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The Next Crop of MCU Shows Include Armor Wars, Ironheart, and Secret Invasion

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Published on December 10, 2020

Image: Marvel
Marvel's Secret Invasion logo
Image: Marvel

The MCU is about to expand again—this time with a slate of new shows for Disney+, including Armor Wars, Ironheart, and Secret Invasion. 

Last year, Disney formally brought its Marvel Television division under the wing of Marvel Studios ahead of the launch of its streaming service, Disney+. Where the franchise’s films and TV shows were ostensibly in the same universe, they were often very far apart. Bringing the two groups together allowed for Marvel to fully bring the MCU over into television, and announce a full slate of projects that would soon begin streaming.

Those initial projects included The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision, Loki, Hawkeye, and What If…?, which were soon joined by Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk. That slate of shows will likely begin streaming in 2021 and into 2022. And now the next set of projects have been announced during Disney’s Investor Day presentation.

Earlier this fall, word broke that Marvel was developing a series about Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), and according to Disney, it’ll be called Secret Invasion, and will also star Ben Mendelsohn as Talos, picking up on the Skrull storyline that we saw in Captain Marvel.

That arc was originally played out in a 2008 crossover comic series, which followed various superheroes as they dealt with a Skrull invasion of Earth. Captain Marvel complicated that story a bit by turning the Skrulls into sympathetic characters, so it’ll be interesting to see what they do with that.

Ironheart will feature Dominique Thorne (If Beale Street Could Talk, Judas and the Black Messiah), who’ll play Riri Williams, an inventor who builds her own set of Iron Man armor. Her first appearance in the comics came during 2016 in Invincible Iron Man, in which she took over for Tony Stark. Given that Stark died in Avengers: Endgame, there’s plenty of room for her to pick up his mantle in the MCU.

Finally, Marvel announced that Don Cheadle will reprise his role as James Rhodes / War Machine in Armor Wars. That storyline also has its roots in the comics as a short arc from the 1980s, which was teased as “A classic Marvel story about Tony Stark’s worst fear coming true: what happens when his tech falls into the wrong hands?” That’s certainly something we’ve seen before in the MCU (Iron Man 2, anyone?) and could probably lead to some sort of crossover with Ironheart.

This new trio of shows are notable for another reason: they’re each fronted by a Black actor, which will help address a long-standing complaint about the relative lack of diversity within the MCU—something that Feige has said would be addressed in future phases of the franchise.

In addition to the new shows, Marvel Studios provided some updates about its previously announced projects:

  • Ms. Marvel got a sizzler reel that introduced the character, and will debut in “late 2021” on Disney+
  • Hawkeye is currently in production and will see Jeremy Renner reprise his character, along with Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop. The series will also include Vera Farmiga, Fra Free, and Alqua Cox, with directors Rhys Thomas (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) and Bert and Bertie (Troop Zero) helming various episodes.
  • After denying her casting, Tatiana Maslany will indeed play Jennifer Walters in She-Hulk. Tim Roth (Abomination from the first Hulk movie) and Mark Ruffalo will appear in the show, while Kat Coiro (Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and Anu Valia (Lucia Before and After) will direct.
  • Moon Knight, which Oscar Isaac is rumored to be leading, is … still a thing.

Other Disney+ projects include a Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (set to debut in 2022), and I Am Groot, a series of shorts.

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Andrew Liptak

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