James Rhodes (Earth-199999)

War Machine
Name	James Rupert "Rhodey" Rhodes
Current Alias	War Machine
Aliases	Codenames: Iron Patriot Nicknames: Richard Other Aliases: Jim Rhodes
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Formerly Avengers, ally of the Wakandans and White Wolf, U.S. Air Force, USAF liaison with Stark Industries
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Eyes	Irises: Brown
Hair	Black
Unusual Features	Cybernetic supports on his legs
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Human
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-199999
Place of Birth	United States of America
Personal Information
Identity	Public
Citizenship	American
Occupation	Former adventurer and Lieutenant Colonel (retired)
Education	Masters in Aerospace Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Air Force Academy
Base of Operations	Formerly Avengers Compund, New York; Stark Industries, Malibu, California
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway
First	Iron Man (April 30, 2008)
First	Iron Man (April 30, 2008)

 138. 138 combat missions. That's how many I've flown, Tony. Every one of them could've been my last, but I flew 'em. 'Cause the fight needed to be fought. 

—Col. James Rhodes

History

Friendship with Stark

James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force. He attended a ceremony to present Tony Stark with an award for his work, but Stark was not in attendance. Tony's right-hand man Obadiah Stane accepted the award on Tony's behalf and Rhodes later found Tony partying in a casino.

Tony disappeared after a Stark Industries missile demonstration in the Middle East when the military convoy he was traveling in was attacked by terrorists. Mounting a search, Rhodes tried to find his friend, although their reunion did not come until weeks later, after Tony escaped, when Rhodes found the injured Stark trudging through the desert.

Tony came to visit Rhodes after announcing his plans to cease arms manufacture and asked Rhodes for help with a new private project. Rhodes disagreed with Tony's approach; he believed Stark was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because of his capture and needed time to recover.

The "Iron Man"

Lt. Col James Rhodes

When Iron Man left a confrontation in the Middle East, two F-22 jet fighters spotted him and word of the sighting was quickly passed to Col. Rhodes. When asked about the status of any new developments, Rhodes contacted Tony, who denied any knowledge of the incident. Iron Man tried to outrun the jets but they were too much for him. Tony called Rhodes and revealed that he was responsible for the "unidentified craft."

Rhodes was furious about Tony sending in unauthorized equipment, and horrified when Tony explained that the "equipment" was actually himself. Iron Man was hit by one fighter jet, sending him flying into the wing of the second jet. The pilot ejected, but the parachute failed to open. Iron Man, still under fire, managed to fly in and successfully deploy the parachute in time to save the pilot's life. Tony convinced Rhodes to pass off what happened with the jets as a "training exercise."

Rhodes arrived at Stark's mansion just after an altercation had transpired there between Tony and Obadiah Stane. He watched Tony suit up, awestruck at the Iron Man armor, saying that it was the "coolest" thing he had ever seen. As Tony flew away, Rhodes looked at the prototype armor Tony had built earlier, then shook his head and mumbled, "Next time, baby."

Days later, Rhodes held a press conference about the incident with the two armored people, the same conference where Tony Stark revealed himself as Iron Man.

Rhodes as War Machine

War Machine

Six months later, Rhodes came under pressure from the United States government to convince Tony Stark to relinquish ownership of the Iron Man armor while remaining loyal to Stark despite his frustration. When an intoxicated Stark in the Iron Man armor proceeded to endanger the lives of all the guests at his birthday party, Rhodes was forced to don the Iron Man Mark II armor to intervene. After the intervention turned into a fight that wrecked Stark's home, Rhodes left with the Mark II armor.

After the confiscated Mark II armor was upgraded to become the heavily armed War Machine armor at Edwards Air Force Base, it was taken for a demonstration at the Stark Expo with Rhodes as its pilot. However his armor fell under the control of Ivan Vanko and Rhodes was forced to watch helplessly from within the suit while it attacked Stark. The War Machine software was rebooted by Natasha Romanoff enabling Rhodes to regain control over the armor. Rhodes then teamed with Stark to fight against Justin Hammer's unmanned drones and then Vanko himself.

Solo Adventures

A new version of the War Machine armor was created by Tony Stark in order to restore the original War Machine armor to its Iron Man MK II form, taking away any trace of Hammer technology, which Stark felt was an insult to his creation. Stark stated that he gave Rhodes the armor only because he trusted him and that the world needed another Iron Man at any time Stark wasn't available.

Rhodes began doing different missions for the Air Force in which he found terrorists, purporting to be members of the Ten Rings, with Hammer-tech. He managed to defeat and rescue hostages from a small group of those terrorists in Hong Kong, but resulted in a trap which caused War Machine to face a nuclear-powered Hammer tank. Rhodes managed to escape from the trap and left for New York in order to help Tony in a "situation".

When he arrived, he found Tony and the Avengers eating in a Shawarma restaurant in the aftermath of the battle.

Iron Patriot

Colonel Rhodes continued to use the War Machine armor, now re-branded as Iron Patriot, in a number of missions for the United States government. One of his primary objectives was to investigate a series of terrorist bombings that had plagued the world for some time, but without even residual bomb fragments to track, he found himself flying around the globe chasing one false lead after another. During one of his attempts to apprehend the phantom bomber in the Middle East he blasted into a small textile factory room, inadvertently freeing a number of enslaved women working there. One of them proved to be an Extremis-enhanced soldier however, and she disabled the suit's systems with a surprise attack before Rhodes could react.

Rhodes as Iron Patriot

Whilst still inside the Iron Patriot, Col. Rhodes was taken to Miami and hauled before Aldrich Killian, the head of A.I.M. and mastermind behind the Extremis soldiers. Killian wanted the Iron Patriot for his own goals and began torturing Rhodes until Rhodes was forced to exit the suit's confines. Initially intent on fighting his captors, he quickly gave up the fight when he witnessed the extent of Killian's Extremis power.

Rhodes was able to escape and overpower a guard, confiscating the man's pistol in the process. It was after this escape that Stark contacted him about the Iron Patriot, and Rhodes informed him of Killian's theft of the suit. Together they confronted Trevor Slattery about Killian's plans and learned enough to understand that the United States president was Killian's next target.

The pair set off on a boat to confront Killian at the coast where he had set up the next part of his plan on a salvaged Roxxon oil tanker. Stark spent part of the trip trying to rescue President Ellis remotely, but had to resort to tracing him to the oil tanker instead. There they found Ellis strung up, inside the Iron Patriot, to be incinerated in a very public execution, and with neither Stark nor Rhodes suited up they were left with the prospect of facing Killian's men armed only with their wits and a pair of 9mm pistols.

They resolved to rescue the president, but it wasn't long before their presence was detected and they found themselves facing a force of Extremis-enhanced soldiers. Fortunately Stark's backup plan of having a number of semi-autonomous Iron Man suits in reserve came to fruition, and Stark promptly took to the skies to fight the soldiers while Rhodes made his way to the president. He managed to free Ellis by turning one of the Iron Patriot's gauntlet repulsors onto a restraint. Once they were clear he donned the Iron Patriot himself and flew the president clear of the battle. With the crisis averted, Rhodes had the Vice President arrested for conspiring with Killian.

The Avengers

After many months, Rhodes responded to an invitation to attend a party at Stark Tower, where Tony and his team of Avengers were in a celebratory mood after a successful campaign. He stayed late after most of the guests had departed and partook in tests of strength to try and move Thor's hammer Mjolnir, but even working together with Tony, and both enhancing their lifting power with their gauntlets, he failed to budge the hammer. The game was interrupted by the appearance of one of Stark's Iron Legion robots, which then proceeded to attack. The robot, which later came to be known as Ultron, had further reinforcement by other robots of Stark's Iron Legion, and in the ensuing battle Rhodes was thrown unceremoniously through a window and out of the fight.

He had a chance to get his own back when he was called into action once again as War Machine when the Avengers were staging a final assault on Ultron's robot forces in Sokovia. Rhodes flew with Stark against the robot legion, destroying a number of their force in an aerial battle above Sokovia. He earned much respect for himself that day and was invited to fill the ranks of a new line up of Avengers in the wake for several members departing to fulfill their personal agendas.

Avengers Divided

Some months later, after a mission resulted in the accidental destruction of a Wakandan relief mission, Secretary Thaddeus Ross decided to introduce the Sokovia Accords, a U.N. legislation that would bring all superhumans under the authority of the government or face prison. Rhodes was one of the Avengers to favour the Accords, seeing them as a natural result of everything that Earth had been through over the last few years.

When the Accords became law, Rhodes was forced to arrest Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson when they attempted to recover the Winter Solider on their own after he was accused of bombing a U.N. meeting on the Accords. After the three escaped, Rhodes joined Stark's branch of Avengers to capture Rogers and his allies. During the subsequent battle at Leipzig/Halle Airport, despite the best efforts of Rogers' new ally Ant-Man, Rhodes was almost able to catch Rogers and Barnes as they stole the quinjet, only to be accidentally shot down by the Vision when the android was attempting to knock out the pursing Sam Wilson. The resulting injuries from the crash seriously damaged Rhodes' spine, with the implication that he would never walk again. However, Stark was able to develop cybernetics that would hopefully help Rhodes regain the use of his legs, with Rhodes assuring Stark that he went into action fully aware of the risks and confident that he had made the right decision.

Infinity War

Rhodes had a brief argument with Ross before reuniting with the Avengers who had arrived in their Avengers Headquarters. Rhodes was given a new set of War Machine armor and traveled with his teammates to Wakanda where they would find resources to remove the Mind Stone from Vision without killing him. Rhodes had seemed to have developed a friendship with Sam Wilson, and the two worked together along other Avengers against Thanos' army, though he was absent upon Thanos' arrival as the villain snapped his fingers with all the Stones, thus disintegrating many residents of the universe. His absence made him unaware of Sam's death before he mourned Vision with his friends.

Rhodes joined the surviving Avengers in watching Fury's pager, only to encounter Carol Danvers, who was looking for Fury. After Danvers rescued Stark and Nebula, Rhodes joined the Avengers in tracking down Thanos, hoping to find the Infinity Stones and use them to undo Thanos's snap. Upon arrival, however, they learned that Thanos had destroyed the stones before Thor killed Thanos.

Time Heist

Over the next five years, Rhodes assisted the Avengers in keeping watch over the world after the snap, occasionally keeping an eye on the now rogue Barton. Things changed when Ant-Man escaped the Quantum Realm and explained his theory in using the Quantum Realm to time-travel. With the help of Banner- who had since merged his mind with the Hulk's body- and Stark, the Avengers created a time machine to collect the Infinity Stones across time.

Following a brainstorming session, the Avengers travelled across various times to obtain the stones. Rhodes joined Romanoff, Barton, and Nebula to 2014 to obtain the Power Stone and Soul Stone. Traveling to Morag, Rhodes and Nebula acquired the Power Stone after knocking out Star-Lord, but while Rhodes was able to return to the present, Nebula had accidentally synchronized with her past self, preventing her from leaving.

Rhodes returned to the present and joined the Avengers in mourning the loss of Romanoff, who had sacrificed herself for the Soul Stone. They assembled the Infinity Stones in a gauntlet, which Banner used to resurrect the fallen. However, the past Nebula infiltrated their ranks and let in her era's Thanos and his forces to get the stones himself. Thanos unleashed his ship on the Avengers facility, trapping Rhodes in the rubble. However, with Ant-Man's help, Rhodes was able to escape. Rhodes fought in the Battle of Earth alongside the resurrected Avengers and their allies. After Stark snapped his fingers and disintegrated Thanos's forces at the cost of his own life, Rhodes afterwards attended Stark's funeral.

New World Order

Three months after the battle with Thanos, Rhodes attended the event at the Smithsonian Institution, where Sam officially returned Captain America's Shield to the United States government, after Steve had passed it on to him before retiring. Rhodes and Sam talked about the Captain America mantle and the chaos in the wake of people coming back from the Blip. Sam talked about how the shield didn't feel like his to bear to which Rhodes offered his sympathy and his support should he need it.

Skrull Invasion

Some time later in 2026, Rhodey was kidnapped and impersonated by a Skrull imposter. Having his appearance, the Skrull influenced the current President Ritson, only to eventually be figured out, found and uncovered by Nick Fury. Following Raava's death and stopping the Skrull Invasion, Rhodey, as well as all the other civilians kidnapped and impersonated by the Skrulls, were freed, after which he resumed his life.

Attributes

Powers

James Rhodes has no powers of his own but has access to various capabilities built into his War Machine Armor, a high-tech suit of armor that grants him the following abilities:

War Machine armor

• Superhuman Strength: The first War Machine armor enhanced its wearer's strength to an unknown degree. The strength level appeared to be comparable to that of its immediate Iron Man armor successor, Stark's Mark III Iron Man armor, which itself was capable of lifting a car.
• Durability: His armor is very durable, capable of withstanding tremendous amounts of punishment. It can withstand high caliber bullets with ease. He can also withstand rockets, torpedoes, and such, although he does take damage.
• Flight: His armor can fly and travel at supersonic speeds.

Abilities

Expert Martial Artist: His military training made him a very skilled hand to hand combatant. He was more than able to handle himself against Killian's Extremis Soldiers, even punching Eric Savin to the ground with a single punch.

Additional Attributes

Following the Battle of Leipzig/Halle Airport, Rhodes is paralysed from the waist down, requiring technological aid to walk even to a limited degree.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

War Machine Armor MK V; formerly War Machine Armor MK I, War Machine Armor MK II, War Machine Armor MK III, War Machine Armor MK IV and War Machine Armor MK VI

Weapons

The War Machine armor possesses a wide array of weapons including wrist machine guns, a rocket launcher, shoulder-mounted minigun, miniature heat seeking missiles.

Like the Iron Man's armor, Rhodes's suit is equipped with powerful repulsor beams that are fired from the palms of the gauntlets.

Notes

Terrence Howard as James Rhodes

• Terrence Howard portrayed James Rhodes in the film Iron Man, and also provided the voice in its video game adaptation. Don Cheadle replaced him and portrayed the character in the films Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, in the The Falcon and The Winter Soldier episode "New World Order" and Secret Invasion. He also voiced War Machine in Iron Man 2's video game adaptation, while Ty Jones voiced the character in Iron Man 3: The Official Game. Cheadle is set to reprise the role as the lead in the upcoming film Armor Wars.
• When seen in the film wearing his service dress uniform in Iron Man, Rhodes's decorations can be visually recognized as including the Senior Pilot Badge, Acquisition & Financial Manager Badge, the Defense Superior Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with bronze oak leaf cluster, Air Medal with bronze oak leaf cluster, Aerial Achievement Medal with bronze oak leaf cluster, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal with bronze oak leaf cluster, Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Outstanding Unit Award with two bronze oak leaf clusters, Combat Readiness Medal with bronze oak leaf cluster, National Defense Service Medal with bronze star, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Southwest Asia Service Medal with bronze star, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Armed Forces Service Medal, Overseas Ribbon Long Tour, Longevity Service Award Ribbon with three bronze oak leaf clusters, Air Force Training Ribbon, and Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait).
• For more of the apocryphal version of Jim Rhodes seen in the video game Iron Man and Iron Man 2 please see here: James Rhodes (Earth-TRN999).

Trivia

• War Machine is one of a few characters who are played by different actors due to recasting in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The others are Hulk, Thanos, Fandral, Red Skull, and Thaddeus Ross.
• Early storyboards for the film Iron Man 2 showed that it was planned for War Machine to kill Justin Hammer when his suit was in control of Ivan Vanko.
• Despite being renamed Iron Patriot and Rhodes defending it to Stark, he actually preferred War Machine, which is a running gag throughout Iron Man 3. Rhodes' A.I.M. account is Warmachine68, with his password being WARMACHINEROX (himself saying "War Machine rocks... with an x... all caps").
• Marvel Studios considered developing a War Machine movie at one point, with future Black Panther writer Joe Robert Cole having pitched a concept and having won the job to write the film. However, based on Rhodes' role in Iron Man 3, the idea of a stand-alone film was scrapped.
• A scrapped idea for the status quo after the 5-year jump in Avengers: Endgame was for Rhodey to have become Vice President of the United States.

See Also

• 30 appearance(s) of James Rhodes (Earth-199999)
• 7 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of James Rhodes (Earth-199999)
• 15 minor appearance(s) of James Rhodes (Earth-199999)
• 2 mention(s) of James Rhodes (Earth-199999)
• 126 image(s) of James Rhodes (Earth-199999)
• 3 quotation(s) by or about James Rhodes (Earth-199999)
• 7 item(s) used/owned by James Rhodes (Earth-199999)

Links and References

• James Rhodes on Marvel.com
• James Rhodes on Wikipedia.org
• James Rhodes (Earth-199999) on the

• James Rhodes (Earth-199999) on