Years ago, before the Marvel Cinematic Universe was comprised of 21 films (soon to be 22), the idea of what direction the characters and stories would take looked pretty different. One of those differences goes back before 2013, when you could count the MCU films on one hand, when writer Joe Robert Cole was hired to develop a “War Machine” spin-off film that would star Don Cheadle. Unfortunately, that film was eventually scrapped. Now, Cheadle is opening up about what that film could have looked like.
Speaking to EW, Cheadle described the development of the spin-off film, which would later be scrapped after “Iron Man 3” took shape.
“We kicked it around a bit,” Cheadle revealed. “There was definitely going to be 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 the changing world.”
He added, “I think they probably would have run afoul of each other a little bit, but I don’t know if he would have been a straight fugitive, or if he would have become decommissioned. But there was definitely going to be some tension between those two worlds.”
Obviously, when we talk about most films that never get made, there’s always the “What If?” aspect of the conversation. However, things are different with the MCU. Of course, it would have been interesting to see what “War Machine” could have been, but the adventures of the character (and Cheadle) in the MCU has continued through that time, with Rhodey becoming a major part of the cinematic universe.
And we can’t be upset about Cole losing the job either, considering he would go on and help create the massive blockbuster “Black Panther.” It would appear that both men landed on their feet and are enjoying the MCU spoils.