Despite a relatively small amount of screen time in four Marvel Cinematic Universe appearances as Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes - outside of Iron Man 3 - Don Cheadle’s had the opportunity to suit up in a variety of cool Iron Man-esque armored suits of his own. Terrence Howard of course first played Rhodey in Iron Man 1 before Cheadle picked up the mantle and ran with it ever since, becoming the ultimate Avengers support character - and certainly the most weaponized.

And that’ll come in handle for Avengers: Infinity War and the untitled Avengers 4, where Rhodey returns and reluctantly must suit up for battle again. And yes, there’s a new War Machine outfit to go alongside Tony Stark’s new Iron Man tech.

In the two years since the events of Captain America: Civil War, Rhodey’s relationship with Stark has only strengthened. Stark still feels partly responsible for Rhodey’s injuries during Civil War and has spent some time helping develop an exoskeleton leg apparatus to assist Rhodey in moving again. This was one of the first things we noticed when visiting the set of Avengers: Infinity War in June 2017, where Rhodey walked out of a Quinjet that had landed in Wakanda. We detailed this entire third act sequence here, and later in the day we sat down to chat with Don Cheadle about rejoining The Avengers.

Can you start out by telling us a little bit of what the story’s been from Civil War till this moment?

Do you think his philosophy at all has changed between where he was in Civil War and now?

Don Cheadle: Well clearly there was a pretty significant moment for Rhodey at the end of Civil War where he was accidentally shot out of the air by Vision - Who is now my mortal enemy. No, I think we worked it out over the break. And now he’s coming back to the Avengers to, back to his team. A little ambivalent I think with a new rig by Tony, which of course he had to put his name on. So Tony, like I’m gonna not know who made them. And he’s rejoining the team and reintroduced back here in this Wakanda storyline.

How does Tony feel about him now working with this other team that’s kind of led by a guy who he was just at odds with?

Don Cheadle: I think there are definitely more questions for Rhodey. I think he was always somewhat straddling with having Tony as a friend and trying to support him and do what he needed, being outside of the lines, but still somehow trying to stay within the chain of command and the military man that he is. So I think that’s become more fraught and probably more frayed as the storylines go forward.

Now that you’re back with a rig and you get to move around in Avengers, can we see Rhodey like suit up again War Machine style?

Don Cheadle: Well I think at the end of the day that division was not something that was really fomented by the characters in the movie. There were outside pressures that created that division.  And they ultimately want to be back together. So I think that Tony who has yet to make an appearance so I imagine that he’s understanding of it.

[Laughs]

Don Cheadle: You might see him suit back up again.

You talked about along those lines how he’s a little ambivalent now about doing it. Does getting hurt and the way he got hurt and who might have been the cause and all of that, is that something that really affects his mindset going into this?

Don Cheadle: Although that’s a bit of a… that’s gonna be a thing for him to put that suit back on. Last time he was in it, it didn’t go so well.

The scene that we saw is that you’re going to Wakanda to sort of warn them of the coming threat, Thanos, again something that y’all’s way. So what’s War Machine’s reaction to all that? How does he feel about Thanos, this larger than life, all powerful villain coming for them?

Don Cheadle: Well I think it’s something that he’s fighting to put behind him. But absolutely, it creeps up. There’s innuendo. There’s shots taken. There’s things said. Don’t want certain people behind me. [Laughs] I’m gonna keep a eye on everybody, I wanna keep that jewel in front of me, not behind me. So yeah, I think he’s, like I said, I think he’s negotiating this reunion and his rejoining this team.

So it’s kind of like when he saw Vision doing all those crazy things in Age of Ultron but times like 10?

Don Cheadle: Well I think as always we’ve seen that Rhodey would prefer to deal with real world things and that’s kind of what he understands. And when we start leaving the planet [laughs] and talking about things coming from outer space, he’s like, “Dude, I don’t even know what that, what is that? I know how to fight guys and in tanks and weapons and that. That’s something that’s beyond my pay grade.” But he’s been thrown into the deep end, they all are in a way in this one. So everybody’s gonna have to figure it out on their feet.

We’ve heard a little bit about the process for this where you don’t necessarily have a script, but you’re given pages and you have an outline. Is there anything coming up that you’re particularly excited about even if you don’t have a script page for it?

Don Cheadle: Yeah. What? There’s more? There’s more crazy things like you?

Don Cheadle: Well in the absence of the script, I just write my own lines.

Where’s your story credit?

Don Cheadle: So I just… I’m in the trailer every day, I’m just pumping it out. I just…

So in a sense what happened in Civil War is foreboding or foreshadowing for potentially the stakes in this?

Don Cheadle: Yeah, where is my story credit? I think that’s the real story here, where is my story credit? No, it’s very interesting on set obviously when you don’t know the entirety of everything and things are changing real time. It keeps you on your toes, that’s for sure. But it’s ultimately exciting and it’s as fun for us sometimes discovering it as it is for the audience.  ‘Cause we’re like oh we didn’t, we had no idea how that was gonna turn and the story is really intricate and pretty, it’s a very different I think from what I’ve seen, what I have read. It has a little bit of a different feel than the last movies have. And there’s a little more gravitas. And it kind of has to be that way. I don’t think you can keep doing the same kind of thing in this franchise over and over. I think you have to try to bring in some more serious elements. And I think Rhodey being injured was a part of it kind of starting the “oh wait, people can really get hurt.” Things can really go South for these characters.

How long in your mind an actor has he had the new rig? And does it limit his mobility or is he completely back to normal?

Don Cheadle: I think the stakes have been raised. And we understand that we’re not invincible and superheroes can go down.

What’s Rhodey’s relationship like with Tony going into the movie?

Don Cheadle: I think there’s constant tweaking. I think [Tony Stark’s] a genius obviously, so he’s figured a lot of it out. It doesn’t have a cup holder, which I think was an oversight. But he’s yeah, I think it’s getting his ability back. He’s having, he’s worked with it. So I think there’s a span of time that he’s worked with it.

Can you talk about the practical leg apparatus you have?  Is this gonna be augmented by CG?  Like how comfortable is it?

Don Cheadle: Like I said, I haven’t seen him yet. And I’m not sure what it is gonna be. But I think, look, they always have the taking the piss out of each other a little bit. But I think their relationship has deepened since the last event. I think Tony feels somewhat responsible and culpable in a way. But again, he’s always had my back in a way.

Some of the other actors told us that the Russos are very open to collaboration from the actors about your characters. Is there anything about Rhodey that you’ve been wanting to get in there for this movie? Or anything about the character you really want to be a part of this story?

Don Cheadle: I’m not sure what the boys and girls are gonna do in visual. But it’s yeah, it’s pretty good now. It works pretty good. It articulates well. I can run in it. I can jump in it. I can do what I need to do in it. I don’t know how it photographs. I imagine they sweeten everything, but I think it’s pretty good.

Ruffalo mentioned that like you guys didn’t have a thing going on in the scene, but on set you came up with this kind of thing when you were coming out. Can you talk about that?

Don Cheadle: My note for them always was more. Why is he not on this page? I flipped through several pages, I don’t see his name. Let’s work on that, guys. Is usually what I tell them.

Don Cheadle: Which one’s Ruffalo again?

The green looking guy.

Cool, thank you so much.

Don Cheadle: Oh that dude. I only know him as the Hulk. He’s very boring as the other guy. He almost blends into the wallpaper. No, Mark and I go way back. So we have a lot of fun on set. And we’re always, and it’s funny ‘cause any little satellite group I think - and it’s probably a bit of a nightmare for the Russos - is always trying to come up with some shtick, some bit, something to do.  For me it’s fun and it keeps the frame alive. But for them probably they’re like, guys, can you just say the lines that we wrote in the script? But look, whenever you have all of us back together again and we haven’t seen each other for a while, there’s feels like there’s a period of like kind of giddiness. Everyone’s kind of catching up and we’re performing for each other a lot of times, trying to crack each other up and be there in those kinds of ways for each other. So it’s always fun coming back. And yeah, if we’re thinking of the same guy who Ruffalo is, yeah, we came up with a little thing to do.

Next: Avengers: Infinity War Set Visit Interview With Chris Evans & Scarlett Johansson

Don Cheadle: Thank you guys.

An unprecedented cinematic journey ten years in the making and spanning the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War brings to the screen the ultimate, deadliest showdown of all time. The Avengers and their Super Hero allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.

Anthony and Joe Russo direct the film, which is produced by Kevin Feige. Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Michael Grillo and Stan Lee are the executive producers. Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely wrote the screenplay.

Header edited from art by AJ Designs.

  • Avengers: Infinity War Release Date: 2018-04-27 The Avengers 4 Release Date: 2019-04-26