War Machine

"This lone gunslinger act is unnecessary... you don't have to do this alone!"

- James Rhodes to Tony Stark

Colonel James Rupert Rhodes, commonly known as Rhodey, is a U.S. military officer and jet pilot in the U.S. Air Force. He is known as War Machine when wearing his heavily-armed battlesuit from Hammer Industries, but his alias was temporarily changed to Iron Patriot during Aldrich Killian's War. He is the best friend of Tony Stark/Iron Man and the liaison between Stark Industries and the military in the Department of Acquisitions.

Early Life
James Rhodes first met Tony Stark at a young age and the two of them became best friends. When he grew older, he was made a Lieutenant Colonel and became the liaison between Stark Industries and the U.S. Armed Forces.

Meeting Eloise and Celeste
"Is Rhodey coming along? He's cute."

- Celeste

Tony Stark represented the newest weapon to the US Military at the. Stark's secretary Pepper Potts gave the weapon's specifics to the generals while he and Rhodes went to a night club. Stark enjoyed the company of two girls while Rhodes tried to convince him not to go to Afghanistan. Stark was attacked by a man whose girlfriend he previously seduced, but Rhodes defeated the attacker. Later, Stark, Rhodes, and the girls went to Tony Stark's Mansion.

Stark Misses His Award
"As liaison to Stark Industries, I have a unique privilege of serving with a real patriot."

- Rhodey

Colonel James Rhodes attended a ceremony at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas to present Tony Stark with an award for his work, but Stark was not in attendance. Obadiah Stane accepted the award in Stark's honor. Rhodes found his friend partying in a casino and scolded him for not attending the award ceremony.

Losing Stark
The next day, in a flight, Tony Stark talked with Rhodes. Rhodes was unhappy about Stark's lax attitude, and Stark tried to get his old friend to relax. Before long they were drunk and leering at the stewardesses.

Stark arrived at a military outpost in Afghanistan to demonstrate his company's latest project - the Jericho, a super-missile system. After the demonstration, Stark went off with the Humvee convoy that was soon attacked by Ten Rings terrorists.

Months later, after his escape, Stark walked over more sand dunes when a couple of US helicopters flew overhead. A group of soldiers, led by Rhodes, came across him. Rhodes was overjoyed to find that his friend was alive.

Stark Ends his Weapons Manufacturing
Shortly after, Tony Stark appeared before a group of reporters and cameramen and announced that he intended to shut down Stark Industries' weapons manufacturing division immediately, much to their surprise.

Stark came to visit Rhodes and asked for help with a new private project. Rhodes did not agree with Stark's approach; he thought Stark was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because of his capture and needed time to recover.

Stane betrays Stark
In Gulmira, Afghanistan, terrorists were rounding up civilians for capture and execution when they were confronted by a mysterious figure in red and gold. Iron Man had arrived. Within seconds, he easily defeated the terrorists and destroyed the weapons they had obtained.

As Iron Man left the area, two F-22 Raptor jets spotted him. Rhodes was asked about the status of any new developments, which the others denied. He then contacted Stark, who claimed that he knew nothing about what was happening. Iron Man tried to outrun the jets but they were too much for him. Stark called Rhodes and reveals that he was responsible for the "unidentified craft." Rhodes was furious about Stark sending in unauthorized equipment in US airspace, and horrified when Stark 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 was forced to eject, 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. Later, Stark convinced Rhodes to pass off what happened with the jets as a "training exercise." Days later, Obadiah Stane arrived at Tony Stark's Mansion and paralyzed him with a Sonic Taser. Stane yanked out the Arc Reactor from Stark's heart, taunting him all the while. After he left, Stark realized that he had only one hope for survival - the preserved Arc Reactor that Pepper Potts gave him in a display case. He got the power source installed just as Rhodes arrived, who had been earlier informed on what was happening from Pepper.

Rhodes watched Stark suit up, awestruck at the Iron Man costume, saying that it was the "coolest" thing he had ever seen. As Stark flew away, Rhodes looked at the prototype silver suit Stark built earlier... then shook his head and mumbled "Next time, baby." Acting on Stark's orders, he was able to prevent the military from getting involved in Iron Man's fight against Stane by passing it off as a routine training exercise.

Meeting Phil Coulson
After Tony Stark's battle with Iron Monger, Stark and Rhodes were taken to a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. base where they encountered Agent Phil Coulson. Coulson reviewed Stark's technique from his fight against the Iron Monger, saying that it was good, but he needed to learn how become a real fighter, and that the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents would teach him how to fight.

I am Iron Man
Days later, Rhodes held a press conference about the incident with the two robots and tried to pass it off as a training exercise, just before Tony Stark exposed himself as Iron Man, much to Rhodey's dismay.

Rhodes Meets with Senator Stern
After Iron Man saved civilians from an attack on a U.N. peace keeping mission, the incident was broadcast on television. Senator Stern told Rhodes about his issue with Tony not following U.S. National Security interest. Rhodes said Tony would probably never follow orders. Stern introduced Rhodes to General Thaddeus Ross with a plan to replace Tony with a new weapon, the Aerodynamic Marvel.

Stark's Meeting with the Senator
Six months after Tony Stark told the world he was Iron Man, James Rhodes was called upon to write a report analyzing Iron Man. He was used in an attempt to get the Iron Man armor handed over to the US Government by Senator Stern.

He ended up speaking in Tony's favor. Also, Tony discovered that Justin Hammer had been trying to duplicate his armor, revealing this to the world.

Tony's Birthday Party
"I'm only gonna say this once: GET OUT!"

- War Machine to the party guests

Later, Tony Stark got drunk at his birthday party because he knew he was dying of palladium poisoning and threw a party as his last moments. Rhodes put on the Mark II armor to stop Stark, who was wearing the Mark IV, and putting his party guests at risk by firing his repulsors at random objects, like champagne bottles and a watermelon, thrown in the air. After the brawl, Rhodes flew back to Edwards Air Force Base. Justin Hammer was bought in to upgrade the armor and presented his weapons to Rhodes and Major Allen. When Hammer asked which weapons they wanted included on the suit, Rhodey replied that he wanted all of them. The Mark II was upgraded into the "JRXL-1000 Variable Threat Response Battle Suit". Rhodes was selected by General Meade as the pilot.

Battle at Stark Expo
During Justin Hammer's display of Hammer Drones at the Stark Expo, Rhodey unveiled the new advanced War Machine Armor. Stark however had learnt that Hammer was working with Ivan Vanko. Vanko took control of the drones and the War Machine armor, trying to use them to destroy Iron Man, leading to a huge battle at the Expo, Rhodey was still able to communicate with Stark and warn him of incoming attacks.

Agent Natasha Romanoff of S.H.I.E.L.D. managed to give Rhodes control over his armor, and he used it to aid Iron Man in his fight against the drones. Although at one point the pair appeared to be overwealmed by the drones, Stark used a laser to cut them all in half. Iron Man and War Machine were then faced by Vanko in an improved Whiplash armor. Rhodey tried to use a Hammer missile called the Ex Wife to destroy Vanko, but it malfunctioned. They fought Vanko and eventually were able to defeat him. After the fight, Rhodes decided to keep the suit despite Stark's protests.

Stark and Rhodes were then awarded medals for their bravery from a reluctant Senator Stern.

Hunting the Ten Rings
A month after defeating Whiplash, Tony stripped the War Machine armor of everything that Justin Hammer had "upgraded" it with leaving the suit with only the weaponry that Stark put in it. When Rhodes pointed this out to Stark, Stark revealed that he had made Rhodes his own suit, the Mark II War Machine armor.

Rhodes began using this suit to take down Ten Rings terrorists in other countries finding that they had acquired Hammer Industries weaponry. Rhodes took out the terrorists and continued to investigate the mysterious Ten Rings. By the time of the Chitauri invasion of New York City, Rhodes was busy fighting terrorists in Hong Kong. Stark contacted him but Rhodes told him that even at supersonic speed it would take over an hour for him to return so Stark told him not to bother. After dealing with the terrorists in Hong Kong, Rhodes returned to New York, finding the battle already over he located Stark in a Shawarma Palace where he was introduced to the Avengers.

Some time later, Stark invited Rhodes to his workshop. He had realized that not even Iron Man and War Machine would be enough to protect the Earth. Tony Stark revealed to Rhodey that he had developed several Iron Man armors that could be remotely controlled - an Iron Legion.

The Melter
Rhodey heard about an attack that a man named Bruno Horgan had made on Stark. The next day Horgan attacked Rhodey himself and with some effort defeated him. Working together Stark and Rhodey located, defeated, and arrested him.

Search for the Mandarin
After continuing to carry out duties as the American government's personal Iron Man, Rhodey's War Machine suit was given a paint job to further please the public. Due to the aggressive name of War Machine, the armor was redubbed as the Iron Patriot and painted in the motif of the American flag. The job was requisitioned by A.I.M.

As Iron Patriot, Rhodey continued his battle against terrorism and the threats made by the Ten Rings' leader, the Mandarin who had been setting off bombs all around America. Later Rhodes met with Stark at a bar where they discussed the threat of the Mandarin. Stark also made several jokes about Rhodey's new name. At one point two kids ask Stark to sign a hand-drawn picture of him entering a Wormhole which caused Stark to have a panic attack and leave the bar. Some time later, Rhodey was sent by President Matthew Ellis to find the Mandarin ASAP but was repeatedly given the wrong location. When arriving at a sweatshop in Pakistan, Rhodes was ambushed by an Extremis soldier posing as one of the civilians who shut down Rhodey's suit. Rhodey was then taken to Aldrich Killian's Mansion where Aldrich Killian used his Extremis powers to remove Rhodey from his suit. Rhodes attempted to put up a fight, punching Killian's henchman, Eric Savin, to the ground before giving in when Killian breathed flames at him. After witnessing Savin take control of the Iron Patriot armor and leave to meet President Ellis, Rhodey escaped and aided Stark in his Mark XLII who was also being held prisoner. Stark then introduced Rhodey to the Mandarin who was actually just a British actor named Trevor Slattery, whom Killian paid to be a decoy while he carried out Extremis experiments. They learned that he knew nothing about any real threats and thought it was just an acting role. Rhodey and Stark took his speed boat and warned Vice President Rodriguez that Iron Patriot was actually Savin. The VP did not pass on the message; he was secretly in league with Killian.

Learning that Savin was attacking Air Force One, Stark used his remote-controlled Mark XLII to fly onto the plane, kill Savin and rescue airborne passengers from death. However, Savin had placed President Ellis inside the Iron Patriot suit and sent him to the Norco.

Battle on the Norco
"Give me a suit!" "Oh I'm sorry, they're only coded to me." "What does that mean?" "I got you covered!"

- James Rhodes and Tony Stark

Rhodey and Tony Stark then infiltrated the Norco to save both Pepper Potts and President Matthew Ellis, the latter of whom was encased in the Iron Patriot Armor and suspended from a crane, awaiting public live execution. Stark summoned his Iron Legion as backup and directed them to attack the Extremis Soldiers. As Stark put on a suit, Rhodes excitedly asked him if he would get to wear a new suit but was sadly disappointed that Stark only made the Iron Patriot armor and was escorted by another suit. While Stark rescued Pepper, Rhodey went after Ellis. Fighting off several Extremis Soldiers, Rhodey managed to secure Ellis, get his suit back and fly him to safety away from the battle.

Aftermath
After Tony Stark and Pepper Potts defeated Aldrich Killian and his Extremis Soldiers, Rhodey further aided his government by outing Vice President Rodriguez as a conspirator with Killian. He also attended Stark's surgery to have his Arc Reactor removed, alongside Pepper.

Ultron Campaign
Rhodes was invited to a party at the Avengers Tower alongside the Avengers and Maria Hill, Rhodes told the story of how he had found and delivered an entire tank to a general, but was disappointed when Thor and Tony Stark were unimpressed by the tale. He later told the same story to a group of women and was satisfied when they seemed to be impressed by the story. After most of the guests had departed, Rhodes unsuccessfully tried to lift Mjølnir with Tony Stark using a gauntlet of the War Machine Armor.

They were interrupted when a scrapped robot calling itself Ultron awakened from Stark's lab and began talking about saving the world by destroying the Avengers. Ultron then attacked the Avengers; Rhodes helped his allies and got thrown out of a window during the fight, but he was able to survive thanks to the bridge on the floored part of the tower.

Battle of Sokovia
When Nick Fury called most of the former S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel to assist the Avengers in their war against Ultron, Rhodes is summoned and utilized the War Machine Armor to join the team in evacuating the civilians from the battle area within the half of Sokovia. When Ultron sent his drones to destroy the evacuation pods containing the civilians, Rhodes engaged them in battle and was able to destroy many of the robots.

New Avengers
"Avengers A..."

- Captain America

After Ultron's defeat, Rhodes was recruited into the Avengers' roster along with Vision, Wanda Maximoff and Sam Wilson as a more permanent member of the roster. They arrived at the Avengers academy and began their training under the leadership of Captain America and Natasha Romanoff.

Powers and Abilities
Like Tony, Rhodes has no known superhuman powers. He is a military man who is in excellent physical condition. However, like Stark, Rhodes' power comes from using a modified Iron Man armor to become War Machine. The armor allows him to fly, possess superhuman strength and durability and contains various weapons for battle. The armor is more heavily armored and equipped than Stark's.

War Machine Armor

 * War Machine Armor: Mark I
 * Iron Patriot Armor
 * War Machine Armor: Mark II

The War Machine armor is the only other powerful suit next to the Iron Man armor. Before weaponization of the suit, it was sufficient enough to battle an more updated, and powerful generation armor (the Mark IV). Upon weaponization of the armor, it was sufficient enough to nearly overpower the Mark VI (while under Vanko's control), battle hordes of Hammer drones and Vanko with his own armor.

Support Powers
Flight: The armor, like the Iron Man armor, can reach speeds as Mach 3 in moments. It is equipped with non-weapons grade repulsor based flight stabilizers that theoretically reach speeds of Mach 8 similar to the Mark IV's flight stabilizers. It was able to keep up with the Mark VI during the battle over the Stark Expo and catch Iron Man off-guard and tackled him into the Oracle building.

Superhuman Strength: When utilizing the armor, it increases Rhodes' natural physical abilities to superhuman levels, chief among them is his strength. Rhodes, inside his armor, is capable of overpowering normal humans and tear unmanned battle drones with ease. It also allows him to go toe-to-toe with Stark in his armor.

Superhuman Reflexes: The armor, like Stark's, has motors for movement. It is extremely fast and responsive in flight, and during combat.

Armor Systems: The armor has remote assistance, and a holographic HUD, with cellphone and computer connections in the helmet. The armor is powered by a miniature arc reactor and has an on-board generator for emergencies. The scanner systems are capable of scanning the environment, weather conditions and equipment for information. The armors also have variable control surfaces for active flight control. The Hull Pressure Transducers are on board sensors that track external pressure based on altitude, speed, and temperature, and adjust internal settings appropriately.

Self-Contained Life-Support System and Environmental Protection: The armor can be sealed for operations in vacuum or underwater, providing its own life support, and is shielded against radiation.

Defensive Powers
Durability: The armor is made of a solar charged carbon-composite-based external plating armor and has a chestplate protecting the arc reactor. It is shown that it can withstand tremendous amounts of punishment. It had withstood a full-on fight with the Mark IV in Stark's house. It had withstood the full-on fight with the Hammer Drones and withstood the full-on ammo unloaded on both him and Stark while in their respective suits. It was able to withstand damage done on it by Vanko in his own suit. It protects the wearer from the effects of extreme g-forces.

Offensive Powers
Repuslors: A particle beam weapon in the palm gauntlets. Can repel physical and energy-based attacks. When combined with an attack from another repuslor, it can create an energy shockwave that decimate a small area like when he and Stark both fired their repuslors at each other and the resulting event destroy much of Stark's house.

Unibeam: A powerful Repulsor Beam. In addition to the physical capabilities and various weaponry it already possesses, it also utilizes laser guided munitions.

Mini-Gun: A 7.62-mm minigun is attached to the back of the suit on a swivel mount and typically fires over the right shoulder. It is governed by an automated targeting system and can track targets independently of the suit's wearer, including those targets to the rear. The ammunition feed for this weapon is a belt feed from the rear torso.

Gauntlets: The armor's armbraces each mount an underslung sub-machine gun.

Rocket Launcher: A box rocket launcher mounted over the left shoulder holds a Hammer-tech bunker busting rocket that Rhodes referred to as the "Ex-Wife" which was useless against the improved Whiplash.

Miniature Stark Sonic Cannon: It can emit sound waves that will stun the target for weeks. Rhodes has only used this once on a group of the Ten Rings' allies.

Abilities
Rhodes wears a "Brass Rat", the MIT school ring, indicating that he and Stark were graduates of the same college, and on his other hand, he wears an Air Force Academy ring, suggesting that he received his Master's Degree from MIT after earning a "grad school slot" for high academic achievement while at USAF Academy.
 * Expert Pilot: He is a highly decorated Colonel Air Force officer and as such, he is a skilled fighter pilot as he is able to pilot the War Machine armor.
 * Expert Tactician: He can create strategies that help him win in a battle. During his and Stark's attack on Killian, Rhodes was able to deflect several attacks from Extremis Soldiers with pure strategy.
 * Expert Martial Artist: Rhodes' 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.
 * Expert Marksman:

Allies

 * Stark Industries
 * Tony Stark/Iron Man - Best Friend
 * Pepper Potts - Friend
 * Maria Hill
 * United States Armed Forces
 * Allen
 * Lacy
 * Meade - Superior Officer
 * Matthew Ellis - Commander in Chief
 * Avengers (First Incarnation)
 * Steve Rogers/Captain America
 * Thor
 * Tony Stark/Iron Man - Best Friend
 * Bruce Banner/Hulk
 * Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow
 * Clint Barton/Hawkeye
 * Avengers (Second Incarnation) - Teammates
 * Steve Rogers/Captain America - Leader
 * Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow
 * Sam Wilson/Falcon
 * Vision
 * Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch
 * Stern - Ally (former)
 * Helen Cho

Enemies

 * Justin Hammer - Ally turned Enemy
 * Ivan Vanko/Whiplash †
 * Ten Rings
 * A.I.M. - Allies turned Enemies
 * Aldrich Killian †
 * Eric Savin †
 * Sweat Shop Agent
 * Rodriguez - Ally turned Enemy
 * Ultron

Video Game Only

 * Kearson DeWitt †
 * Crimson Dynamo †
 * Ghost

Appearances
In chronological order:
 * Iron Man: Fast Friends
 * Iron Man
 * Iron Man 2: Public Identity
 * The Avengers Prelude: Fury's Big Week
 * Iron Man 2
 * The Avengers: Iron Man Mark VII
 * Iron Man 3 Prelude
 * Iron Man: The Coming of the Melter
 * Iron Man 3
 * Avengers: Age of Ultron

Trivia

 * James Rhodes/Iron Patriot is one of five characters who are played by a different actor in different films. The others are Bruce Banner, Howard Stark, Thanos and Fandral.
 * In Iron Man 3, Rhodey is known as the Iron Patriot. However in the comics, it was in fact Norman Osborn who wore the Iron Patriot armor but due to Sony owning the film rights to Spider-Man (and everything Spider-Man related) and Norman Osborn also being the Green Goblin, who is part of Spider-Man's rogue gallery, Osborn could not appear in a Marvel Studios film at the time.
 * After the release of Iron Man 3, the mainstream counterpart of Rhodey has also taken the mantle of Iron Patriot in the comic, Gambit: A Little Piece of My Heart.
 * As War Machine, James Rhodes became the first African American superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.