There was a time when Marvel Studios locked its actors into multi-picture deals that meant they would be committed to the MCU for a massive chunk of their career.
In the case of Don Cheadle, he signed a six-picture contract that meant he would play Rhodey in Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. Since then, he's made an Emmy-nominated cameo in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and will next be seen in Secret Invasion.
Beyond that, Cheadle also has Armor Wars, a series which is expected to put the focus primarily on War Machine. Despite that, the actor has now confirmed that he's working for Marvel Studios minus any sort of contract.
"I'm done with my contracted years in the MCU, so now, it's just like, if something sounds fun and I'm presented with it...let's go," Cheadle reveals in the video below.
Talking at D23, the actor also made it clear Armor Wars will remain faithful to the comic book it's named after. "If you know anything about the lore, and you've read the comic books, you understand that it's a series that was built around Tony's Stark Tech getting out and Rhodey taking it on to go get this tech back from the bad hands, the bad actors whose hands it is in."
That storyline saw a number of supervillains get their hands on Iron Man's technology, including the likes of Crimson Dynamo and Justin Hammr. The latter is someone fans are desperate to see return to the MCU, and he'd made a suitable enemy for Rhodey given their history in Iron Man 2.
Check out the full interview with Cheadle below: