Don Cheadle’s contract ended with Marvel in 2022. If you paid close enough attention in Avengers Endgame, the scene when alternate reality Thanos bombs the Avengers compound and Antman, Rhodey, and Rocket get stuck under all the rubble, Rhodey shouts “Canopy! Canopy! Canopy!” (a callback to aviators when they have to eject from their fighters) and you see the War Machine suit is damaged. When Ant-Man goes jumbo and helps Rhodey and Rocket get back into the fight, you see a completely different suit of armor. Sporting the red, white, and blue Mk II War Machine armor, this particular suit is known as Iron Patriot (debuted in Iron Man 3).
Now, shifting gears for a moment, everyone (including me) has posited that Valentina “Val” Allegra de Fontaine is putting together the Thunderbolts, which I still agree with. But what if the Thunderbolts falls apart and gives way to something bigger? Val’s history with SHIELD and Hydra is well noted, at least in the comics, but since we know Nick Fury is off world, what if Val is putting together her own ‘Avengers Initiative’ a la the Dark Avengers?
In the Dark Avengers story, Norman Osborn becomes the leader of the Thunderbolts Initiative after the Skrull invasion and the fallout of the Mutant Registration Act after the events of Civil War. He ultimately takes over SHIELD and the Thunderbolts become a black-ops team akin to X-Force (which I also think will be hinted at, if not an outright plot point, in Deadpool 3). It wouldn’t be a stretch to speculate that Feige and fam will change the Thunderbolts black-ops team into the Dark Avengers. We’ve already seen U.S. Agent, and in the comics, Osborn takes up the mantle of Iron Patriot. Skaar was introduced at the end of She-Hulk. Which is still hands down my least favorite MCU installment of all time; She-Hulk episode 8. The first seven episodes were fantastic. The season finale is worse than trash.
I think adding a few new faces to the Dark Avengers would be worthwhile. Specifically Moonstone and Daken. Moonstone has previously been part of both the Thunderbolts AND the Dark Avengers. Where it relates to Norman Osborn, he specifically invited her to be part of the Dark Avengers as an impersonation of Captain Marvel. Daken, on the other hand, was recruited by Osborne to play the role of Wolverine on the team, but Daken always participated in a way that ensured he followed his own agenda and got what he wanted, much to the chagrin of his teammates. Both Daken and Moonstone are incredibly mentally unstable and morally derelict, and would make excellent additions to the Dark Avengers lineup in a post-Thunderbolts MCU. Especially when that team is led by Norman Osborn rocking the Iron Patriot armor.
What’s more is that during all of this, Norman Osborn put together a secret group called the “Cabal” (or the Dark Illuminati) consisting of himself, Namor, Emma Frost, Loki, the Hood, and Doctor Doom. Excepting Loki and the Hood, I think this is a solid sub-plot for future MCU projects and could also serve to build up Victor von Doom like they did with Thanos during the first three phases.
