War Machine
Iron Man and War Machine VS Whiplash full fight
The full scenes of Iron Man fighting Whiplash, along with War Machine.
Promotional art for Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. #33
Art by Adi Granov.
War Machine (James Rupert “Rhodey” Rhodes) is a fictional character, a comic book superhero appearing in comic books set in the Marvel Comics universe. The character of James Rhodes first appeared in Iron Man #118 (January 1979) by David Michelinie, John Byrne, and Bob Layton. The War Machine armor, which became Rhodes’ signature armored battlesuit, was designed by Len Kaminski and Kevin Hopgood.
Rhodes has been a featured character in the Iron Man animated series, Iron Man: Armored Adventures, and the animated film The Invincible Iron Man. He was first portrayed by actor Terrence Howard in the 2008 film Iron Man. Don Cheadlereplaced Howard in the 2010 sequel Iron Man 2 and reprised the role in Iron Man 3.
Publication history
Initially a supporting character in volume one of Iron Man, Rhodes later assumed the mantle of Iron Man after Tony Stark’s relapse into alcoholism in issue #170 (May 1983). The character would continue in a supporting role and later resume the role of Iron Man following Stark’s purported death in issue #284 (Sept. 1992). After Stark’s return to the role of Iron Man, Rhodes continued as the superhero War Machine and made his solo series debut in an eponymous title after being featured as a supporting character in the superhero-team series Avengers West Coast.
In addition to Iron Man and his own title War Machine, Rhodes has been featured in the ensemble titles West Coast Avengers;Force Works by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning; Sentinel Squad O*N*E; The Crew by Christopher Priest; and Avengers: The Initiative by Dan Slott and Christos Gage. Rhodes was also featured in the alternate-reality Marvel MAX imprint‘s U.S. War Machine series by Chuck Austen, and U.S. War Machine 2.0, by Austen and Christian Moore.
In the series Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Rhodes was featured in the storyline “War Machine: Weapon of S.H.I.E.L.D.” written by Gage and artist Sean Chen.[1] In this tie-in to the company-wide storyline “Secret Invasion,” War Machine replaced Iron Man as the protagonist for the final three issues of the series.[2] This led into a second War Machine ongoing series, written byGreg Pak with art by Leonardo Manco,[3][4][5] which lasted 12 issues.[6][7] War Machine appeared as a regular character in the 2010-2013 Secret Avengers series, from issue #1 (July 2010) through issue #21 (March 2012), and guest starred in issues #26-28 during the “Avengers vs. X-Men” storyline. War Machine is the lead character of the series Iron Man 2.0 by writer Nick Spencer and artist Barry Kitson.
Fictional character biography – Origins
James Rupert Rhodes, from the South Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was a lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps who served tours of duty in Southeast Asia. A combat pilot, he was stranded in the jungle behind enemy lines after his helicopter was shot down by Viet Cong rocket fire. He encounters Iron Man, who escaped from Wong-Chu’s prison camp in his prototype suit of powered armor, for the first time. Defeating the Viet Cong soldiers that ambushed them, Rhodes and Iron Man discovered an enemy rocket base that was the origin of the rocket fire that grounded Rhodes in the first place. Destroying the base with a stolen Viet Cong helicopter, Rhodes and Iron Man flew the helicopter back to the American defense perimeter. At the base hospital in Saigon, Stark arrives in person to thank Rhodes for helping Iron Man and to offer Rhodes a job as his personal pilot. After the Vietnam War was over and after taking several career paths including mercenary work, Rhodes finally took Stark’s offer and became Stark’s personal pilot, chief aviation engineer for Stark International, and one of Stark’s closest friends.
The all new Iron Man
Due to Obadiah Stane‘s actions, Stark International was losing foreign contracts and going into heavy debt. With Stark’s company and personal life in disarray, Stark relapsed into alcoholism. After an intoxicated Stark was defeated by Magma, Rhodes donned the Iron Man armor for the first time and defeated Magma. Stark asked Rhodes to take his place as Iron Man. Rhodes, along with scientist Morley Erwin, quit Stark International and sent the remaining Iron Man armors into the ocean to protect Stark’s technology from Stane and S.H.I.E.L.D., who monitored the Stane takeover. Morley Erwin maintained the Iron Man armor and served as Rhodes’ technical support while Rhodes fought villains such as the Mandarin, Thunderball, the Zodiac, and the Radioactive Man as Iron Man. He became a charter member of the West Coast Avengers and fought in the Beyonder’s “Secret Wars.” Rhodes, Morley Erwin, and Morley’s sister Dr. Clytemnestra Erwin planned to create a new electronics firm based in California. Rhodes took mercenary jobs to provide money for the armor’s upkeep and to fund the company. Recovering from his alcoholism, Tony Stark joined the three and they formed the company Circuits Maximus. Due to the armor’s helmet being tailored to Stark’s brainwaves, Rhodes developed headaches and grew more erratic and aggressive. Stark helped Rhodes maintain the armor, but Rhodes’ paranoia and hatred made him believe that Stark wanted to retake the armor. During a battle with Vibro, Rhodes went on a rampage to capture the villain and Stark was forced to wear his new testbed armor (resembling Stark’s first Iron Man armor) to stop Rhodes and talk him out of his rage.
Rhodes sought help from Dr. Henry Pym to cure his headaches while Stark delivered Rhodes’ resignation to the Avengers and revealed his identity to Hawkeye and Mockingbird. Pym sent Rhodes to Dr. Michael Twoyoungmen (Shaman of Alpha Flight) and Rhodes cured himself of his headaches via a journey through a mystic dimension called “The Gorge” that revealed Rhodes’ guilt of feeling unworthy of the armor. While Rhodes was finally at peace and left his armor behind in the dimension, the armor was empowered by The Omnos, a being of extra-dimensional energy, and was returned to Rhodes. Rhodes resumed operating as Iron Man with Stark using his own testbed armor to assist Rhodes. Due to a bomb sent by Stane to Circuits Maximus that injured Rhodes and killed Morley Erwin, Stark became active as Iron Man again, donning his newly-completed “Silver Centurion” model, and defeated Stane.
Out of the armor
Rhodes remained at Stark’s side as Stark regained his personal fortune and built a new corporation, Stark Enterprises, remaining in California. Rhodes donned the red-and-gold armor once more when A.I.M. attacked the under-construction Stark space station. However, the armor’s seals had been damaged in a shuttle explosion, causing Rhodes to suffer severe burns upon reentry; he survived only by Stark using his own armor as a heat shield to minimize Rhodes’ exposure. After Rhodes recovered, he continued to play a key role in assisting Stark, particularly during the first Armor Wars storyline.
When Stark was shot by Kathy Dare and left paralyzed, he needed a fill-in for the role of Iron Man. Rhodes refused, citing the history between him and the armor, “not all of it good”. Stark would call upon the former Force, Clay Wilson (known as Carl Walker at this point), to fill in, wearing the modified Stealth armor, until Stark could modify his regular armor to allow him to function normally inside the suit. Rhodes would reluctantly return to the armor to fight the Mandarin at the behest of the Chinese government, in order to allow Stark to seek medical assistance in their country. In the end, Stark (using a remote-control set of armor) and Rhodes team up with the Mandarin to stop the larger threat of the Makulan dragons.
I
ron Man once again and the birth of War Machine
The Masters Of Silence, three Japanese warriors tricked by Justin Hammer into attacking Iron Man, defeated Stark with technology that enabled them to not be affected by repulsors or unibeams. To combat the threat, Stark designed the “Variable Threat Response Battle Suit, Model XVI, Mark I” (nicknamed “War Machine”), a more heavily armed version of the Iron Man armor designed for all-out warfare. After Stark’s apparent death in the comic book, he left Rhodes in control of Stark Enterprises as its new CEO, along with a new Variable Threat Response Battle Suit designed especially for Rhodes to continue the Iron Man legacy. As Iron Man once again, Rhodes used the armor and fought against threats such as the Living Laser, the second Spymaster, Blacklash, the Beetle, and Atom Smasher.
Upon the revelation that Stark was alive, Rhodes quit Stark Enterprises and the friendship between the two was fractured. After teaming with Iron Man against battledroids programmed to kill Rhodes, Stark wanted Rhodes to keep the Variable Threat Response Battle Suit stating that the armor always belonged to Rhodes. Rhodes eventually kept the armor and later adopted the name of War Machine. When the robot Ultimo went on a rampage, Rhodes called together Harold “Happy” Hogan, Bethany Cabe, Eddie March, “Carl Walker” and Michael O’Brien to pilot various Iron Man armors to take down Ultimo as the Iron Legion. He rejoined the West Coast Avengers as War Machine and served with the team until he resigned after an argument with Iron Man during an Avengers team meeting. During the beginning of the War Machine series, Rhodes was approached by Vincent Cetewayo, noted activist from the African country of Imaya and founder of the human rights organization Worldwatch Incorporated. Cetewayo offered Rhodes the position of Worldwatch’s Executive Director, but the offer was declined. Cetewayo was kidnapped by Imayan forces led by the dictator President Eda Arul. Receiving no aid from S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers, Rhodes traveled to Imaya as War Machine to free Cetewayo. Joined by Deathlok, the two evaded capture from a S.H.I.E.L.D. unit led by Major Bathsheva “Sheva” Joseph and joined the fight to liberate Imaya. Rhodes successfully led Imayan rebels into combat against Arul’s forces, but failed to save Cetewayo from being killed by the Advisor, the apparent mastermind of Arul’s rise to power. Shaken by the death of Cetewayo and finding something worth fighting for, Rhodes takes the position of Worldwatch’s Executive Director and hired Sheva Joseph, who left S.H.I.E.L.D. after her assignment in Imaya.
During the Hands of the Mandarin crossover, Stark disapproved of the actions of War Machine in Imaya and demanded that Rhodes relinquish the armor when he returned to Stark Enterprises to get the specifications for his armor. The two men battled each other until the fight was stopped by Bethany Cabe, the Head Of Security for Stark Enterprises. While their armor was rebooting, the Mandarin captured Rhodes and Stark, discovering their identities. Century of the superhero team Force Works rescued Rhodes, but his armor was useless thanks to the Mandarin’s anti-technology field. Rhodes and Stark reconciled and joined with Force Works to stop the Mandarin and his Avatars from using the Heart Of Darkness for their plans of conquest. Stark gave Rhodes the blueprints to the War Machine armor and a fully upgraded armor with new armaments was made. Rhodes continued to use the War Machine armor in a solo superhero career, occasionally fighting alongside Stark and Force Works.
The Warwear
After the events of the “Time War” storyline, in which Rhodes teamed up with Captain America, Bucky and Sgt. Nick Fury & his Howling Commandos to stop Neo-Nazis from sending modern weaponry to Nazi Germany, the War Machine armor was lost in the time stream. Rhodes returned to civilian life, but he ended up acquiring a brand new alien armor known as the Eidolon Warwearafter meeting a mysterious woman named Skye and fighting an alien known as a Lictor. Skye was sent to teach Rhodes to use the Warwear and revealed that Rhodes was chosen to fight against Stark (who was under the control of Immortus disguised asKang the Conqueror). Skye was fatally wounded by Dirge, another Eidolon Warrior sent by Immortus, and Rhodes defeated him in combat. Stark eventually breaks free of Immortus’ control and sacrificed his life while Rhodes foiled Immortus’ plot by using Dirge’s Warwear to destroy the Starcore satellite armed with a chronographic weapon. S.H.I.E.L.D. was made aware of down, but Rhodes evaded capture. To protect Worldwatch, he resigns as Executive Director.
In Tales of the Marvel Universe, Rhodes rejoined Stark Enterprises to protect his friend’s legacy while the Japanese company Fujikawa Industries bought out Stark Enterprises. Rhodes was kept around to help with the transition to Stark-Fujikawa. He was offered the job of President Of Corporate Liaison Operations, but kept away from Fujikawa’s attempt to discover the secrets to Stark’s Iron Man armor technology contained in a single gauntlet. Rhodes infiltrated the security system at Stark-Fujikawa’s Research and Development facility, recovered the gauntlet, and purged the Fujikawa database of all Iron Man armor technology data by downloading the Eidolon Warwear directly into the Fujikawa computers to attack the system. Losing the armor as a result of the sabotage mission, Rhodes quits Stark-Fujikawa. After serving as one of Stark’s trustees when Iron Man was presumed dead after the final battle with Onslaught, Rhodes starts his own marine salvage business called “Rhodes Recovery” and retires from superheroics.
