Armor Wars Can Explain One of Doctor Strange's Rejected Patients
Marvel Studios can use the Armor Wars Disney+ series to explain one of Doctor Strange's rejected patients with experimental flight armor.
Marvel Studios can explain one of Doctor Strange's rejected patients in Phase 4 with Armor Wars. James Rhodes aka War Machine (Don Cheadle) has been a supporting character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first decade. And even though Iron Man is dead and gone, War Machine still has a future in the MCU. Phase 4 will bring him to the forefront like never before with the Disney+ series Armor Wars, which will loosely adapt a famous Iron Man comic storyline.
The Armor Wars story in the comics follows Tony Stark after learning that some of his technology and designs have been stolen. This sends Tony on a hunt to find out who took his gear and who is misusing the technology he created for good. As usual, the MCU is putting its own twist on the story with Armor Wars, especially since War Machine will be at its center instead of Iron Man. The show's announcement is starting to change the way people see the things that happened in the MCU's past, recognizing potential setup to an Armor Wars storyline. There's a number of possible connections, but Armor Wars could even explain a line from Doctor Strange.
Early on in Doctor Strange, Stephen Strange is on the phone discussing potential patients to take on right before the car wreck that changed his life. He cycles through several different cases, and MCU fans immediately wondered who they referred to. Many theories pointed to Captain Marvel being the girl struck by lightning, but Strange also considered working on a 35-year-old Air Force pilot who broke his back using experimental flight armor. At the time, fans speculated this could be a reference to War Machine himself after the events of Captain America: Civil War. However, the pilot's age and description of experimental flight armor don't match Rhodey or his official War Machine suit. Now that Armor Wars is on the horizon, could this pilot be tied to the plot?
There's no explicit reason to take it one way or the other yet, but this rejected patient for Doctor Strange could be retconned into an early reference to Armor Wars' plot. Marvel has yet to reveal the show's villain, but the threat of Stark's tech falling into the wrong hands will be explored. It would be quite the reveal that Stark's tech has been out in the world for several years and not just something that happened after his death. With Doctor Strange's origin taking place in 2016, this experimental flight armor retroactively connecting to Armor Wars could give the show's threat nearly a decade of tinkering before anyone noticed.
If Marvel makes this connection between Doctor Strange and Armor Wars, it won't just add the type of fun foreshadowing the MCU loves to its overall story. This could reshape part of Iron Man's MCU legacy. He was mostly focused on the big picture and protecting Earth from the biggest threats possible. But that might mean he didn't keep as great of tabs as what happened on Earth. Tony wasn't even that involved with Stark Industries after Iron Man 2. It's possible his tech was stolen long ago, and he never knew about it with his eyes on the endgame. Now, Armor Wars could see Rhodey be the one left to clean up this mess.