War Machine
War Machine is a comic book character that first appeared in Iron Man #118
War Machine is a heavier-armed version of Iron Man. The "Variable Threat Response Battle Suit" is often worn by James Rhodes. As often said... "it handles like a tractor".
War Machine Origins
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 Variable Threat Response Battle Suit (War Machine). 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 superhero 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. 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 Jacobs.
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 "The Crew." The team consisted of The White Tiger, Junta, and Josiah X, the son of the 1940’s super-soldier Isaiah Bradley, the black Captain America. 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.
After the House of M incident, he would guard the mutants as the commanding officer and head combat instructor for Sentinel Squad O*N*E* 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 program. It has been recently shown that Rhodes had been severely injured by the Green Scar during the events of World War Hulk and has part of his face covered in cybernetic implants. He is currently working on making a clone for him to the body but this was discovered by Norman Osborn
Dark Reign
After a vicious battle, War Machine confronted Ares and also Davis Harmon, Eaglestar's CEO and the man who kidnapped Glenda. Rhodey managed to defeat Ares, even for a brief moment and Harmon freed Sandoval from the confinement area. Harmon was sure that he couldn't be prosecuted by his war crimes due to the legal status of Aqiria, but that didn't stopped Glenda of taking justice into her own hands. But Harmon's deep secrets were opened by Ares, a rabid pack of prisoners infected by the ultimo virus. And Glenda was of the first victims becoming an enraged slave of the virus.
War Machine's Armor
Variable Threat Response Battle Suit
Variable Threat Response Battle Suit
Variable Threat Response Battle Suit
Rhodey first wore the War Machine armor which holds various weapons such as repulsors, unibeam, concussion pulses, twin barreled cannon in right gauntlet, laser blade in left gauntlet, wrist-mounted flamethrower, shoulder mounted gatling gun, shoulder mounted box rocket launcher and shoulder mounted particle beam. The armor has more plating and shielding than standard armors. A polycarbonate coating further improves the surface. A additional polyprismatic coating was developed to counter laser fire.
War Machine's Eidolon Warwear
Eidolon Warwear
The suit quickly adapts to environmental conditions and possible dangers, such as sealing against the vacuum of space. Protective force-fields can also be created. Furthermore, the suit is capable of healing injuries to both itself and the wearer. The suit flies incredibly fast and is suited for interstellar travel. The armor can produce (referred to as "unskinning") remote drones that can be morphed into weapons, probes etc. as the wearer needs. A set of small rotating drones are normally around the right gauntlet, while a large cannon is mounted on the left. The suit's main firepower is plasma-based.
Sentinel Armor
Sentinel Armor
The armor is constructed of a unique mix of steel and fiberglass based on a formula developed by Mister Fantastic. The hands can fire pulsar beams while blasters are mounted in the eye and chest area. Sonics and missiles can also be deployed. Non-lethal weapons such as nets and smoke bombs are also usable.
Current Armor
The gauntlets possess blasters, shoulder mounts include a gatling gun, beam weapon and rocket launcher. On at least one occasion the launcher has been set to use the Super-Powered Inhibiting Nanobots (SPIN) power neutralizer. Cannons can also extend from the chest area, epaulets, and hip pods. The arms can function even if separated from Rhodes. The armor also has satellite interface with internal monitors that allow him to access any database on the planet.“In Rhodey's internal monitors, a thing called a 'Kill Number' pops up when he eyes a new villain. That's not the number of people the villain's killed; that's a rating based on all the information Rhodey's downloaded from every accessible database on the planet that helps Rhodey decide who deserves the ultimate sanction"
- Greg Pa
War Machine vs Iron Man
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)
- Invincible Iron Man #11, Worlds Most Wanted (2009)
War Machine in Alternate Realities
Earth-311
In the year 1602, the Lord Iron suit was engineered by Lord Anthony Stark and Rupert Rhodes, his accomplice.Earth-2149
In the Marvel zombies universe, War Machine is one of the last heroes to be not infected by the zombie plague.Earth-982
In the alternate future of MC2, Jim Rhodes has become a humanoid robot because of nano implants inside him gave him superhuman capabilities but at the cost of his mind being wipe out. Supposedly Tony Stark was supposed to infect himself with the nanotechnology by Jim thought that it was too much of a sacrifice to himself to do such an act, so he volunteered for the experiment.Earth-1610
In the Ultimate Universe, Jim Rhodes is first seen a student being bullied at school until he was defended by Tony Stark. He even let Rhodey wear his Iron Man suit that he and his father was developing. Jim was later making his own armor named War Machine, which he plans on trading with Tony's Iron Man suit when he finished with it. Tony and Rhodey use their armor to go after a terrorist cell for the government.War Machine in Films
First leaked Image of War Machine Armor.
List of important War Machine / Jim Rhodes issues
- First appearance ( Iron Man #118, 1979)
- James Rhodes back story ( Iron Man #144, 1981)
- First became Iron Man (I ron Man #169, 1983)
- Battled The Mandarin ( Iron Man 180- 181, 1984)
- Battled Tony Stark in clash of Iron Men ( Iron Man #192, 1985)
- Almost killed during Earth re-entry ( Iron Man #216, 1987)
- Became CEO of Stark Enterprises and became Iron Man again ( Iron Man #284, 1992)
- Quit Stark Enterprises, went off on own as War Machine ( Iron Man #291, 1993)
- Led Iron Legion against Ultimo ( Iron Man #300, 1994)
- Became head of Worldwatch ( War Machine #5, 1994)
- Battled Iron Man over use of War Machine armor ( War Machine #8, Iron Man #310, 1994)
- Joined the Avengers West Coast (Avengers West Coast #94 1994)
- Went back in time to stop Nazi time-travel plot (War Machine #15-#17, 1995)
- Lost War Machine armor in timestream (War Machine #17, 1995)
- Became bonded to Eidolon Warwear (War Machine #18, 1995)
- Lost Eidolon Warwear (Tales of the Marvel Universe #1, 1997)
- Joined the SHIELD US War Machine program (US War Machine #3 2001)
- Battled Doctor Doom (US War Machine #11 2001)
- Bought together Crew (The Crew #4 2003)
- Became head of training for Sentinel Squad ONE (Sentinel Squad ONE #1 2006)
- Choose a side in Civil War (Black Panther #22 2006)
- Became an administrator for Initiative (Civil War: Battle Damage Report #1 2007)
- Battled Spider-Man (Avengers: The Initiative #3 2007)
- Battles the Skrulls during the Secret Invasion, Injuries revealed (Iron Man: Director of Shield #33-35)
#257 in
Power Rank
Rank Game
| Super Name: | War Machine |
| Real Name: | James Rupert Rhodes |
| Aliases: |
James Rhodes Jim Rhodes Rhodey Iron Man |
| Publisher: | Marvel Publishing |
| Gender: | Male |
| Character Type: | Cyborg |
| 1st Appearance: | Iron Man #118 |
| Appears in: | 441 issues |
| Birthday: | |
| Died: |
|
Iron Man
|
|
The Invincible Iron Man
A Marvel animated feature
|
Add a power to this list?
Electronic interaction
You propose to remove this. Changed mind?
You propose to add this. Changed mind?
Electronic Disruption
You propose to remove this. Changed mind?
You propose to add this. Changed mind?
Black Power
a list of 499 items by Ryonslaught
a list of 499 items by Ryonslaught
Marvel DC Ultimate Alliance
a list of 186 items by batmanbeyond234
a list of 186 items by batmanbeyond234
My personal Heroes
a list of 9 items by Emerald_General_Jai
a list of 9 items by Emerald_General_Jai
