The following story contains spoilers for Secret Invasion Episode 6, “Home.”
One of the most compelling factors of Marvel’s Secret Invasion has been the mid-show revelation that Colonel James Rhodes, aka Rhodey, aka Tony Stark’s best friend, aka 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 full heel-turn like his castmate Emilia Clarke did in Game of Thrones—Rhodes was replaced, Invasion of the Body Snatchers-style, by a sinister shapeshifting Skrull. And while we’ve been watching this duplicitous fake Rhodey making all kinds of power-plays throughout the six-episode series, one question has been constantly lingering: how long has this been a thing?
It’s worth keeping in mind that we’ve seen Rhodey in seven MCU projects since the characters first debuted in 2008’s Iron Man (then played by Terrence Howard). He was in Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier all before his Secret Invasion appearance, and his abduction by the Skrulls, really, could have happened before, during, or after any of them.
By the end of the show, of course, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) exposes fake Rhodey, and the ruse is up. Given that Cheadle has been playing this character on and off for more than a decade, certainly it was a fun spin on things to allow him a brief project where he gets to break bad a little bit. But it’s still worth wondering—especially with the revelation of finding the real Rhodes in the Skrull compound in “Home,” the finale of Secret Invasion—just how long Rhodes has been held prisoner, locked away.
Surely we’ll get a more complete answer in Armor Wars, the long-gestating MCU project centered on Rhodey that is now planned to be a feature 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 guesses we can make about, well, whatever it was that happened with Rhodey.
When, exactly, did Rhodey become a Skrull?
The timeline of when, exactly, Rhodey was abducted by the Skrulls and replaced with an imposter is purposely murky right now. We’ll likely get some real answers on this in Armor Wars, whenever that comes out. But for now, we can look at the evidence that we do have at our disposal.
When G’iah wakes all of the people abducted and replaced by Skrulls up, we first see Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), who notices Colonel Rhodes just next to him. As Rhodes comes to, Ross and others remark that the Colonel has been held captive for a long time. (Also, neither here nor there, but a little bit of information about when, exactly, Ross got abducted would be nice; we last saw him getting saved by the Dora Milaje at the end of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever with absolutely no explanation as to what happened in the intervening time).
There are two particularly notable details that happen here. First, Rhodes can’t walk on his own. Now, this could be attributed to the fact that he’s been off his feet for a long time. Ever see someone who’s been in a hospital bed for a long time try to walk? It could be a similar effect here.
But that feels like a jump. Most likely, this is a direct reference to Rhodey’s accident in the third act of Captain America: Civil War, when a Vision phase shot him out of the sky and resulted in his paralysis. If Rhodes is unable to walk on his own, that rules out his abduction at any point prior to Civil War.
Many fans online are pointing to the fact that Rhodes was wearing a hospital gown in his abduction pod as confirmation that he was taken during the events of Civil War, since he was also seen in a hospital gown in that film.
However, the mere fact that Rhodes is wearing a hospital gown in both scenes is far from confirmation. Consider the fact that Rhodey—who was able to walk after Civil War with the help of braces built by Tony Stark—has a chronic, borderline paralysis-level injury to his back/spine/legs. He’s almost certainly receiving treatment and checking in with doctors regularly, at which point he would need to take tests and get scans, and, yes, put on a hospital gown.
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 Tony’s braces, and he simply did not have them in the pod.
There’s also the emotional aspect of things. Rhodey is a major, major part of Avengers: Endgame, particularly in the notable moments in the film when he’s paired off with Nebula during the time heist and when he comforts Tony in the moments just before his death. Having Rhodes in that moment not really be Rhodes would be undercutting what was some excellent character work in a significant way. Unless if they reveal that real Rhodey has inherited all the memories and experiences of Skrull Rhodey impersonating him, this seems unlikely.
The most likely scenario remains that Rhodey was abducted at some point after Endgame, and, perhaps even more likely, after The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, because that version of Rhodey did seem like the military officer we’ve known for all these years. We’ll find out for sure, though, whenever Armor Wars comes out.
Evan is the culture editor for Men’s Health, with bylines in The New York Times, MTV News, Brooklyn Magazine, and VICE. He loves weird movies, watches too much TV, and listens to music more often than he doesn’t.
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