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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]

Francis Castle (Earth-616) from Punisher Vol 2 224 001

The armor in the Punisher's possession

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]

James Rhodes (Earth-616) from Captain Marvel Vol 10 21 001

Empowered by the Universal Weapon

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

Trivia

  • The armor has voice-commanded disassembly trigger named "exit protocol 314." It's a reference to the number pi since it makes the suit "come off in pieces, like pieces of pie."[16]

See Also

Links and References

References

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