History
Numerous copies of this armor were originally used to constitute an army of War Machine Drones piloted remotely by Jim Rhodes when he joined the Avengers, and in turn S.H.I.E.L.D., to hunt down the Illuminati during the final stages of the incursion crisis.[1] Afterwards, Rhodes employed the Model 8 when he returned to piloting the armor himself,[2] and used it interchangeably with the Model 7 Armor. Rhodes was wearing the Model 8 Armor when he joined a contingent of super heroes in intercepting Thanos at the Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. Facility, but tragedy struck when he was killed in action.[3] Rhodes' corpse was buried at the Arlington National Cemetery encased in the Model 8.[4]
When Nick Fury Jr. sought the Punisher's help to contain the political turmoil in the turbulent nation of Chernaya, he facilitated Frank access to this War Machine Armor,[5] which Frank customized by painting his skull symbol on its chestplate. Frank used the suit to pursue the Chernayan despot General Petrov.[6] After fulfilling his mission by killing Petrov, the Punisher opted to keep the War Machine Armor against Fury's orders, and used it to continue his war on crime back in America.[7] In the meantime, Tony Stark returned from a coma due to the modifications made to his body to pilot his Iron Man Armor. He exhumated Rhodey's corpse from its grave and performed the necessary procedures on the War Machine Armor he was wearing to kick-start his biological systems, which returned him to life.[4]
Around this time, Castle's use of the War Machine Armor quickly caught the attention of the superhuman community when he returned to America,[8] and a contingent led by Captain Marvel pursued him while the Punisher went after Baron Zemo and the Hydra Supreme.[9] In the end, the recently-reborn Rhodes stepped in and convinced Frank to hand over the suit.[10]
After temporarily employing the War Machine Armor Model 9, Rhodey gave up on using suits in favor of piloting the Manticore.[11] However, he was eventually forced back into action,[12] and went back to the Model 8 Armor when he returned to being War Machine.[13]
During the Cotati invasion on Earth, Rhodes girlfriend Captain Marvel came in possession of the powerful Universal Weapon of the Kree.[14] In order to help her harness the power of the hammer, Captain Marvel appointed the help of Doctor Strange to divide the Universal Weapon's power, creating three duplicate energy constructs of the hammer, one of which was used by War Machine. The temporary power-up enhanced the armor's abilities and changed its color palette to green and grey.[15]Notes
- The numerical designation provided in this article for this suit is tentative, based on an estimate of the number of models of the War Machine Armor that have existed.
- This suit's appearance is adapted from the War Machine Armor MK II from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which appeared in Iron Man 3 and Avengers: Age of Ultron.
- This suit shares design (sans color scheme) with the Iron Patriot Armor Model 3, another suit adapted from the MCU's War Machine Armor MK II, but specifically of how it appeared as the Iron Patriot Armor in Iron Man 3.
- In Punisher (Vol. 2) #218, the Punisher is facilitated access to a War Machine Armor by Nick Fury Jr.. While originally depicted with a semblance to the War Machine Armor Model 3 in that issue, further issues didn't have the armor resembling any existing War Machine Armor in specific, save for issues Punisher (Vol. 2) #224, Punisher (Vol. 2) #226 and Punisher (Vol. 2) #227, in which the suit looked like the Model 8 Armor. For this site's encyclopedic purpose, it will be presumed that the armor the Punisher wore was in fact the Model 8.
Trivia
See Also
- 71 appearance(s) of War Machine Armor Model 8
- 8 minor appearance(s) of War Machine Armor Model 8
- 144 image(s) of War Machine Armor Model 8
Links and References
References
- ↑ Avengers (Vol. 5) #35
- ↑ Captain Marvel (Vol. 9) #1
- ↑ Civil War II #1
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Invincible Iron Man #600
- ↑ Punisher (Vol. 2) #218
- ↑ Punisher (Vol. 2) #219–222
- ↑ Punisher (Vol. 2) #223
- ↑ Punisher (Vol. 2) #224
- ↑ Punisher (Vol. 2) #227
- ↑ Punisher (Vol. 2) #228
- ↑ Tony Stark: Iron Man #2
- ↑ Tony Stark: Iron Man #17
- ↑ 2020 Force Works #1
- ↑ Empyre #2
- ↑ Captain Marvel (Vol. 10) #19
- ↑ Captain Marvel (Vol. 10) #31