The following story contains spoiler for The Secret Invasion Episode 6, ” Home.”
One of Marvel’s most compelling factors The Secret Invasion it has been the mid-show revelation that Colonel James Rhodes, known as Rhodey, known as Tony Stark’s best friend, known as one of the longest-running characters in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, is now a villain. No, Don Cheadle’s character didn’t have a complete twist as his cast mate Emilia Clarke in The Game Of Thrones—Rhodes was replaced, The Abduction Of The Body– style, by a bad shapeshifting skrull. And while we’ve watched this fake double Rhodey doing all sorts of power shows throughout the six-episode series, one question has been lingering steadily: how long has this thing been going on?
It’s worth bearing in mind that we’ve seen Rhodey in seven MCU projects since the characters first debuted in 2008 The Iron Man (then played by Terrence Hoopardi). He was in Iron Man 2 And Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age Of Ultron and Captain America: Civil, Avengers: Infinity, Avengers: Endgame, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier all in front of him The Secret Invasion the appearance, and his abduction by the Skrulls, indeed, could have happened before, during or after any of them.
At the end of the show, of course, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) exposes the fake Rhodey, and the deception is up. Given that Cheadle has played this character on and off for over a decade, it was certainly a fun spin on things to allow him a short project where he gets to break bad a little bit. But still worth asking yourself-especially with the discovery of finding true Rhodes in the Skrull complex In “Home”, the final The Secret Invasion– how long Rhodes has been imprisoned, locked up.
We will get a more complete answer in The Battle Of The Armor, the long pregnancy MCU project focused on Rhodey that is now slated to be a character film at some point in the future (it was originally set as a Disney+series). But for now, here’s what we know, and the assumptions we can make about, well, whatever it was that’s what happened to Rod.
Flow The Secret Invasion Here
When, exactly, Rhodey became a Skrull?
The time line when, exactly, Rhodey was kidnapped by the Skrulls and replaced with an impostor is deliberately murky now. We’ll probably get some real answers to this in The Battle Of The Armor, every time it comes out. But for now, we can look at the evidence we have.
When G’iah awakens all the men kidnapped and replaced by the Skrulls, we first see Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), who notices Colonel Rhodes just beside him. As Rhodes comes, Ross and the others notice that the Colonel has been held captive for a long time. (Also, neither here nor there, but little information about when, exactly, Ross was kidnapped would be fine; we last saw him being rescued by Dora Milaje at the end of The Black Panther-Forever with absolutely no explanation of what happened at the time of the intervention).
There are two particularly obvious details going on here. First, Rhodes can’t walk on his own. Now, this can be attributed to the fact that he has been off his feet for a long time. Have you ever seen someone who has been in a hospital bed for a long time try to walk? It could be a similar effect here.
But it feels like a dance. Most likely, this is a direct reference to Rodei’s accident in the third act of Captain America: The Civil War, when a phase of vision shot him out of the sky and resulted in his paralysis. If Rhodes is unable to walk on his own, this rules out kidnapping him at any point before The Civil War.
Many fans online are pointing to the fact that Rhodes was wearing a hospital gown in his kidnap capsule as confirmation that he had been taken long the events of Civil War, since he was also seen in a hospital gown in that movie.
However, the mere fact that Rhodes is wearing a hospital gown in both scenes is far from confirmed. Consider the fact that Rhodey-who was able to walk behind Civil War with the help of braces built by Tony Stark—there is a chronic, borderline level paralysis injury in the spine/back/legs. He is almost certainly receiving treatment and checking in regularly with doctors, at which point he will have to get tests and get scans, and, yes, wear a hospital gown.
Marvel Comics Secret Invasion
Marvel Comics Secret Invasion
Now 33% Discount
The fact that Rhodey was unable to walk on his own is also far from a confirmation of anything; again, remember that he was able to walk with the help of tone braces, and he just didn’t have them in the pod.
There is also the emotional aspect of things. Rhodey is a big, big part of Avengers: Endgame, especially in the notable moments in the film when he is attached to Nebula during time theft and when he comforts Tony in the moments just before his death. Having Rhodes at that moment not really be Rhodes would underestimate what was a brilliant work of character in an important way. Unless they discover that the real Rhodey has inherited all of Skrull Rhodey’s memories and experiences by imitating him, that seems impossible.
The most likely scenario remains that Rhodey was kidnapped at some point after The last game, and, perhaps even more likely, after The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, because that version of Rodei looked like the military officer we’ve known for all these years. We’ll find out how many times The Battle Of The Armor del.
Evan is the culture editor for men’s health, with bylines at The New York Times, MTV Nexports, Brooklyn Magazine and VICE. He likes strange movies, watches a lot of TV, and listens to music more often than not.
#Secret #Invasion #Confirmed #Big #Rhodey