It's been almost six years since Armor Wars was first announced as a Disney+ TV series. Yassir Lester was tapped as Head Writer in August 2021, but countless delays followed until, in September 2022, we learned it was being redeveloped as a movie.
Since then, the project has fallen by the wayside, despite Spider-Man: No Way Home and Secret Invasion laying the groundwork for this continuation of War Machine's story and an apparent clash between Stark Industries and the Department of Damage Control.
While War Machine is a popular character, there doesn't seem to be a huge demand for the project. Yes, characters like Ironheart and Justin Hammer could be added to the mix, but if the massive success of the Iron Man trilogy has proved anything, it's that filmgoers want Tony Stark.
Talking to ScreenRant, Iron Man 2 star Sam Rockwell—who has repeatedly expressed a willingness to return as Hammer—was asked about possibly reuniting with his White Lotus co-star Walton Goggins for Armor Wars.
Goggins played the villainous Sonny Burch in Ant-Man and The Wasp, and it was widely theorised that he might be working for Hammer (unfortunately, the character hasn't been seen since).
"Oh Armor Wars. Oh, you mean the Marvel thing? Is that being made?" Rockwell started. "Walt and I could team up like bad guys, that kind of thing. It's definitely a fun character. It'd be fun to play either that or a supervillain. It'd be great."
In a post-Secret Wars MCU, there's a chance we'll see Marvel Studios cast a new Iron Man, potentially making Armor Wars a far more exciting prospect.
When Don Cheadle asked where things stand with Armor Wars in October 2024, he replied, "You can find out and let me know. [Laughs] I don’t know, I’m not sure where anything is right now. I think things are going through a lot of changes, and we’ll see what happens, we’ll see what it is."
Since then, Captain America: Brave New World executive producer Nate Moore has said, "As Marvel [Studios] continues to go through this phase, we want to make sure whatever we’re making is awesome. So that means we had to slow down some things that were on the front burner."
"It doesn't mean we'll never make it, but it does mean we just have to be a little bit more considered so that every time out, audiences are guaranteed quality."
Armor Wars would work best with Iron Man put front and centre, something Marvel Studios may have also concluded now that the project has been put on the back burner.