How Long Has Rhodey Been a Skrull? 'Secret Invasion' Director Tells All

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Marvel’s Secret Invasion.

Since it was revealed in Episode 4 of Secret Invasion that Don Cheadle’s Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes was a shape-shifting Skrull in disguise, it’s been hard to trust even the MCU’s most beloved heroes. And now that the series has reached its conclusion on Disney+, the question hot on everyone’s mind is just how long Rhodey has actually been, well, not Rhodey.

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It’s been a rocky road for Marvel Studios’ latest Disney+ show, Secret Invasion, which officially holds the record for being the franchise’s lowest-rated title of all time. Although most viewers would agree that it’s not an egregiously bad story by any means, its anticlimactic finale, sluggish pacing, and audiences’ looming “superhero fatigue” made for a pretty unremarkable entry into the MCU.

Its arrival on the streaming platform also couldn’t have come at a worse time amid the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which are currently bringing Hollywood—and Disney especially—to a standstill. Although Secret Invasion didn’t suffer any strike-related delays, it became the target of pointed criticism for its use of AI-generative technology in its opening credits, which writers and actors are actively protesting against using in film and TV productions.

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Still, Secret Invasion had its high points, most notably whenever Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury and Don Cheadle’s Rhodey (AKA War Machine) shared the screen. In the fourth episode, titled “Beloved,” audiences’ suspicions were confirmed when Rhodey’s identity as a Skrull was revealed. A trusted advisor to the U.S. President, this Skrull, a part of General Gravik’s (Kingsley Ben-Adir) radicalized band of terrorists, tried to pit America and Russia against each other, leaving Skrulls with a new home world once humanity had all but eradicated itself.

While most fans doubted that the real Rhodey was actually dead, considering War Machine is set to star in the upcoming Armor Wars (TBA) movie and likely other MCU Phase Five and Six projects, Secret Invasion certainly left audiences hanging until the very last episode. In the finale, during a desperate bid to save the U.S. President, Fury and his allies kill Rhodey’s Skrull imposter, though it’s unclear until the end of the episode whether or not their human hosts are still alive.

We’ve seen it go either way, with some Skrulls murdering their victims and stealing their human faces while others, like important world leaders, are kept in a facility beneath New Skrullos. After Gi’ah (Emilia Clarke) avenges her father and defeats Gravik thanks to the Super Skrull serum, she frees the human prisoners from the facility, where it’s revealed that Martin Freeman’s Agent Everett Ross, who was “killed” in Episode, as well as Rhodey, are indeed alive and well.

Rhodey, upon being woken by Gi’ah, was extremely disoriented, stumbling and wearing a hospital gown as he was escorted out of the Skrull lab. Gi’ah tells him that he’s been held hostage for a “long time,” though she doesn’t specify beyond that. However, director Ali Selim might’ve just revealed the heartbreaking truth of how long Rhodey was in captivity prior to Secret Invasion.

Speaking with ComicBook about the big reveal of Rhodey having been replaced by a Skrull, Selim noted how Rhodey wearing a hospital gown and having difficulty walking after he was woken up in the finale “points to” his replacement coming after his injury and subsequent paralysis in Captain America: Civil War (2016):

A lot of people have asked about, ‘Definitively, when did Rhodey…?’ I think his legs not working in the end of episode six and him being in the hospital gown points to it.

As fans may recall, Rhodey was seen going into the hospital for an MRI scan where he appeared to be wearing the same gown that G’iah rescued him in, suggesting he was replaced sometime between this hospital visit and when he was seen learning to use his bionic leg braces at Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) house towards the end of Civil War.

This is a clever callback to the Infinity Saga and hints at a brutal realization for Rhodey: he’s been a Skrull hostage for not just several weeks but, rather, years. However, Selim was clear about how the exact moment of his replacement may not be “definitive” and encouraged to develop their own theories on whether he was a Skrull. But the director did note how audiences may see that question “answered in Armor Wars:”

And, from there, does it have to be definitive, or is it more fun for the audience to go back and revisit every moment, every Rhodey moment and look at it with a different lens now that they think, ‘Oh, he might’ve been a Skrull there.’ And make the decision for themselves, or it’ll be answered in ‘Armor Wars.’

Based on the clues given in the finale (i.e. Rhodey’s walking and attire), Selim’s remarks might be the closest answer we’ll get to when Skrulls captured the high-ranking colonel. With Armor Wars being a big question mark on Marvel’s roster, it’s hard to say when we’ll get a proper explanation as to when Rhodey was replaced and how his absence has affected both his mental health and the safety of the U.S. government moving forward.

Rhodey’s capture will unquestionably have some big ramifications for the MCU, and only time will tell if fans will ever get an exact answer on when and how he was taken by the shape-shifting aliens. But now that he’s hopefully back in action for good this time, maybe it’s time for Rhodey to reunite with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes—this time, with a newfound grudge against the Skrulls.

What did you think of the Secret Invasion finale? Are you satisfied with Ali Selim’s explanation of when Rhodey was first kidnapped? Let us know in the comments below.