Will Don Cheadle Be In ‘Secret Invasion’ as War Machine?

Move over Moon Knight (jk please don’t), Samuel L. Jackson is hyped for Secret Invasion and he is spilling all the beans! Marvel and Disney Plus have a packed roster of shows in many different stages of development, but one that generated a lot of buzz right from the beginning was Secret Invasion. Announced back in 2020, Secret Invasion involves the expansion of the Skrull invasion of Earth and the return of Jackson as Nick Fury in the leading role. 

All of Marvel’s Disney Plus shows have enlisted A-list talent, and Secret Invasion is no exception. Aside from Jackson, the show will also feature the MCU debuts of Academy Award-winning actress Olivia Colman, Emilia Clarke, and Kingsley Ben-Adir. It will also see the return of MCU vets like Ben Mendelsohn (one of our mainSkrulls), and Fury’s right-hand lady Cobie Smulders’ Maria Talos. Jackson has also let slip that Martin Freeman will be bringing back his Black Panther character Everett Ross for Secret Invasion as well.

Will Don Cheadle appear as War Machine?

During an interview with Josh Horwitz on his Happy Sad Confused podcast (via The Playlist), Jackson revealed that Don Cheadle will in fact be on the show as well! Jackson said:

“Don, Don Cheadle. I got Don, that’s my golf buddy. I didn’t realize it, but til we did this thing, I was like, ‘We’ve never worked together.’ We just kinda know each other, hang out and laugh … but we’d never worked together and we finally [got to work together].”

Rumors were already swirling that Cheadle would be playing War Machine, aka James “Rhodey” Rhodes in the show. Set photos spotted Rhodey on a newspaper in the background of one scene, implying that he would at least get mentioned or possibly have a cameo. But Jackson’s statement makes it clear that he shot significant scenes with Cheadle. It remains to be seen what Rhodey’s overall role in the series will be yet but it could also lead to a setup for his own show, Armor Wars, which is expected to release sometime after Secret Invasion.

(via The Playlist, image: Disney/Marvel)

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