- —War Machine[src]
A skilled military pilot, Jim Rhodes is one of the few people Tony Stark trusts to use the technology of the Iron Man Armor, flying high in his own suit as War Machine. An aviator engineer for Stark Industries,[21] Rhodes was also the personal pilot and eventually confidant of Tony Stark. When Tony was overwhelmed by his relapsing alcoholism, Rhodey donned the Iron Man suit himself.[22] Although he stepped up to the mark, the lack of proper calibrations in the armor affected Rhodey's psyche and he had to step down,[23] paving the way for Tony to return as Iron Man.[24] Later on, after Stark was seemingly assassinated, Rhodey reluctantly heeded Tony's will and became Iron Man again, wearing a new armor made specifically for him.[25] Once he learned that Stark had survived in secret,[26] Rhodey temporarily cut ties with him,[27] and went solo, adopting the alias of War Machine.[28]
Both as War Machine and during a temporary retirement, Rhodey has been invaluable both as an ally to Tony Stark and as a member of the government, at one point becoming the command officer of Sentinel Squad O*N*E.[29] Rhodey was once turned into a cyborg by Stark after losing all of his limbs to a terrorist explosion during active duty,[30] but ultimately regained his humanity when his mind was transferred to a healthy clone body.[31] A cherished member of the superhuman community, Rhodey's death at the hands of the Mad Titan Thanos once sparked a civil war between Iron Man and Rhodey's girlfriend, Captain Marvel.[17] Rhodey would then manage to cheat death when Stark discovered a way to use the biomechanical enhancements inherent to piloting an Iron Man-like armor to reboot Rhodes' biological systems.[18] Rhodey temporarily resorted to piloting an advanced combat vehicle named the Manticore to combat a phobia for suiting up,[32] ultimately overcoming that fear and resurfacing as War Machine once more.[33]
History
Early Life[]
James "Rhodey" Rhodes was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a child he suffered racist abuse from white children in the Grays Ferry area of south Philadelphia, who attacked him while urging him to stay out of their park and keep to 'his own'. He would go on to be targeted by black gang members as a teen, who believed Rhodes thought he was better than as he focused on his education, rather than joining up with them. He later joined the United States Marines becoming a pilot stationed overseas.[34][note 1]
Meeting Tony Stark[]
On a mission he was blasted out of the sky by enemy rockets, Rhodey managed to land in one piece and was attempting to get his craft airworthy when inventor Tony Stark, clad in his Iron Man Armor, happened to be passing by. Stark had just completed his original armor, had avenged his fellow prisoner Professor Yinsen, and was trying to make his way to the American defense perimeter. Attacked by enemies, Iron Man proved to Rhodey they were on the same side, and Rhodes allowed him to drain the helicopter's batteries to recharge his armor. The two then trekked through the jungle together, finally discovering a hidden enemy rocket base. Stealing an enemy helicopter, they destroyed the base, and flew to the nearest American encampment. Before leaving Siancong for the United States, Stark offered Rhodes a job as a pilot as soon as his military stint was over. Rhodey initially declined.[35]
Stark Industries[]
After a succession of other jobs, including a mercenary stint alongside fellow former Marine Brendan Doyle,[5] Rhodey finally accepted Stark's offer and became his personal pilot and chief aviation engineer.[21] While working at Stark Industries, Rhodey aided Iron Man in his battles against such foes as the Roxxon Oil Company,[36] Justin Hammer,[37] and the Dreadnoughts.[38]
New Iron Man[]
When devastating personal problems caused Tony Stark to abuse alcohol and become incapable of using the Iron Man armor responsibly, Rhodes put it on in order to defend Stark International from the criminal Magma. He offered to return it but Stark insisted that Rhodes take on the responsibility of being Iron Man for a while to enable Stark to enjoy himself. Reluctantly Rhodes agreed.[39]
Rhodey issued notice to the Avengers that Iron Man would be on a leave of absence for the foreseeable future, unaware that several of the Avengers knew Iron Man was Tony Stark. When Cap and Wasp arrived seeking answers, Rhodey was forced to explain the real reason why Stark was no longer available.[40] Although he was unable to help Stark from being swindled out of proprietorship of Stark International by Obadiah Stane, he did prevent Stane from taking custody of all of Stark's Iron Man armors.[41]
With Morley Erwin and his sister Clytemnestra, Rhodes embarked upon a brief career as a mercenary in order to obtain funds with which they could begin a new business venture. By the time they succeeded in raising sufficient capital, Tony Stark had recovered from his several months-long alcohol binge, and offered to join them. The four moved out to Silicon Valley, California, where they founded Circuits Maximus, a small electronics design firm.[42]
Stark still was not interested in resuming his Iron Man role and gave his blessing to Rhodes to continue. Rhodes was initiated into the established ranks of superhuman champions when he became one of those who participated in the first Secret Wars.[43] Soon afterwards, he was invited to join the newly-founded West Coast Avengers by chairman Hawkeye, who believed him to be the original Iron Man. After proving his worth to the group, Rhodes revealed to them he was Iron Man's replacement.[44]
Side-Effects[]
Soon after first donning the armor, Rhodes began to get severe headaches because the cybernetics in the helmet had never been properly re-calibrated for his brain patterns. Working in close proximity with Stark again, Rhodes began to fantasize that Stark secretly disapproved of him keeping the armor and wanted it back. This led to increasingly hostile and irrational behavior on Rhodes' part. As work therapy, Stark began to construct a new set of armor based on his original armor's design. When Rhodes finally began to endanger the lives of innocents by his behavior, Stark donned the unsophisticated new armor and managed to stop Rhodes rampage. Ashamed of his behavior, Rhodes went off to look for a cure for his headaches when adjusting the helmet to his brain patterns did not end them.[45]
Stark went to the West Coast Avengers to tender Rhodes' resignation, and was invited by Hawkeye to use the laboratory facilities to create a new state-of-the-art set of armor. Rhodes returned to Circuits Maximus after the Indian mystic Shaman helped him cure his headaches, and briefly joined forces with Stark battling Obadiah Stane's latest machinations against them. Rhodes was injured in an explosion Stane engineered that destroyed Circuits Maximus and killed Morley Erwin. Consequently, he could not assist Stark in his final assault on Stane, an assault that ended in Stane's death.[46]
Rhodes joined Stark in his new business venture, Stark Enterprises, but even after his bones mended, he was reluctant to put the Iron Man armor on again. Stark had resumed his responsibilities as Iron Man using the new state-of the-art armor, and Rhodes not only felt a second armored Avenger would be superfluous, he also felt contrite about his irrational period.[47] After several months of only occasionally wearing his older model suit, Rhodey nearly died while re-entering Earth's atmosphere after a space station battle, and almost burned alive inside his suit. Jim suffered PTSD from the incident, and could not put the armor back on without re-experiencing his near-death, leading to his permanent resignation as the substitute Iron Man, although he remained with Stark Enterprises.[48]
War Machine[]
Several years later, Tony Stark was fatally injured and placed in cryogenic sleep, but he was announced as dead to the public, including Rhodey. James was named CEO of Stark Enterprises, and Tony's last wish was for him to continue his legacy as Iron Man, using the latest battlesuit of Stark's creation, the War Machine Armor. However, when he discovered that Stark was not dead, Rhodes became furious and resigned, severing his friendship with Stark. The two would occasionally team up to battle the evil that was trying to take over, but the friendship of old was no longer the same. Around this time Jim became romantically involved with Rae LaCoste.[49] During this time, Rhodey had also taken Tony's place in the Avengers West Coast. Despite cutting ties with Stark, Rhodes remained with the Avengers, revealing his identity to them and adopting "War Machine" as his superhero alias.[28]
War Machine went solo for some time. Jim traveled to the small African nation of Imaya in an attempt to free peace activist Vincent Cetewayo. Cable and Deathlok (Michael Collins) also traveled to the war-torn country, and Nick Fury quickly sent a S.H.I.E.L.D. team to hope the situation would stabilize. In the resulting revolution the country's dictator was overthrown, but Cetewayo had been murdered by a mysterious Advisor, who warned Jim that he is present in every conflict. Jim continued to adventure and worked for Cetewayo's company Worldwatch, which investigates human rights abuses. One of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents present, Sheva Joseph, left to work with Rhodes. Jim continued to adventure, but could not find someone capable of repairing the armor.[50] Returning to Stark, the two had a confrontation about each other's recent actions. This was interrupted by the Mandarin. After Mandarin was defeated, the armor was fixed.[51]
While visiting family and friends in Philly, Rhodey stumbled onto a group of armor wearers who hunt for sport. Tracking the leader Locomotive Breath to Slorenia, he discovered that atrocities were occurring and alerted both Worldwatch and Force Works.[52]
Soon after that, he was contacted by Sheva, who was investigating some Neo-Nazi activity. Rhodey and Nick Fury answered her call to find a rabid faction that was attempting to send modern weapons to WWII era Germany (Earth-95615). Rhodey followed, meeting a younger Fury, the Howling Commandos as well as Cap and Bucky Barnes. The "Zeitkrieg" was halted, although the War Machine armor was lost when time shifted.[53]
Alien Armor[]
On vacation, Jim suddenly acquired a new alien armor, the Eidolon Warwear. A mysterious woman named Skye said only that he would need it. Hearing that something terrible had happened, Rhodes returned to the Avengers. Rhodes joined the Black Widow, the US Agent and Hawkeye to find a way to stop Tony Stark. A confrontation changed little, and Rhodey helped Force Works to disable some weapons.[54]
He went into space to disable the STARCORE satellite. There he found another Eidolon wearer named Dirge, apparently having been sent by Kang. A dying Skye explained a bit more about the Eidolon's history, and the other wearer was destroyed. Eventually, Stark broke Kang's control and sacrificed his life to save his friends. After Tony's death, Rhodes returned to Stark Enterprises, which was soon bought out by Fujikawa; his attitude about Stark changed for the better as well.[55][56]
Sheva Joseph began to rapidly age and soon died, as a side effect of their earlier time travel. Jim's Eidolon was discovered while he was being examined for the same condition, and he briefly got into a quarrel with S.H.I.E.L.D. who wanted to quarantine him and study the armor.[57]
As War Machine, Jim Rhodes discovered that Fujikawa was trying to gain access to some of Tony Stark's old technology. In order to save that technology from falling into another person's hands and to preserve the legacy of his old friend, he purged the computers of Fujikawa in order to destroy all the information about Stark's armor technology. In doing so, he sacrificed his alien costume by downloading it into the computers and sending it on a "search and destroy" mission.[58]
Retirement[]
No longer wishing for any superhero identity, Rhodes returned to civilian life to start up his own salvage company. Upon Stark and the other heroes' return from Counter-Earth, the two renewed their friendship, also dealing with the new War Machine, Parnell Jacobs.[59][60]
Rhodes had heavily invested in Grace & Tumbalt due to its stated purpose of improving urban ethnic neighborhoods. While investigating the death of his sister Jeanette, he learned the company was corrupt, using their resources to fuel gangs and drugs. This led to his membership in the Crew.[61]
The Initiative[]
James was hired by ONE and served as a Direct Command Officer and combat instructor for Sentinel Squad ONE.[29] Post-Civil War, Rhodey participated in the Initiative recruitment and training program, wearing an Iron Man-like armor. Through as yet unknown circumstances, Jim Rhodes was critically injured at some point following the Civil War and, after a terrorist bombing of an airfield where he worked, he had his arms, legs and parts of his face lost and replaced with cybernetic prosthetics thanks to Tony Stark's help.[62]
Secret Invasion[]
During the Skrull invasion, Rhodey received a holographic distress signal from Tony Stark. Believing that the message was sent posthumously, Rhodey followed Stark's instructions and took command of a space satellite that he had constructed in secrecy. The control pod of the station enabled Rhodey to transform the entire satellite into a giant suit of hi-tech armor. With this armor, he was able to successfully repel a Skrull armada approaching Earth. This also led to his capture when he abandoned the Satellite armor and took the fighting to Earth, where the Winter Guard didn't offer him assistance against the Skrulls as he did not have permission to be operating in Russia.[63]
Shortly before being vivisected, Rhodey was able to trigger a laser in his eye and escape his bonds, getting enough of his armor back on to keep himself alive and defend against the Skrulls still onboard the ship he had been taken to. Rhodey, with help from Suzi Endo, used the Skrull ships to destroy one another and return to the Russian air base Tatishchevo where he had been captured and continued aiding the Winter Guard in defending Russia's nuclear arsenal from the Skrulls. Despite Crimson Dynamo's previous denials, he chose to ignore his commands and aid Rhodey when he saw the help he was offering without their aid. Working alongside the Winter Guard they took down the Skrulls air support and their Super-Skrulls on the ground, with Rhodey risking his own life to prevent a detonating Super-Skrull from setting off the warheads before being aiding in his escape from Russia by Crimson Dynamo.[64]
Dark Reign[]
Despite protest from Suzi Endo, Rhodes left the satellite to face Anton Aubuisson, a corrupt former French Special Forces soldier who now represented the Roxxon Energy Corporation in negotiations with the Anunquit tribe in western Canada. While his presence was legally sanctioned, Aubuisson killed the Anunquit representatives that refused Roxxon's construction of a oil pipeline on their land using polar bears enhanced with Sakaarian control disks and exoskeleton upgrades via Ultimo technology from Eaglestar International, a corrupt paramilitary defense contracting firm. Rhodes destroyed the pipeline and the bears killed Aubuisson after Rhodes destroyed his Sakaarian control staff. After the mission was complete, Endo left the satellite.[65]
In Santo Marco, Rhodes destroyed a retrofitted Sentinel used by Eaglestar mercenaries in an attempt to exterminate Santo Marcan people who were of the same tribe as the rebel leaders that opposed Santo Marco's dictator President Augustine. After the battle, Rhodes found Parnell Jacobs, who was believed to have been killed by Stuart Clarke,[66] among the group of Santo Marcans and forcibly recruited him to be his "one-man pit crew" at the satellite and to help reconfigure Rhodes' bionics to reduce the stress on his system. Jacobs accepted after finding out from Rhodes that Dr. Glenda Sandoval, a medic with Eaglestar, was raped and tortured while in forced imprisonment at Eaglestar. In the secret War Machine R&D facilities in the Colorado mountains , a team under the direction of Bethany Cabe developed a clone body, labeled "J. Rhodes, Repro Bod 2.0", for him to take over because the cybernetics in Rhodes were not meant to be a permanent fix. The facility was attacked and the clone body was taken by Norman Osborn.[30] Rhodes, along with support from Jacobs and Cabe, invaded the Eaglestar regional headquarters in the occupied nation of Aqiria.[67] Rhodes attacked Eaglestar mercenaries, but chose not to kill. With help from former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jake Oh, he found Sandoval locked in a box rigged with explosives at an Eaglestar quarantine unit. Blinding the mercenaries with a flash pulse while Oh's men tended to Sandoval, Rhodes pursued Eaglestar CEO Davis Harmon. Harmon used his code to release Sandoval, but Rhodes was ready to kill him after learning that the CEO was personally responsible for the rape of Sandoval along with the order to experiment on her with something unknown. Before he could act, the Dark Avenger Ares, having been sent to Aqiria by Norman Osborn to take care of Harmon, disobeyed Osborn's orders to hold position and intervened by fighting Rhodes.
Rhodes managed to hold his own against the god of war and followed Harmon to another Eaglestar quarantine unit. Harmon told Rhodes that he couldn't be prosecuted since Eaglestar was a private multinational agency free of government jurisdiction, but Sandoval killed him. Ares opened the unit and it was revealed that the experiments conducted at Eaglestar created test subjects infected with a virus laced with the same Ultimo technology found in the enhanced bears that Rhodes faced in Canada. Sandoval was infected with the virus and attacked Rhodes and Ares.[68] Suzi Endo, who stated that she would never work with Rhodes again after what happened in Santo Marco, assisted Rhodes and suggested that he attack the infected before they reach Makazan, the capital of Aqiria. The infected survived Rhodes' attack with Ares now among the infected.[69] Despite being ten minutes from organ failure, Rhodes refused Cabe's offer to put him in stasis for a new body and integrated the EVAC shuttle sent for him into his armor. Rhodes was infected with the virus via a kiss from Sandoval and used the armor's technology to absorb the virus from all of the infected. With the virus rebuilding his organs and being suppressed, Rhodes took control of the satellite and had it knock him down before he could infect the city's infrastructure while the satellite's EMP blast with Endo's code destroyed the virus. Norman Osborn offered pardons to Endo, Cabe, and Jacobs while he offered Rhodes the clone body, but Rhodes refused Osborn's offer. He deduced that the Ultimo technology was developed at an Army base in the United States where Ultimo was last seen.
Rhodes headed to the U.S. with Sandoval and Oh as the medical team, Cabe and Jacobs handling security and hardware, Endo as the technology expert.[70] After Rhodes and his team visited Rhodes' mother Roberta at the Navajo Nation and was confronted by American Eagle, Rhodes tricked Eagle into fighting Oh in a copy of the War Machine armor while he attacked Mackelroy Army Base.[71] There he searched for evidence of Ultimo technology to use against Norman Osborn only to find the head of Ultimo that began attacking the base as well. With help from American Eagle, Rhodes was able to take it down.[72] Rhodes learned that Ultimo's brain was split into three components and sent to three private companies for research and development. While Cabe and Oh tracked down two components at Roxxon and Transcore facilities in their new War Machine support armor, Rhodes went after Ultimo's neural net that was held in a liquid state by who he believed to be Tony Stark. Rhodes' old Avengers teammates Ronin, Mockingbird, Tigra, and Wonder Man tried to stop him from hijacking Stark's jet, but Stark drank the liquid neural net and merged with Ultimo as its new host. During the battle between Rhodes and Ultimo, it was revealed that the "Tony Stark" that Rhodes was after was really Tony's cousin Morgan Stark impersonating Tony. When Rhodes used his armor's power to absorb Ultimo's technology in an attempt to stop it, Ultimo breached his armor and tapped into his neural net to give Ultimo the capability to kill.[73] With Ultimo out in the open and destroying parts of the American Midwest, Norman Osborn arrived in his Iron Patriot Armor and attacked Rhodes while he was trying to communicate with Ultimo. Rhodes incorporated Osborn's Iron Patriot armor and used it to blast the liquid metal form of Ultimo enough to reconnect with it. He tried to reason with Ultimo by showing it the lives he saved and also used Osborn to show Osborn's human side to Ultimo: the birth of his son Harry. After interfacing with Rhodes and Osborn, Morgan Stark was separated from Ultimo and the Ultimo system itself purged its extermination programming to become a clean slate. But Osborn let Rhodes tap into his neural net so he could take the clean slate Ultimo orb as his new weapon.[74]
Rhodes and Sandoval tricked Osborn into thinking that his health was failing from the Ultimo battle and Rhodes merged with the H.A.M.M.E.R. transport vehicle. He freed the Ultimo orb and asked Endo to take the orb off-planet to keep it away from Osborn and to tap into its code to teach it right from wrong. After Endo escaped with the orb, Rhodes asked Tigra, Ronin, Mockingbird, and Wonder Man to evacuate the civilians and informed them of his plan being set in motion. Rhodes fought Osborn and denied Sandoval's transmission to the other Team War Machine members to help Rhodes when Osborn found a way to jam his assimilation technology. The other heroes along with Endo and Oh formed strike teams to confront certain criminal targets and upload proof of their targets' crimes. While Rhodes was defeated by Osborn and his H.A.M.M.E.R, agents, Rhodes plan was carried out during the battle: a security breach of a H.A.M.M.E.R. satellite exposing the deeds of a the "Bainesville Ten", a group of high ranking government officials and industry captains responsible for worldwide crimes such as torture and assassinations.
To distract from the indictment of the group, Osborn arranged to have Rhodes put on trial at The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity while he attempted to thwart the prosecution of the Bainesville Ten.[75] Rhodes was intent on foiling Osborn's scheme by quickly getting himself convicted. On the side, he had his team retrieve his clone body and have his mind transferred wirelessly. Unfortunately, Osborn had anticipated their move and gave the order to kill Rhodes. He fabricated a story to the public that Rhodes' cyborg body was manufactured by Tony Stark and that H.A.M.M.E.R. recovered the "real" one, absolved of all charges. However, Rhodes was transferred to his new body before his cyborg one. He revealed to Osborn that he also had Endo use liquid drops of Ultimo to infect the Bainesville Ten, causing them to forever see the people who were killed, tortured, and raped on their orders. Rhodes then left to embrace his second chance at life.[76]
Heroic Age[]
Rhodes went to Broxton, Oklahoma, where Tony Stark was left in a persistent vegetative state, in order to reboot his brain. Following recorded instructions from Stark, Rhodes extracted wires from Pepper Potts' Rescue suit to use to connect the Captain America's Shield to the implant on Stark's chest, which would be started by Thor's lightning.[77]
After the Siege on Asgard, Steve Rogers asked a handful of heroes to join his specific superhero teams. Rogers asked Rhodes to be a member of Rogers' strike force known as the Secret Avengers. Rhodes accepted Rogers' offer.[78]
Rhodey then (with Tony Stark's permission) went to work for the U.S. government as "Iron Man 2.0". This was an attempt by Stark to keep the government from building their own Iron Man without his permission. He considered Rhodey the only person he trusted to pilot the government-owned suit. After Rhodes' War Machine armor was severely damaged, Stark upgraded it. The new armor has phasing and invisibility abilities.[79]
Avengers vs. X-Men[]
To prevent the arrival of the Phoenix to Earth, Rhodey, using a new version of the JRXL-1000 armor, joined some of the Avengers in a suicide mission to destroy the powerful cosmic force, which was coming to Earth in search of a new host.[80] The mission was a failure as the Phoenix Force wasn't defeated, and the heroes returned Earth at the same moment the Phoenix did.[81]
Long Way Down[]
Rhodey helped Iron Man when the Mandarin attacked the Three Gorges Dam in China.[82] As part of Tony's plan of letting Mandarin win this battle, Rhodey faked his death after fighting the Melter, Whirlwind, and the Living Laser.[83]
When Stark had to quit being Iron Man and get his armor out of his body, he gave Rhodey a new one to keep fighting against Mandarin's forces.[84] After Tony was kidnapped by the Mandarin, Rhodey kept fighting in his place. Rhodey's activities as the new Iron Man in a new high-tech suit had got Rescue's attention and caused a conflict with her. She finally discovered that Rhodey was the new Iron Man, and after the conflict with the Mandarin was over and Tony rescued from his claws, Tony took Rhodey's armor from him.[85]
Secret Avengers[]
After A.I.M. stole a fleet of Iron Patriot Drones, the drones' low-level A.I. was grown considerably, creating a sentient army which A.I.M. used to incriminate the United States in numerous international attacks.[86]
S.H.I.E.L.D. Intel came to the conclusion the androids could be reasoned with, and agent Phil Coulson asked Rhodey to talk to them, as he had experience and military training.[86] Using holographic communication, S.H.I.E.L.D. hacked into A.I.M.'s network and allowed Rhodes to talk to the suits, who recognized him as "the Pilot", and Tony Stark as "the Maker". Rhodey managed to make the Iron Patriot army understand their actions of abruptly attacking tactical points of enemies of the US were unacceptable, and stated he could teach them better if he could just show them, for what the androids sent Rhodes a different version of the Iron Patriot Armor.[6] With the army of droids at his command, Iron Patriot helped the Secret Avengers in their assault on A.I.M. Island.[87] Rhodey later left the team based on the lack of transparency of Maria Hill involving the assault on A.I.M. Island and the information that Mockingbird had been kidnapped.[88] Rhodes continued to operate as the Iron Patriot and moved to Georgia with his father Terrence and his niece Lila.[89]
Soon after Steve Rogers had declared the Illuminati enemies of the Avengers, Rhodey became an Avenger once again, under the authority of S.H.I.E.L.D., as the pilot of a fleet of War Machine Drones.[90] He would deploy the suits in attempts to capture the Illuminati.[91][90]
The Second Civil War[]
War Machine was one of the numerous heroes together with the Ultimates, A-Force, and the Inhumans who set an ambush for Thanos at a Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. facility after a new Inhuman precog named Ulysses Cain foresaw his arrival in search for a Cosmic Cube. The deploy was initially successful until Rhodey was thrown off-balance by Thanos a moment before firing a missile, causing the explosive to hit She-Hulk instead. War Machine was then caught off-guard by the Mad Titan, who punched Rhodes with such force his armor couldn't brace for the impact, and it killed him.[92] Rhodes' body was taken to the Triskelion's morgue,[17] and it was later buried at Arlington Cemetery, with a memorial being held in his hometown of Philadelphia.[93]
Rhodey's death was one of the many factors that sparked the second superhuman civil war over making use of Ulysses' visions, with Iron Man opposing the idea, while Captain Marvel endorsed it. In the end of the conflict, Tony was fatally injured in battle against Carol. The different genetic modifications Stark had subjected himself to in order to run the Iron Man Armor saved his life. Instead of dying, Tony fell into a coma.[94] When Tony's biological system rebooted itself and he woke up, he theorized something similar could be triggered in Rhodes. Stark exhumed Jim's body and performed the necessary procedures to kick-start his biological systems, which returned him to life.[18]
Stark Unlimited[]
Jim joined Stark's new endeavor, the think tank known as Stark Unlimited, and served as a liaison with the Armed Forces. Tony additionally gifted Rhodey a new War Machine Armor.[32] However, minor deviations in Rhodey's genetic code from the process that returned him to life caused him to develop a pathological fear for armoring up.[95] He found an alternative in the Manticore, a multi-purpose weaponized vehicle which allowed Rhodey to fight more comfortably.[32]
When Ultron returned and set out to transform humanity into cyborgs, Jim joined Iron Man's efforts to stop him. Rhodey was confronted with a dark reflection of his past, in the form of Ultron's cyborg brute test subjects, causing him to panic when fighting them. His mettle was further put to the test when Tony had to withdraw from battle after being accidentally subjected to Ultron's bonding process, merging him to his armor. With no backup available, Rhodey called his armor and gathered the strength to suit up again as War Machine.[96] In the aftermath of Ultron's attack, Tony was delegitimized as a human being due to his body having been artificially regrown in the procedure that woke him from his coma, which allegedly entailed that he was an artificial construct of the real, late Tony Stark. Stark Unlimited was seized by his adoptive brother Arno. Displeased with the new management, Rhodey resigned.[97]
During the subsequent robot revolution, Rhodey continued getting accustomed to wearing the War Machine Armor. He joined the reinstated Force Works, which was set up by Maria Hill as a task force to neutralize A.I.-related acts of terrorism.[98] After Tony desisted from the idea that he wasn't the real Tony Stark, he reclaimed his life from his brother. In the aftermath, Tony found out the true root of Rhodey's armor phobia. Using a restoration bio-pod and DNA obtained from Rhodey's living relatives, Stark Unlimited managed to correct the aberrations in his body, putting an end to Rhodey's psychological problems.[95]
Books of Korvac[]
When Iron Man came into conflict with the returned android Korvac, he kidnapped Rhodey as leverage to prevent further interference,[99] but Jim escaped and reconvened with Tony and a ragtag group of heroes that Stark had assembled.[100] Rhodey piloted one of Tony's ships into space as they raced Korvac and his acolytes to Taa II, Galactus' worldship, where the villain intended to obtain the Power Cosmic.[100] The chase ended with Korvac tapping into the Power Cosmic at the last second, and Tony following suit in a last-ditch effort that saw Korvac's defeat.[101] The heroes returned to Earth, but Tony was corrupted by the Power Cosmic, and used his new powers to make the entirety of New York City as smart as himself in an ill-conceived attempt to start improving the world.[102]
Rhodey and the rest of Tony's "Space Friends" colluded with Doctor Doom to strip him of the Power Cosmic, but the plan backfired after they lured Stark into a trap, and he killed all of them in a fit of blind rage, only snapping out of it after being confronted by and killing Rhodey.[19] After a heart-to-heart with his latest romantic partner, Hellcat, Iron Man relinquished the Power Cosmic and returned to normal, but not before returning everybody back to life.[20] Rhodey and Tony eventually patched their friendship as they joined forces to dismantle a black market network for advanced technology named Source Control, and Tony sacrificed most of his fortune buying up their catalog to keep it off the streets.[103]
Feilong's Takeover[]
The anti-mutant mogul Feilong quickly took advantage of Stark's financial straits, as well as his previous divestment from his company, to orchestrate a hostile takeover of Stark Unlimited.[104] Rhodey was taken off the board by Feilong after he helped Tony infiltrate and destroy a Stark Unlimited facility that had been repurposed into factory for mutant-hunting Stark Sentinels. Although Jim had evacuated the facility prior to its destruction, Feilong had one of its workers killed and pinned the murder on him.[105] Rhodey was imprisoned at the Allan B. Polunsky Unit, routinely receiving beatings from other inmates under Feilong's orders.[106] Recurring to the Kingpin, Tony ensured Rhodey's safety by enlisting protection on the inside from Sandman and the Living Laser.[107]
Working with the X-Men from the shadows on a counter-offensive against Feilong and his allies in Orchis, Stark snuck a Pym Particles-miniaturized copy of the original War Machine Armor into prison.[108] Rhodey deployed the suit when Feilong sent Orchis agents to kill him after Iron Man and the X-Men showed their cards.[109] Escaping with Sandman and the Living Laser, War Machine resorted to the criminal patrons of the Bar with No Name to assemble an army against Orchis' rampaging forces, temporarily outfitting them with the weapons seized from Source Control. Having reflected on his life during his imprisonment, Rhodey pitched to Tony the idea to assemble a new team to reform super villains.[110]Attributes
Powers
Rhodes has no powers of his own.
Abilities
Skilled Engineer: Rhodes served several tours in Southeast Asia, studying while in the service to become an aviation engineer.[citation needed]
Skilled Aviator: He is a skilled helicopter pilot and is capable of maneuvering most if not all Stark-designed armors.[citation needed]
Skilled Combatant: Rhodes military training made him a very skilled hand to hand combatant.[citation needed] He also trained in boxing as a young man.[34]
Skilled Marksman: Aside from his armor's weaponry, he is a very good marksman.[citation needed]
Skilled Survivalist: With intense military training, he can survive in harsh condition and environments.[citation needed]Weaknesses
Paraphernalia
Equipment
Armor: War Machine wears a sophisticated suit of body armor containing various offensive weaponry. He first operated as Iron Man using the Iron Man Armor Model 4. Rhodey later received his own identity with the War Machine Armor, which has also gone through multiple variations. Compared to Iron Man's armor, the War Machine armor is bulkier and most of the time physically stronger, but slower as a tradeoff. Due to being an early Stark design and updated less than Stark's, his suit generally has less cutting-edge technology than Iron Man's. His armors include the Iron Man Armor Model 11 MK II, the War Machine Armor Model 4, and the War Machine Armor Model 9. Its standard features in most models include:
- Superhuman Strength: He is capable of lifting between 85-100 tons when wearing his armor.
- Superhuman Speed: Even when not traveling for extended distances, the armor enables the wearer to move and react at high speeds.
- Superhuman Durability: His armor is very durable, capable of withstanding tremendous amounts of punishment. It can withstand high caliber bullets with ease. He can also withstand rockets, torpedoes, and such, although he does take damage.
- Flight: The armor can fly and travel at supersonic speeds.
- Power Cells: The armor is powered by a combination of solar converters, electrical batteries, and an on-board generator that uses beta particle absorption as a fuel source.
- Energy Conversion Power Recharge: The armor is also able to convert nearby energy sources, such as heat or kinetic energy into electricity, or even drain electrical energy directly into the batteries for recharge.
- Self-Contained Life-Support System & Environmental Protection: The armor can be completely sealed for operations in vacuum or underwater, providing its own life support, and is shielded against radiation.
- Repulsor Rays: The armor can fire particle beams from either or both the palm gauntlets which can repel physical and energy-based attacks, traveling as a single stream or as a wide-field dispersal.
- Unibeam: A powerful searchlight capable of projecting beams in virtually every light spectrum.
- Lasers
- Magnetism
- Gatling Gun: A powerful automatic machine gun added to his right shoulder, which fires many bullets simultaneously.
- Rocket Launcher: An automatic missile launcher added to his left shoulder, which fires a variety of missiles of any type.
- Miniature Heat Seeking Missiles: A small version of the heat seeking missile designed to hit the targets emitting heat signatures.
Other armor systems Jim Rhodes has used include the Iron Patriot Armor, Eidolon Warwear, Holo Armor, and Sentinel Squad Armor.
Weapons
Transportation
Notes
- While second armor worn by Rhodey when filling in for Iron Man was referred to as "the War Machine," Rhodey went by "Iron Man" until Tony Stark resurfaced from his apparent death. He was first referred to as War Machine in the cover of Iron Man #291. He officially adopted the alias in-universe in Avengers West Coast #94.
- Jim's parents once told Rae he had a son, but it may have been an attempt to dissuade their relationship.[113]
- Rhodes' switch of aliases from War Machine to Iron Patriot was inspired by the Iron Man 3 film.
- Nick Fury's intel classified Jim Rhodes as Power Level 7 while wearing the Mandroid X Armor, and Power Level 8 with the War Machine Armor.[114]
Trivia
- Rhodey's birthday is on September 7.[115]
- Rhodey is Baptist.[68]
- Jim Rhodes was the pilot that took Red-Wolf and Father Janes' team away from Bengal's village.[116]
- Jim's blood type is AB Positive.[117]
- Rhodes died by the hand of Thanos on June 8.[115]
- Among Rhodey's decorations are the Purple Heart and the Medal of Freedom.[115]
- Rhodey's favorite movies are The Expendables, The Expendables 2 and The Expendables 3.[118]
See Also
- 648 appearance(s) of James Rhodes (Earth-616)
- 24 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of James Rhodes (Earth-616)
- 54 minor appearance(s) of James Rhodes (Earth-616)
- 93 mention(s) of James Rhodes (Earth-616)
- 12 mention(s) in handbook(s) of James Rhodes (Earth-616)
- 590 image(s) of James Rhodes (Earth-616)
- 72 quotation(s) by or about James Rhodes (Earth-616)
- 3 victim(s) killed by James Rhodes (Earth-616)
- 19 item(s) used/owned by James Rhodes (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ Noticing how Stark's place of origin as Iron Man has been changed from Vietnam to Siancong, it is implied Rhodey's history has undergone similar changes.
- ↑ World War Hulks: Captain America vs Wolverine #1
- ↑ Iron Man #170
- ↑ Gambit (Vol. 5) #13
- ↑ Iron Man 2.0 #1
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Iron Man #156
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Secret Avengers (Vol. 2) #6
- ↑ Avengers: The Initiative #2
- ↑ Invincible Iron Man (Vol. 2) #28
- ↑ Avengers: The Initiative #1
- ↑ Iron Man #228
- ↑ Avengers: The Initiative #3
- ↑ Iron Man: Legacy #9
- ↑ Invincible Iron Man (Vol. 3) #8
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 2020 Force Works #3
- ↑ Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #11
- ↑ Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #12
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Civil War II #1
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Invincible Iron Man #600
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Iron Man (Vol. 6) #17
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Iron Man (Vol. 6) #18
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Iron Man #118
- ↑ Iron Man #169
- ↑ Iron Man #193
- ↑ Iron Man #200
- ↑ Iron Man #284
- ↑ Iron Man #289
- ↑ Iron Man #291
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 Avengers West Coast #94
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 Sentinel Squad O*N*E #1
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 War Machine (Vol. 2) #1
- ↑ War Machine (Vol. 2) #12
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 32.3 32.4 Tony Stark: Iron Man #2
- ↑ Tony Stark: Iron Man #17
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. #34
- ↑ Iron Man #144
- ↑ Iron Man #120–121
- ↑ Iron Man #122–127
- ↑ Iron Man #129
- ↑ Iron Man #169–170
- ↑ Avengers #232
- ↑ Iron Man #173–175
- ↑ Iron Man #184
- ↑ Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1–12
- ↑ West Coast Avengers #1–4
- ↑ Iron Man #188–192
- ↑ Iron Man #195–200
- ↑ West Coast Avengers (Vol. 2) #Annual Vol 1 1
- ↑ Iron Man #215–216
- ↑ Iron Man #284–292
- ↑ War Machine #1–7
- ↑ Hands of the Mandarin crossover.
- ↑ War Machine #12–14
- ↑ War Machine #15–17
- ↑ War Machine #18–22
- ↑ War Machine #24
- ↑ Avengers #395
- ↑ War Machine #25
- ↑ Tales of the Marvel Universe #1
- ↑ Iron Man (Vol. 3) #1
- ↑ Iron Man (Vol. 3) #11–12
- ↑ Crew #1–7
- ↑ Avengers: The Initiative #11
- ↑ Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. #33–34
- ↑ Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. #35
- ↑ Dark Reign: New Nation #1
- ↑ Punisher War Journal (Vol. 2) #17
- ↑ War Machine (Vol. 2) #2
- ↑ 68.0 68.1 War Machine (Vol. 2) #3
- ↑ War Machine (Vol. 2) #4
- ↑ War Machine (Vol. 2) #5
- ↑ War Machine (Vol. 2) #6
- ↑ War Machine (Vol. 2) #7
- ↑ War Machine (Vol. 2) #8
- ↑ War Machine (Vol. 2) #9
- ↑ War Machine (Vol. 2) #10
- ↑ War Machine (Vol. 2) #11–12
- ↑ Invincible Iron Man (Vol. 2) #21
- ↑ Secret Avengers #1
- ↑ Iron Man 2.0 #3
- ↑ Avengers vs. X-Men #1
- ↑ Avengers vs. X-Men #3
- ↑ Invincible Iron Man #513
- ↑ Invincible Iron Man #515
- ↑ Invincible Iron Man #517
- ↑ Invincible Iron Man #527
- ↑ 86.0 86.1 Secret Avengers (Vol. 2) #4
- ↑ Secret Avengers (Vol. 2) #7
- ↑ Secret Avengers (Vol. 2) #16
- ↑ Iron Patriot #1
- ↑ 90.0 90.1 Avengers (Vol. 5) #39
- ↑ Avengers (Vol. 5) #35
- ↑ Free Comic Book Day 2016 (Civil War II) #1
- ↑ Captain America: Sam Wilson #10
- ↑ Civil War II #8
- ↑ 95.0 95.1 95.2 95.3 Iron Man 2020 (Vol. 2) #6
- ↑ 96.0 96.1 Tony Stark: Iron Man #16
- ↑ Tony Stark: Iron Man #18
- ↑ 2020 Force Works #1
- ↑ Iron Man (Vol. 6) #4
- ↑ 100.0 100.1 Iron Man (Vol. 6) #6
- ↑ Iron Man (Vol. 6) #13
- ↑ Iron Man (Vol. 6) #16
- ↑ Iron Man (Vol. 6) #22
- ↑ Invincible Iron Man (Vol. 5) #4
- ↑ Invincible Iron Man (Vol. 5) #6
- ↑ Invincible Iron Man (Vol. 5) #9
- ↑ Invincible Iron Man (Vol. 5) #10
- ↑ Invincible Iron Man (Vol. 5) #12
- ↑ Invincible Iron Man (Vol. 5) #18
- ↑ Invincible Iron Man (Vol. 5) #19
- ↑ Captain Marvel (Vol. 10) #19
- ↑ Captain Marvel (Vol. 10) #20
- ↑ War Machine #12–13
- ↑ Secret War From the Files of Nick Fury #1
- ↑ 115.0 115.1 115.2 Invincible Iron Man #599
- ↑ Daredevil #258
- ↑ Iron Man #216
- ↑ Tony Stark: Iron Man #4
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #13
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 13