Summary
Marvel Studios has been a tightly run ship since the inception of theMarvel Cinematic Universe, with strict timelines for releases to keep the overall story flowing. However, recent years have seen lots of changes take place in the MCU, and that has seen several projects, such asBlade, undergo various alterations and delays.
Marvel has a run of important movies coming up. The Fantastic Four are set to make their long-awaited debut in the MCU, while twoAvengersmovies are also in the pipeline. Coming offthe success ofDeadpool & Wolverine, Marvel Studios will be looking to continue in that manner, but the focus on those projects might have come at the expense of another.
According to industry insiderDaniel Richtman, theArmor Warsmovie has now been put on hold. The movie is expected to be released afterAvengers: Secret Wars, which means it will take place in late 2027 at the earliest, but likely in 2028 or beyond, pushing the project back several years. It was also noted that the script is being rewritten and will be an entirely different story from the initial pitch. This is being done due to thebacklash toSecret Invasion, with the Disney Plus miniseries not being well received by critics or fans.
This isn’t the first major change toArmor Wars, which has quicklybecome one of Marvel’s messiest projectsto date. Marvel Studios opted to review its slated projects after several box office failures, andArmor Warswas one of the projects that got tweaked. It was initially set to be a Disney Plus series but was reworked into a movie focusing on Don Cheadle’s War Machine, which has been a key part of the MCU for a long time.
Cheadle himself seemingly had no clue whatthe status ofArmor Warswas when he was pressed about the subject, and the recent delays paint a worrying picture about whether it will ever see the light of day. However, there are many fans eager to see War Machine given a project of his own after so many years of being a supporting character, whether that be in the form of a television series or a movie, as there is a lot of potential with the character from the details that have been built up over the years.
Of course, there is a chance that War Machine will appear in the MCU again before any potential Armor Wars project is finally greenlit. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him involved in some capacity inAvengers: DoomsdayorAvengers: Secret Wars.Marvel’s policy of focusing on quality over quantity in recent yearsappears to have impactedArmor Warsmore than most, but the fact it’s still slated to happen is a positive sign that Marvel still believes it has a place in the future of theMCU, even if it’s going to be years after audiences first expected it.
MCU
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is a sprawling movie and television franchise that weaves together individual stories of superheroes including Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man, Hulk, Black Widow, and many more. The first film in the franchise, Iron Man, was released in 2008. The MCU has garnered critical praise and financial success, earning billions at the box office and becoming a cultural phenomenon.
