Who is War Machine?
War Machine is a hero in the Marvel universe who uses a high tech suit of armor designed by Tony Stark. Rhodey Rhodes who dons the mantle War Machine appears in all 3 Iron Man movies and is also set to appear in Avengers 2 Age of Ultron.
First Appearance:
Iron Man 118
Bio:
James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a naval pilot in Vietnam. When he crash lands he is rescued by Iron Man. Later he begins working for The man inside the suit Tony Stark as the billionaire's personal pilot.
Not long after he begins in this role Stark begins going downhill. Stark's alcoholism fully consumes him and he winds up relinquishing control of both his company and the Iron Man armor. Rhodey officially becomes Iron Man in Iron Man #170 (1983). Rhodes takes over the Iron Man suit using it and his military expertise to take down villains in a similar fashion as Stark did. A problem occurs as Rhodey begins to mentally degenerate. The suit was designed around Stark's brain patterns and is thus making Rhodey mad. Stark now living on the streets has a spiritual awakening. He returns donning an old suit of armor to stop a rampaging Rhodey. It takes awhile for Rhodey to regain his sanity. Rhodey takes over for Iron Man again when Stark seemingly dies in Iron Man #284. Before Stark dies he creates a complete new bad ass armor Model 16 (The Variable Threat Response Suit) that he names the War Machine. When Stark returns (He was not dead but frozen) he takes his Iron Man name back but Rhodey continues to wear the War Machine armor. Stark declares that this armor was always meant for him.
Differences between Stark vs Rhodes
As War Machine Rhodes tends to use a more direct, offensive assault style that Stark. Stark tends to analyze opponents search for weaknesses and exploit them. Rhode's really tries to wipe out the target, in a fast, and deadly efficient manner. The differences between their styles has much to do with who they are.
Rhodes is a soldier and ex fighter pilot, while Stark is a brilliant engineer. While the two often fight it is revealed on multiple occasions that Stark trusts Rhodes perhaps more than anyone else.
During Secret Invasion it is revealed that Rhodes and his War Machine Armor run on a different system than all the other Stark tech in the world. This makes the War Machine Armor a fail safe in the case that something goes wrong with the rest of the Stark Technology. In Secret Invasion all of the Stark technology is corrupted and it is up to Rhode's and War Machine to hold the Skrull Armada at bay.
Skills:
Military Expertise
Hand to hand combat
Pilot
Very experienced in piloting armored suits
Powers in War Machine Suit
Energy Repulsors
Super Human Strength
Greatly enhanced durability from armored suit
Super sonic flight at Mach 3
The War Machine suit was the first to feature smart weapon technology like laser guided missiles.
The Suit comes with some large power guns, and missile launchers. It has different kinds of missiles for different targets.
The Suit is also one of the first to have an advanced target system, it can see through walls, paint targets with lasers then systematically take out targets. The system matches proper ammo types to the perceived threat.
MCU
Iron Man I
Rhodes is played by Terrence Howard. For unknown reasons Howard was replaced by Don Cheadle in the appearances of the character in the other films.
Rhodey Rhodes is a friend of Tony Stark. Rhodes works for advanced prototype weapons division of the United States military. He is part of the US team watching as Stark deploys his armor to take out the Ten Ring militants using his technology. He is also part of the team that find and helps rescue Stark after his abduction.
Rhodes sees Iron Man's Mark II hanging in Tony's lab and remarks "Next time baby." The Mark II is the armor that will later be converted into the War Machine armor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Iron Man II
Rhodey stops a drunk Stark in his party with Tony's Mark II armor. Not seeing Tony as reliable Rhodey takes the Mark II suit for use with the United States Military. The military works with Hammer industries upgrading the weapons on the Mark II making it into the War Machine armor.
At one point the War Machine armor falls under the control Ivan Vanko and Rhodes is forced to battle Stark. Natasha Romanoff manages to reboot his software, which enables him to regain control.
The battle and defeat the robots created at Hammer industries by Ivan Vanko. They also defeat Ivan Vanko's advanced suit.
Iron Man III
Don Cheadle begins using the name of Iron Patriot. He has patriotic designed armor and works for the United States Military.
The suit is taken over by one of the henchmen of the Mandarin who then kidnaps the president
Rhodes and Stark fight off the Extremis soldiers with the help of the Iron Legion. When Stark uses a clean slate protocol all of his suits explode. The only surviving suit is the Iron Patriot suit that was on different software.
Related
From the Vault: Iron Man #118 the first appearance of Rhodey Rhodes
Who is Iron Man - Tony Stark?
Who is Black Widow - Natasha Romanoff?
Iron Man's Hall of Armor - All Armor's explained here
DISCLAIMER:This article was submitted by a volunteer contributor who has agreed to our code of conduct. Toylab is protected from liability under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and "safe harbor" provisions. Toylab will disable users who knowingly commit plagiarism, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement. Please contact us at ToylabHQ@gmail for expeditious removal of copyrighted/trademarked content. You may also learn more about our copyright and trademark policies