War Machine

James Rhodes/War Machine history

James Rupert Rhodes.

James "Jim" Rupert Rhodes was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He first met Tony Stark while flying combat missions in Vietnam. Rhodes' helicopter had been shot down by Viet Cong rocket

fire, and while trying to get the aircraft airborne again, he encountered Stark in a bulky prototype suit of powered armor. At that moment the Viet Cong attacked, and Stark, in his suit, helped to drive them off. Together, Rhodes and Stark made their way to a nearby enemy base where they stole another helicopter, flying it back to the American lines.

After the end of the Vietnam War, Stark, who had secretly become the superhero named Iron Man, offered Rhodes a job as his personal pilot, and Rhodes soon

became one of Stark's closest associates and confidants as well as Stark Industries' chief aviation officer. As a result, he had numerous adventures with his employer where his daring and skills were valuable assets.

When Tony relapsed into his alcoholism, James Rhodes took over the War Machine: armor suit. James Rhodes took up the mantle of Iron Man for some time, and would return to using this suit.

During the Time Wars James Rhodes traveled back to World War II with Sheva Josephs to stop Grinz, a Nazi officer who was receiving advanced technology from the future, Rhodes learned that Grinz was supplied by his own son, Raeder. Rhodes killed Grinz to prevent Raedar from being born; the resulting paradox shunted Rhodes and Joseph back to their own time, It was then that James Rhodes lost the War Machine Armor and was forced to retire from the super hero business.

It was during a fishing trip, trying to relax, that an alien race came to Rhodey and bonded him with the symbiotic alien suit, known as the Eidolon Warwear.

Eidolon Warwear System

Known as the Eidolon Warwear System, was a gift from unknown aliens who apparently wished to give us a defender for Earth's coming battle with Kang The Conqueror. The black, orange and green battlesuit was an organic partner that sensed Rhodey's heroic nature and drew him near so that it could organically bond with him. When Stark died during a battle with Kang The Conqueror, Rhodes rejoined Stark Enterprises to protect his old friend's legacy. To prevent Stark's armor technology from being misused, he used the abilities of the Eidolon Warwear armor to erase all trace of Stark's designs from the Fujikawa systems, but the armor was destroyed in the process. Rhodes gave up his superhero career and started 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.

US War Machine Logo.

Rhodes was fired by Stark after War Machine kills two hostage takers on national TV, one in cold-blood. After his dismissal, Rhodes is attacked by former War Machine pilot Parnell in an attempt to recover the War Machine armor. The two are picked up by Nick Fury and taken to the Helicarrier. It is revealed that Jacobs had sold his stolen War Machine to Hydra for money when he learned his wife was pregnant. SHIELD was able to recover the armor and was in the process of reverse engineering the Stark technology. Nick Fury planned to field a squad of War Machines commanded by Rhodes.

He would take a break from heroics for a while, Rhodes founded his own marine salvage company, but an extravagant lifestyle and an unscrupulous accountant left him bankrupt. Rhodes had heavily invested in Grace & Tumbalt due to their 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. He would then form a team of superheroes called "Crew." The team consisted of Kasper Cole a.k.a. White Tiger, Junta, and Josiah X, the son of the 1940’s super-soldier Isaiah Bradley. Rhodes used part of a prototype War Machine armor to face off with Triage, the head of the 66 Bridges, and the gang was dispersed by Rhodes and his allies.

Cyborg Face.

After the House of M incident, he would guard the mutants as the commanding officer and head combat instructor for Sentinel Squad ONE and as a key member of the Office of National Emergency, using an Iron Man like armor that took advantage of sentinel technology, he would start controlling one of the large Sentinel suits after Tony Stark designed a "War Machine" model.

He would drop the Sentinel armor and return to his superhero duties once the The Initiative went into effect. Jim Rhodes is back in the War Machine Armor for the first time in over 4 years and is the Field Commander of Camp Hammond and one of the head trainers of new recruits of The Initiative: Avengers program.

It has been recently shown that Rhodes had been severely injured and has part of his face covered in cybernetic implants. They have to elaborate on this but we do know he must charge his suit now from time to time.

Secret Invasion
When the Skrulls invade the Earth they knock out all of Stark industries technology and equipment.  When this happens Rhodes is charging his suit in a secret Camp Hammon room when the attack Earth and slowly looses power of his life support.  Only by the timely intervention of Baron Von Blitzschlag, does Rhodes fail to die.  Afterwards he gets a protocol from Iron Man in his suit set to go off.  It explains a secret mission for Rhodes to complete and he leaves Camp Hammond to pursue the issue.  After hitting the skies War Machine runs into a battalion of Skrull ships and Warriors.  He quickly destroys the main carrier but a super skrull ensues to fight  Taking the fight to space, War Machine eventually takes it down and discovers a secret space station built by Tony Stark.  When onboard he finds Suzi Endo there to greet him.  He suspects she is a SKrull but learns to trust here.  Suddenly a Skrull armada begins to close in on them, and War Machine dons a large exo skeleton to fight back.

War Machine vs Iron Man

Iron Man vs War Machine.

One of the most requested and sought after battles in the Marvel Universe has always been War Machine vs Iron man. We've seen them battle only a few times but it's not always been James Rhodes in the War Machine armor, in Iron Man vol. 2 it's been Parnell Jacobs.

• Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective #2 (1993)
  
• War Machine #8 (1994)
  
• Iron Man #310 (1994)
  
• Marvel Action Hour: Iron Man #2 (1994)
  
• War Machine #22 (1994)
  
• Iron Man #11(1998) Parnell as War Machine
  
• Iron Man #12(1998) Parnell as War Machine
  
• Iron Man #19(1998) Parnell as War Machine
  
• Iron Man #20(1998) Parnell as War Machine

• U.S. War Machine 2.0 #2 (2003)

War Machine Armors

Current War Machine Armor

Current War Machine Armor.

Rhodes' current suit of War Machine armor grants him super human strength (Superhuman Class 90), enabling him to lift up to 100 tons. The armor can fly at supersonic speeds up to mach 2 using jet boots and is equipped with a variety of projectile weapons, including repulser rays that generate a magnetic wave to repel attacks, pulse bolts (extremely powerful plasma discharges), sonic generators, mini-guns and a cannon which can be customized for particular artillery, including the anti-superhuman SPIN (Super-Power Inhibiting Nanobots) darts. The armor affords Rhodes significant protection from physical attacks and includes a personal force field. The armors computer displays can be projected from the armor using holographic generators; these same generators can be reconfigured to alter the armors appearance. The armor's systems are operated by using cybernetic link to Rhodes himself and include a targeting computer, radar and environment sensors and a sophisticated subspace/satellite radio communications array, which can also detect local radio signals. The armor is specially coated to resist radar detection and targeting locks. The armor contains life support systems including an hour's worth of air supply and can be sealed for space and underwater travel.

Original War Machine Armor

Original War Machine Armor.

Rhodes' original suit of War Machine armor contained many of the current armors' features as well as a unibeam in the chest, which could project beams in virtually every light spectrum (visible, infrared, ultraviolet, ect.), a laser beam and a EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) generator, which could shut down electronic devices within a 50-yard radius (the armor could reboot itself within minutes). It also was equipped with an energy sword and could be modified in the field for additional upgrades and weaponry.

Eidolon Warwear System

Eidolon Warwear.

The Eidolon Warwear was a living suit of armor that rested inside of Rhodes' body and could encase him at a moment's notice. The armor duplicated many of the abilities of the Iron Man armors, including flight, energy protection, and sensors, but could also "grow" drones which could be used for combat, delivery operations, and interfacing with computers. The armor would react to Rhodeys' emotional state, transforming itself to provide him with whatever weapons he might need. The armor was also capable of space travel with a virtually unlimited life support system.

Characteristics