Bleeding Cool has posted a brief report where it claims that Don Cheadle’s Colonel Rhodes, who happens to moonlight as War Machine, is going to appear in The Avengers: Age of Ultron. While the outlet doesn’t know much about the nature or size of the role, it would mean that the roster for this film continues to grow. Director Joss Whedon has been tightlipped about the plot of the next big team-up film, but we do know that there are a host of new characters added into the mix- not counting the all ready massive cast of the first film- including Ultron (James Spader), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and now War Machine (if the rumor is true).

Speculation about War Machine’s role in the story has, naturally, started to run rampant. One theory that could lead somewhere is that he’d, at least temporarily, be a stand-in for Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man. Since Iron Man 3 depicted a Tony Stark that was seemingly considering retirement, perhaps the team recruits Machine because of his similar skill set. Stark would create Ultron to be a more permanent replacement, but that backfires when the AI becomes self-aware, and possibly takes out Rhodey who it sees as an immediate threat. Tony is forced to suit up again to help fight the threat he created, with the added personal stakes of Ultron hurting his friend.

Just a possibility. Either way, amidst all the other comic book movie news lately, this has been amongst the only new things to report about Marvel’s flagship franchise.

SOURCE: Bleeding Cool