War Machine

For the planned film, see War Machine (film).

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

- War Machine

Colonel James "Rhodey" Rupert Rhodes, commonly known as Rhodey, is a military officer and jet pilot in the U.S. Air Force. He is known as War Machine when wearing his heavily-armed battlesuit. He is a good friend of Tony Stark and the is the liaison between Stark Industries and the military in the department of acquisitions.

Early life
James Rhodes met Tony Stark at a young age and became best friends. When he grew older he was made a colonel and became the liaison between Stark Industries and the U.S. Armed Forces.

Tony missing his award
Colonel James Rhodes attends a ceremony to present Tony Stark with an award for his work, but Stark is not in attendance. Tony's right-hand man Obadiah Stane accepts the award in Tony's honor. Rhodes later finds Tony partying in a casino.

Losing Tony
Next day, in a flight, Tony talks with Rhodes. Rhodes is unhappy about Tony's lax attitude, and Tony tries to get his old friend to relax. Before long they are drunk and leering at the stewardesses.

Tony arrives at a military outpost in the Middle East to demonstrate his company's latest project - the Jericho, a super-missile system. After the demonstration, Tony goes off with the convoy that is soon attacked by terrorists.

Months later, after his escape, Stark walks over more sand dunes when a couple of US helicopters fly overhead. A group of soldiers, led by Rhodey, come across Tony. Rhodey is overjoyed to find that his friend is alive.

Tony ending his weapons manufacturing
Shortly after, Tony appears before a group of reporters and announces that he intends to shut down Stark Industries' weapons manufacturing division immediately.

Tony comes to visit Rhodes and asks for help with a new private project. Rhodes does not agree with Tony's approach; he thinks Stark is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because of his capture and needs time to recover.

Obadiah betrayes Tony
In a Middle East village, terrorists are rounding up civilians for capture and execution when they are confronted by a mysterious figure in red and gold. Iron Man has arrived. Within seconds, he defeats the terrorists and destroys the weapons they had obtained.

As Iron Man leaves the area, two F-22 jets spot him. Col. Rhodes is asked about the status of any new developments. He contacts Tony, who claims that he knows nothing about what is happening. Iron Man tries to outrun the jets but they are too much for him. Tony calls Rhodes and reveals that he is responsible for the "unidentified craft." Rhodes is furious about Tony sending in unauthorized equipment, and horrified when Tony explains that the "equipment" is actually himself. Iron Man is hit by one fighter jet, sending him flying into the wing of the second jet. The pilot is forced to eject, but the parachute fails to open. Iron Man, still under fire, manages to fly in and successfully deploy the parachute in time to save the pilot's life. Tony convinces Rhodes to pass off what happened with the jets as a "training exercise."

Days later, Stane arrives at Tony's house and paralyzes him with a sonic weapon. Obadiah yanks out the power source from Tony's heart, taunting him all the while. After he leaves, Tony realizes that he has only one hope for survival - the preserved Arc Reactor that Pepper Potts gave him in a display case. He gets the power source installed just as Rhodes arrives, who had been earlier informed on what was happening from Pepper.

Rhodes watches Tony suit up, awestruck at the Iron Man costume, saying that it's the "coolest" thing he has ever seen. As Tony flies away, Rhodey looks at the prototype silver suit Tony built earlier... then shakes his head and mumbles "Next time, baby." Acting on Tony's orders, he is able to prevent the military from getting involved in Tony's fight against Stane by passing it off as a routine training exercise.

Days later, Rhodes holds a press conference about the incident with the two robots and tries to pass it off as a training exercise, just before Tony exposes himself as Iron Man.

Tony's meeting with the Senator
James Rhodes is called upon to write a report analyzing Iron Man. He is used to try and get the Iron Man armor handed over to the US Government by Ben Stern.

Becoming War Machine
Later, Tony gets drunk at his birthday party because he knows he is dying of palladium poisoning. Rhodes puts on the Mark II armor to stop Tony, who is wearing the Mark IV, and putting his party guests at risk. After the brawl, Rhodes flies back to the airbase. The Mark II is upgraded into the "JRXL-1000 Variable Threat Response Battle Suit". Rhodes is selected as the pilot.

During Justin Hammer's display of Hammer Drones at the Stark Expo, Ivan Vanko takes control of the drones and the War Machine armor, trying to use them to destroy Iron Man. Agent Romanoff of S.H.I.E.L.D. manages to give Rhodes control over his armor and he uses it to aid Iron Man in his fight against the drones.

Iron Man and War Machine are then faced by a new and improved Whiplash. The duo then defeated Whiplash and Rhodes decides to keep the suit despite Stark's protests. Stark and Rhodes are then awarded medals for their bravery from Senetor Ben Stern.

Powers and Abilities
Like Tony, Rhodes has no known superhuman powers. He is an 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

 * Mark I
 * Mark II

The War Machine armor (also the Mark II Iron Man armor/the Variable Threat Reponse Battlesuit) 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 overpowered 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 Orcale 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. It is unknown if due to the upgrades if he is still just as or slightly stronger than Stark in his own armor.

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

Armor Systems: The armor have remote assistance (it is unknown at this time if JARVIS provides support or another computer A.I.-like support system), and the armor also have 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 onboard 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 completely 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 an 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 also able to withstand damage done on it by Vanko in his own suit. It also 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 decimiate 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 submachine 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".

Other Abilities
Rhodes is depicted in the film wearing a "Brass Rat", the MIT school ring, indicating that in the film, 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 masters degree from MIT after earning a "grad school slot" for high academic achievement while at USAF Academy.

Exper Pilot: He is an highly decorated Lieutentant Colonel Air Force officer and as such, he is a skilled fighter pilot as he's able to pilot the War Machine armor.

Skilled Tactician: He can create strategies that help him win.

Skilled Combatant: Rhodes' military training made him a very skilled hand to hand combatant.