Secret Invasion was a mess! There is no denying that. But it also offered some amazing and shocking moments. Speaking of shocking moments, we found out that James Rhodes, aka War Machine, was a Skrull. In the beginning, the series gave hints about a Skrull impostering Rhodey. This was made clear when Skrull-Rhodes blamed Nick Fury for Maria Hill’s death and called the former S.H.I.E.L.D director by his first name. Marvel fans know that Fury does not like being called out by his first name. However, the show did not mention how long Tony Stark’s best buddy had secretly been a Skrull. But it seems like some fans have figured it out, and their ‘discovery’ may change Armor Wars in a big way.
When G’iah frees Rhodes, along with the rest of the human prisoners, we see the latter wearing a hospital gown. And he did not have braces on his legs, which he received after the events of Captain America: Civil War (2016). Some fans believe that Skrulls kidnapped Rhodes while he was at a hospital for surgery.
Marvel is yet to confirm this theory. Though, this theory does not make any sense as it changes everything for Rhodes and the people that are close to him. If this theory turns out true, it means that War Machine has missed his best friend’s death (Endgame) and does not know about the new Captain America (Sam Wilson) as Steve Rogers is no longer with us (kind of), Scarlet Witch going insane and a bit evil, the deaths of Natasha Romanov, aka Black Widow, and Vision, and so much more. He would have to catch up on a lot of information before preparing himself to face the outside world again. This scenario could sow the seeds of Rhodey’s internal struggles in Armor Wars.
Here’s how this theory seems absurd. If Rhodey has been a Skrull since the events of Civil War, then Secret Invasion should have focused more on Skrull-Rhodes. And most importantly, this scenario has not been discussed in any of the Marvel projects that have arrived after Civil War. We only watched him being angry with Fury and constantly covering his ‘Skrull a##’ in front of President Ritson in the latest Disney+ series. Fans deserved to watch him interact with characters who knew him or were of great importance to him in the show. We should expect to see this happen in Armor Wars.
The above-mentioned theory may also add some Skrulls to the storyline of Armor Wars. Or Marvel can give a whole new spin to the film’s storyline by focusing less on the events of Secret Invasion and more on the original Armor Wars comic-book storyline. The latter shows Iron Man hunting down all supervillains who create dangerous weapons with the help of the designs of his revolutionary armor. We know Tony is no more. So, we should expect Rhodey to fill his best friend’s shoes and save the Stark technologies from falling into the wrong hands. So far, the upcoming superhero film has Don Cheadle and Dominique Thorne (Riri Williams, aka Ironheart) in its cast. Stay tuned for more updates.