Armor Wars is an upcoming Disney+ TV show that will face the problem of how to focus on Rhodey while still preserving Iron Man's looming legacy. Audiences last saw War Machine on the big screen in Avengers: Endgame, where he helped the final army against Thanos win the Battle of Earth and again at Tony Stark's funeral. He then appeared in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier at the ceremony where Sam is giving Captain America's shield to a museum so that the public can celebrate and enjoy Steve Rogers' legacy.

Armor Wars is set up to be a vehicle for War Machine and how he handles making sure that everyone in the MCU isn't using Iron Man's tech for nefarious purposes. In the comics, the Armor Wars storyline is about Iron Man himself finding out that his tech is being misused after his ideas are sold to Justin Hammer. The first two Iron Man films deal with a similar problem. Obadiah Stane and Whiplash both abuse arc reactors to use them for their own purposes. Iron Man even tried to keep the government away from his tech at the beginning of Iron Man 2. With Iron Man dead in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though, it looks like the Armor Wars series is going to follow the comics in a way but will swap out Iron Man for War Machine.

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Though the premise for the show is exciting, it does have a unique challenge in how it handles Iron Man's legacy. It's possible Armor Wars could become bogged down by Tony's friendship with Rhodey and the role that Stark tech plays in the show's story. While some viewers may be hoping the series will focus on Iron Man's death, which hasn't been addresed extensively since Spider-Man: Far From Home, Armor Wars is really War Machine's chance to shine after taking a backseat in so many MCU films. As such, the series will have to balance the impact Tony had on Rhodey while making it clear that War Machine is the show's most important character who needs his own arc separate from Iron Man.

Armor Wars Is Facing A Recent MCU Challenge

War Machine at Tony's Funeral in Avengers Endgame

It's also worth remembering that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier had a similar challenge as Armor Wars in that another departed Avenger, Steve Rogers, was a key part of the series. The show addressed Captain America's legacy head on, as Bucky and Sam worked to preserve and honor the good work Steve did while also preventing John Walker from tarnishing it. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier ended with an inspiring and conscious speech where Sam tells the world's governments to start working for the people again, solidifying that Sam now stands for a slightly different America than Steve used to and how that is okay. While the series concluded as it should, with Sam established as the MCU's Captain America from here on out, at times, the shadow of Steve Rogers threatened to overwhelm the show and Sam's story.

This could serve as a cautionary tale for Armor Wars. While it helps that War Machine isn't becoming Iron Man in the way Sam became Captain America, it still faces a legacy hurdle. The MCU as a whole tends to get caught up in immortalizing departed characters, sometimes to the detriment of those who are still around. Hopefully, Armor Wars manages to circumvent this issue and finally give War Machine the standalone story he deserves.

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