Everyone knows someone like James Rhodey Rhodes.
Hes the dependable one.
The non-squeaky wheel who gets the job done, drama free.
Don Cheadle as War Machine.Credit: © Marvel Studios 2018
As the Marvel Cinematic Universe reaches its climax inAvengers: Endgame, its time he got his due.
Iron Man is a troublemaker.
War Machine, despite his moniker, is a peacekeeper.
I think thats a good way to define him, Cheadle says.
Its a strain on the whole group.
For the first time, Rhodes sees himself as part of the team.
Theres definitely more of a feeling of belonging with them, Cheadle says.
Hes not so much straddling one foot in the military.
Hes much more on the side of The Avengers than he was prior.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Ill go easy on you, Don.
Its a little tricky because so much of the movie is secret.DON CHEADLE:To both of us.
But it was still a pretty malleable process while we were shooting it, you know?
You just dont know.
Was it different on this one compared to the previous ones?
Is there more secrecy this time?I think yes, there is.
The world has changed for everybody.
Once space opened up, and once Thanos came into play, theres a whole new stratum of rules.
Rhodes always seems to me to be a realist.
Even when hes been dealing with Tony.
Well, you never know whos going to turn.
Yeah, youre going to come in and tell us how were supposed to do this now.
Theres a fair bit of … Years back there was talk of a War Machine movie.
I know you mentioned it and [Black Pantherco-screenwriter] Joe Robert Cole was working on it.
Do you have any idea what kind of story that would have been?No.
We kicked it around a bit.
But there was definitely going to be some tension between those two worlds.
Just seeing everybody running around who wanted their picture taken with everybody else.
Everybody was just as big a fan as everyone else.
Oh is that Laurence Fishburne over there?
Oh man, its Michael Douglas.
Wow, theres … Thats when you really felt like, Wow, were part of something special.
Does it have an impact on how you work?
Everybody feels like were the little fish and that the project is the big fish.
No ones trying to grandstand or step out in front of anybody else.
No upstaging?Its kind of hard in that group to be like that.
Youve got seven people here with Oscars.
Nobody can show off.
For more onAvengers: Endgame, pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly on stands Friday.
