Avengers: Endgame's Original War Machine Plan Would Have Fixed 1 Failed Phase 4 Series

If Marvel Studios had realized its plans for War Machine in Avengers: Endgame, one of the lowest-rated projects in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Secret Invasion, might have gone very differently. Although Terrence Howard brought United States Air Force Colonel and Stark Industries' liaison James "Rhodey" Rhodes to life in Iron Man, Don Cheadle took over the role from Iron Man 2. Since then, Rhodey has grown stronger as the armored superhero War Machine, but Marvel has recently let him down.

War Machine fought in Iron Man 3 and Avengers: Age of Ultron before joining the Avengers in Captain America: Civil War and fighting Thanos (Josh Brolin) in Avengers: Infinity War, Captain Marvel's post-credits scene, and Avengers: Endgame. The latter almost had bigger plans for Rhodey, but these didn't come to fruition. If they had, his subsequent appearances in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Secret Invasion would have been far better, and his future would be clearer.

Avengers: Endgame Almost Made Huge Changes to Rhodey

After Thanos used the Infinity Stones to wipe out half the population of the universe at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, and the surviving Avengers ended his life in the Garden, Avengers: Endgame skipped forward in time five intense years. During this time, the world of the MCU underwent massive changes — Bruce Banner merged his Hulk and human personas; Tony Stark and Pepper Potts became parents; Scott Lang was trapped in the Quantum Realm; and Thor fell into a deep depression.

Unlike them, some characters were hardly changed during this five-year time-jump, including War Machine. Avengers: Endgame writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely — the latter of whom is returning for Avengers: Doomsday — revealed to ComicBook in 2019 that there were bigger plans for Rhodey, however. "We took it out because it didn’t have any story weight," Markus revealed. "But I believe that during one draft, in the five-year jump, Rhodie became vice president."

Promoting Rhodey to Vice President of the United States would have brought about a monumental change for the character, the biggest since his recast in 2010. This would have given audiences more insight into life, politics, and society during the Blip, which has barely been explored by Marvel Studios, and would have given Don Cheadle a role with more substance. This change would have had far-reaching implications for the MCU, too.

Rhodey Being Vice President Would Have Made Secret Invasion Much Better

If James Rhodes had become Vice President of the United States in Avengers: Endgame, his subsequent appearances in the MCU would have taken on a lot more gravitas. He first returned to comfort Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) after he donated Captain America's shield to the Smithsonian in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. This speech would have been even more poignant if Rhodey were in a position of power and authority within the United States government.

Beyond this, Rhodey as vice president would have been game-changing for Secret Invasion, which became one of the MCU's lowest-rated projects during its release in mid-2023. On the surface, holding the vice president role would have better explained Rhodey's proximity to then-President Ritson (Dermot Mulroney). The series instead did nothing to explain why Rhodey was Ritson's right-hand man, especially since Ritson seemed to loathe having the former Avenger around.

At a deeper level, War Machine being vice president in Secret Invasion would have made the reveal of Rhodey having been replaced by a shapeshifting Skrull even more shocking. The show made this reveal predictable and lackluster, but seeing a Skrull in such a high position of power would have been seriously dangerous and all the more thrilling. Unfortunately, Secret Invasion missed these opportunities, and Rhodey was worse off for it, but Marvel Studios can still fix him.

After Secret Invasion, Where Is War Machine in the MCU Right Now?

At the end of Secret Invasion, everyone taken captive by the Skrulls in their Russian compound is awoken, including Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman) and Rhodey. Rhodey sports a hospital gown, which led many to suspect that he was replaced by the Skrull Raava (Nisha Aaliya) shortly after his tragic accident in Captain America: Civil War. This presented many opportunities for Marvel Studios to pick up Rhodey's story and explore his absence, but these chances have been missed.

If he were replaced after Civil War, Rhodey would have been asleep during Thanos' quest for the Infinity Stones, missed the battle in Wakanda, skipped the entire Blip, and missed his best friend, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), sacrificing himself on the battlefield. It would have been incredible to see Rhodey's reaction to missing these world-changing events, but Marvel might have already waited too long, as we haven't seen Rhodey at all in the three years since Secret Invasion ended.

Marvel Studios announced the development of an Armor Wars Disney+ series focused on Rhodey in December 2020, which was later restructured into a feature film. Although comedian and actor Yassir Lester is attached as writer, production on Armor Wars seems to have slowed to a halt, leaving Rhodey's future in the MCU even more uncertain. Promoting him to vice president would have changed every subsequent project since, but Marvel Studios can still redeem War Machine even after all this time.