While promoting his new film, Unstoppable, at the Toronto International Film Festival, Don Cheadle, recognised within the Marvel Cinematic Universe as James “Rhodey” Rhodes/War Machine, was quizzed on the surprise cast announcement with Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom. “I was like, ‘What the f*ck?’” Cheadle said in response to the reveal.
As Cheadle outlines in his conversation with Steve Weintraub (via Collider), the 59-year-old actor was in the dark about the decision. The on-stage reveal was delivered to a packed audience in Marvel’s Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2024. “New mask, same task. What’d I tell you, I like playing complicated characters,” Downey proclaimed to shocked fans.
As for Cheadle, who recently partnered with Samuel L. Jackson and Emilia Clarke for Secret Invasion, said the scripts and the day-to-day production schedules of the Marvel engine were always turning over, with projects being rewritten and reworked daily. “So I honestly can’t even tease anything,” he said.
When Weintraub later pressed the Miles Ahead actor for information on Secret Wars, Cheadle played it down and said: “You know more than I know.”
Similarly, Brie Larson, who portrays Captain Marvel, was equally taken aback by the casting news earlier in the summer. “I want to be clear. I was just with Kevin [Feige]. It was like that same day,” she revealed on The Playlist’s Bingeworthy podcast. “And he was like, ‘Oh yeah, we’re doing a thing at Comic-Con.’ He did not say that at all! Not at all!”
The next planned Avengers film is predicted to arrive in cinemas on May 1, 2026, Avengers: Doomsday, pending no further delays. Also in attendance at the Toronto International Film Festival was Andrew Garfield, who provided an update on whether he’d return as Peter Parker for another Spider-Man film.
