Armor Warsis a recently-announced upcoming Marvel seriesfocusing on James Rhodes, Tony Stark’s best friend and the carrier of the War Machine mantle. It is based on a comic book series of the same name— one that involved Tony Stark discovering that his armor designs were stolen and now being used to help strengthen the armor protecting various supervillains. As Robert Downey Jr. isn’t expected to be making a big return to theMarvel Cinematic Universeanytime soon, this series will likely revolve around Rhodes protecting his friend’s legacy and resolving this ultimate tech disaster. While the series has not announced its production team, it would be a major error for it not to involve the mastermind behind the Iron Man Cinematic Universe, Jon Favreau.
Favreau has a tight-knit relationship with theIron Mantrilogy, serving as the director for the first two movies and the executive producer behind all three of them. He is also the actor who plays Happy Hogan, Tony Stark’s beloved driver and bodyguard. Beyond that, Favreau has a well-established career as an actor, director, and screenwriter. He directed the Christmas movieElfand the remakes of the fantasy moviesThe Jungle BookandThe Lion King. Favreau has used all of his assorted skills to enrich various Disney and Marvel series. Most recently,creating the acclaimed seriesThe Mandalorian,finding himself in new demand to continue to makeStar Wars-related works. However,Armor Warsshould be the next series that claims his attention.
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Throughout the MCU, it is clear that James Rhodes has close ties with the people in Tony Stark’s lives. In the character’s recurring appearances, he also shared a friendship with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). In Favreau’s later projects, he has continued to work with the actors that were featured inIron Manmovies, casting them to make short cameos and appearances.In his’s movieChef(2014), Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson were both cast as supporting characters. Then later in 2019, Gwyneth Paltrow appeared in Favreau’s cooking showThe Chef Show— where she made her now-infamous “Spider-Man? We weren’t in Spider-Man” comment.
The want to involve pastIron Mancharacters and actors inArmor Warsgoes beyond novelty. It would simply feel rather ingenious to remove James Rhodes from his origin story. While involving Favreau wouldn’t guarantee cameos from other actors, it would make it more likely for Happy Hogan to pop into the story. Strangely enough, despiteHappy and James being both of Tony Stark’s closest friends, they have never interacted (so far) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Is there any better way to honor and protect Iron Man’s legacy than getting his two biggest supporters involved? Additionally, both of these characters have a close relationship to the armor itself, with James being present as it was being created and Happy spending his career hauling around the tech— both inIron ManandSpider-Manmovies.
Dreaming of this collaboration is not entirely out-of-the-question. Despite Favreau’s last Marvel directorial project being over ten years old withIron Man 2, he served as the executive producer onall of the Avengers movies(from the self-titled flick all the way toEndgame). He has also continuously reprised his role as Happy Hogan. Two years ago, in an interview withEntertainment Weekly, Favreau said that the opportunity Marvel gave him back in 2008 when he made the firstIron Manmovie changed his life and he still feels as though he is “part of the family.” He shared, “Although I’m not sitting on the set in a director’s chair, I’m either acting in another movie [as Tony Stark’s chauffeur, Happy Hogan], or sitting in a screening and talking to them about my thoughts, or having phone calls with new directors.”
Armor Warswould be the perfect project to welcome Jon Favreau back to the Marvel director chair. Not only would it appease fans and invoke a pleasant sense of nostalgia to the Phase Four, but he is also credited for setting the Marvel Cinematic Universe into motion with his work in bringing theIron Manstory to life. This hire would instantly guarantee James Rhodes’ first titular role to be a major success.
