communications Conference, Bob Chapek, the CEO of The Walt Disney Company, suggested that for fans who want more Iron Man, the upcoming Disney+ Marvel Cinematic Universe series Armor Wars will “scratch the itch”!
'Armor Wars' will 'scratch the itch that our fans have for more Iron Man,' says Disney CEO 👀 pic.twitter.com/7j78SPz1gu
— Fandom (@getFANDOM) June 14, 2021
Are You Iron Man?
The previously announced series will star Don Cheadle reprising the role of James Rhodes, A.K.A. Iron Patriot and/or War Machine, and follow a plotline that sees Stark’s proprietary technology at risk of falling into the wrong hands (no word on whether or not Justin Hammer will be returning, but we can dream).
Iron Patriot. Photo: Marvel
In regards to the Marvel Studios franchises, the presenter of the conference asked Chapek if Iron Man would be returning at some point, and Chapek’s response: just wait for Iron Patriot.
Well, tell your Marvel fan that we’ve got a series called Armor Wars coming up, starring Don Cheadle as War Machine. And I think that will probably scratch the itch that our fans have for more Iron Man.
Chapek also noted that the Marvel Studios creative team is really excited by the possibility of adding new characters to the existing Marvel Cinematic Universe canon, saying:
Well, always learn not to underestimate our creative teams, particularly our Marvel creative teams. We’ve got 8,000 characters that we have to mine and you’d say, well, 8,000 characters, who knows what these 8,000 characters are? Take Loki for example, Loki was the most watched season premier, ever on Disney+ during its opening week. And no one knew who Loki was, even when we started. And I think that speaks to the fact that our creatives really can take something in this universe, in this mythology and really bring it to life through interconnected tissue and interconnected storytelling. [edited for clarity]
With so many characters in the Marvel Multiverse, and so many Iron Mans that have yet to be introduced on-screen, will we be seeing A.I. Tony Stark in Armor Wars?
Tony Stark A.I. Photo: Marvel Comics
I Was Iron Man
The role of the MCU’s Tony Stark was originated by Robert Downey, Jr. in the 2008 movie that launched a whole multiverse: Iron Man.
Photo: Marvel Studios
After reprising the role in many of the 23 movies that comprise the first four phases of the MCU, including 2012’s The Avengers, and two more solo Iron Man movies, the character sacrificed himself during the battle against Thanos in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.
Since then, Downey has kept plenty busy, spearheading The FootPrint Coalition and serving as an executive producer for Sweet Tooth, the Netflix streaming series that was released on June 4th, 2021.
SWEET TOOTH CHRISTIAN CONVERY as GUS in episode 107 of SWEET TOOTH. Photo: KIRSTY GRIFFIN/NETFLIX
And you’ll be seeing him on screen again, soon (and not just in flashback cameos on Loki): he will be returning to voice a Tony Stark Variant for the upcoming What If…? animated series on Disney+, arriving later this summer!
I Am Holographic Iron Man
However, just because Tony Stark is dead in the Sacred Timeline doesn’t mean that we won’t see more of him in the MCU. For one thing, as we already saw in Endgame, it’s possible that the character could return in hologram form – which echoes a storyline related to Riri Williams (A.K.A. Ironheart, who is getting her own Disney+ show soon).
Photo: Marvel Studios
It isn’t currently clear where on the timeline Armor Wars will be set, but as you can see, there’s more than one way that Stark could appear, no matter when it’s set.
What do you hope to see when Armor Wars arrives, Marvel Blog True Believers? Let us know in the comment section!
