James Rhodes (Marvel)
James Rhodes is a male comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
James Rupert Rhodes was a male human born in the modern age on Earth.
His sister had a daughter by the name of Lila Rhodes. (Iron Patriot v1 #1)
On a mission, his helicopter was damaged in the sky by enemy rockets thus forcing him to land. The vehicle was still in one piece with Lieutenant Rhodes attempting to get it airborne again. During that time, he was approached by Iron Man who had arrived in his armor after having escaped his captors. He had recently been taken prisoner and forced to develop a weapon for his captors alongside Professor Ho Yinsen where the two instead developed the Iron Man suit. Yinsen had been killed but Stark managed to wield the armour and avenged his fellow prisoner where he sought an electrical source to charge the machine keeping his heart functioning. His arrival though took Rhodey by surprise where he fired on the armoured figure until he was calmed down. The pair were then attacked by enemy soldiers but Stark proved that he was an ally by fighting the enemy off but this put a drain on his energy reserves. After seeing him as a friendly, Rhodey then decided to have his helicopter battery be used to help Stark in his Iron Man suit. He then directed Stark to the nearest American defense perimeter where they fought off a sniper and uncovered a hidden enemy rocket base with them stealing a helicopter to reach friendly territory. Whilst recovering from his injuries, Tony Stark approached Rhodes and offered him a job as a pilot once his service in the military was over. (Iron Man v1 #144)
Iron Man
Due to Obadiah Stane's actions, Stark International was losing foreign contracts and going into heavy debt. With Stark's company and personal life in disarray, Stark relapsed into alcoholism. (Iron Man v1 #167) When devastating personal problems caused Tony Stark to abuse alcohol and become incapable of using the Iron Man armor responsibly, Rhodes put it on in order to defend Stark International from the criminal Magma. He offered to return it but Stark insisted that Rhodes take on the responsibility of being Iron Man for a while to enable Stark to enjoy himself. Reluctantly, Rhodes agreed to this arrangement leading to him becoming the new Iron Man. (Iron Man v1 #70)
Rhodey issued notice to the Avengers that Iron Man would be on a leave of absence for the foreseeable future, unaware that several of the Avengers knew Iron Man was Tony Stark. When Cap and Wasp arrived seeking answers, Rhodey was forced to explain the real reason why Stark was no longer available. (Avengers v1 #232)
With Morley Erwin and his sister Clytemnestra, Rhodes embarked upon a brief career as a mercenary in order to obtain funds with which they could begin a new business venture. By the time they succeeded in raising sufficient capital, Tony Stark had recovered from his several months-long alcohol binge, and offered to join them. The four moved out to Silicon Valley, California, where they founded Circuits Maximus, a small electronics design firm. (Iron Man v1 #184)
War Machine
During this time, Rhodey had also taken Tony's place in the Avengers West Coast. Despite cutting ties with Stark, Rhodes remained with the Avengers, revealing his identity to them and adopting War Machine as his superhero alias. (Avengers West Coast v2 #94)
Rhodes was later approached by Vincent Cetewayo, noted activist from the African country of Imaya and founder of the human rights organization Worldwatch Incorporated. (War Machine v1 #1) Cetewayo offered Rhodes the position of Worldwatch's Executive Director, but the offer was declined. Cetewayo was kidnapped by Imayan forces led by the dictator President Eda Arul. Receiving no aid from S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers, Rhodes traveled to Imaya as War Machine to free Cetewayo. Joined by Deathlok, the two evaded capture from a S.H.I.E.L.D. unit led by Major Bathsheva "Sheva" Joseph and joined the fight to liberate Imaya. (War Machine v1 #3) Rhodes successfully led Imayan rebels into combat against Arul's forces, but failed to save Cetewayo from being killed by the Advisor, the apparent mastermind of Arul's rise to power. Shaken by the death of Cetewayo and finding something worth fighting for, Rhodes takes the position of Worldwatch's Executive Director and hired Sheva Joseph, who left S.H.I.E.L.D. after her assignment in Imaya. (War Machine v1 #4)
While their armor was rebooting, the Mandarin captured Rhodes and Stark, discovering their identities. Century of the superhero team Force Works rescued Rhodes, but his armor was useless thanks to the Mandarin's anti-technology field. Rhodes and Stark reconciled and joined with Force Works to stop the Mandarin and his Avatars from using the Heart Of Darkness for their plans of conquest. (Iron Man v1 #312) Stark gave Rhodes the blueprints to the War Machine armor and a fully upgraded armor with new armaments was made. (War Machine v1 #12)
Rhodes returned to civilian life, but he ended up acquiring a brand new alien armor known as the Eidolon Warwear after meeting a mysterious woman named Skye and fighting an alien known as a Lictor. (War Machine v1 #18) Skye was sent to teach Rhodes to use the Warwear and revealed that Rhodes was chosen to fight against Stark who was under the control of Immortus disguised as Kang the Conqueror. (War Machine v1 #23) Sheva Joseph began to rapidly age and soon died, as a side effect of their earlier time travel. Jim's Eidolon was discovered while he was being examined for the same condition, and he briefly got into a quarrel with S.H.I.E.L.D. who wanted to quarantine him and study the armor. Skye was fatally wounded by Dirge, another Eidolon Warrior sent by Immortus, and Rhodes defeated him in combat. Stark eventually breaks free of Immortus' control and sacrificed his life while Rhodes foiled Immortus' plot by using Dirge's Warwear to destroy the Starcore satellite armed with a chronographic weapon. S.H.I.E.L.D. was made aware of down, but Rhodes evaded capture. To protect Worldwatch, he resigns as executive director. (War Machine v1 #25)
As War Machine, Jim Rhodes discovered that Fujikawa was trying to gain access to some of Tony Stark's old technology. In order to save that technology from falling into another person's hands and to preserve the legacy of his old friend, he purged the computers of Fujikawa in order to destroy all the information about Stark's armor technology. In doing so, he sacrificed his alien costume by downloading it into the computers and sending it on a "search and destroy" mission. (Tales of the Marvel Universe v1 #1)
He later established his own business named Rhodes Recovery that worked in the field of marine salvage. (Iron Man v3 #1)
Return
James was hired by ONE and served as a Direct Command Officer and combat instructor for Sentinel Squad ONE. (Sentinel Squad O*N*E v1 #1)
Shortly before being vivisected, Rhodey was able to trigger a laser in his eye and escape his bonds, getting enough of his armor back on to keep himself alive and defend against the Skrulls still onboard the ship he had been taken to. Rhodey, with help from Suzi Endo, used the Skrull ships to destroy one another and return to the Russian air base Tatishchevo where he had been captured and continued aiding the Winter Guard in defending Russia's nuclear arsenal from the Skrulls. Despite Crimson Dynamo's previous denials, he chose to ignore his commands and aid Rhodey when he saw the help he was offering without their aid. Working alongside the Winter Guard they took down the Skrulls air support and their Super-Skrulls on the ground, with Rhodey risking his own life to prevent a detonating Super-Skrull from setting off the warheads before being aiding in his escape from Russia by Crimson Dynamo. (Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. v1 #35)
He received word that his old friend Glenda Sandoval had been captured in Aqiria by her employers in Eaglestar International. This led to Rhodey abducting Parnell Jacobs to help manage his operations whilst War Machine went to rescue Glenda. With his armor, he was easily able to decimate the private military outfit though they called for assistance from Norman Osborn who sent Ares to fight War Machine. (War Machine v2 #2)
Heroic Age
A government contract between Stark Resilient and the Pentagon led to War Machine being assigned to the U.S. military as their own 'Iron Man'. He was thus assigned to the U.S. Department of Defense and given the rank of Lieutenant Colonel under the command of General Babbage who had a personal grudge against Rhodes for his actions against Ultimo and Norman Osborn. His first assignment was to investigate the death of former DARPA weapons designer Palmer Addley who was charged with committing terrorist acts around the world yet had been dead for months. War Machine confronted the supposedly dead Addley who dropped a nuclear weapon on him with Rhodes barely managing to survive though his armour was badly damaged. In response, Tony Stark replaced the War Machine armor with a more advanced stream-lined armor that was named 'Iron Man 2.0.' Armor. (Iron Man 2.0 v1 #3)
He was later recruited into the Secret Avengers initiative by Phil Coulson who required his assistance to help control the Iron Patriot armours that had been given sentience by A.I.M. and let loose on targets around the world. Escorted to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Tages research station, he was allowed access to a holographic access terminal that allowed him to communicate with the Iron Patriot drones. The machine intelligences recognised Rhodes as the 'pilot' and accepted his authority where one equipped him in armour and allowed him to take command of them in the field. (Secret Avengers v2 #6) He led the Iron Patriot drones in defence of Earth when it came under attack from the Mad Titan Thanos. In the fight, he worked alongside newly activated Inhuman Sarah Garza who was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. During the fight, Rhodes and his team were captured by another newly activated Inhuman who had control over metal. (Secret Avengers v2 #10)
Stark later used bio-engineering techniques to reboot the body of James Rhodes thus restoring him back to life. (Invincible Iron Man v1 #600)
Overview
Personality and attributes
He had said that his friends knew him by the nickname of Rhodey. (Iron Man v1 #144)
Powers and abilities
He was noted for being an impressive pilot whose skills could put others to shame. (Iron Man v1 #144)
At one point, Rhodes body was badly damaged and he was transformed into a cyborg. (War Machine v2 #1) The suit was equipped with magnolocks allowing him to draw on other machinery and attach it to his own frame allowing it to replace lost mechanical limbs. (War Machine v2 #3)
A variant of the War Machine Armor was created that was made into the Iron Man 2.0 Armor that stripped away most of the weapons. This stream lined armor was equipped with a chameleon mode that provided invisibility, camouflage and holographic projection without any side effects of the earlier version of the system. It was also outfitted with Ghost Tech that was multi-dimensional bridge technology allowing the wearer to pass through solid objects. A scanner invisibility was an added feature that made the user undetectable to tracking systems. There is also a combat mode that amplified strength and weapon systems to take out a target. The various add ons could only operate one at a time with it not possible to engage two different systems such as Chameleon and Ghost. A limitation on the armor was that these add-on features placed a strain on the repulsor that prevented for sustained heavy use. As a result, it meant that the Iron Man 2.0 operated by being fast and hitting the target with heavy weapons rather than constant use. (Iron Man 2.0 v1 #3)
Notes
- James Rhodes was created by David Michelinie and Bob Layton where he made his first appearance in Iron Man v1 #118 (January, 1979).
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In Iron Man, James Rhodes appeared as War Machine in the 1990s animated television series where he was voiced by actor James Avery for most of season one and then by actor Dorian Harewood for the remainder of the series.
- In Spider-Man, James Rhodes appeared in a guest role in the 1990s animated television series in the episodes "Venom Returns" and "Carnage" where he was voiced by actor James Avery.
- In Iron Man: Armored Adventures, James Rupert "Rhodey" Rhodes was part of the main cast of characters in the animated series where he was voiced by actor Daniel Bacon. This version was re-imagined as a young teenager who lived with his mother Roberta Rhodes who was a lawyer. Rhodes was the best friend of tge teenage Tony Stark with the two attending the same school together with them also being friends with Pepper Potts. After the seeming death of Howard Stark, Tony Stark began to live at the Rhodes residence who acted as a foster family for him.
- In The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, James Rhodes appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Bumper Robinson.
Films
- In The Invincible Iron Man, James Rhodes appeared in the 2007 animated film where she was voiced by actor Rodney Saulsberry.
- In Iron Man: Rise of Technovore, James Rhodes appeared in the anime film where he was voiced by English actor James C. Mathis III and Japanese actor Hiroki Yasumoto.
- In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, James Rhodes made a number of appearances in the shared continuity setting.
- In Iron Man, James Rhodes made his first appearance in the live-action film where he was portrayed by actor Terrence Howard.
- In Iron Man 2, James Rhodes appeared in the live-action sequel film where he was portrayed by actor Don Cheadle.
- In Iron Man 3, James Rhodes appeared in the live-action film where he was portrayed by actor Don Cheadle.
- In Avengers: Age of Ultron, James Rhodes appeared in the live-action film where he was portrayed by actor Don Cheadle.
Video games
- In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, James Rhodes as War Machine appeared as an alternate costume for Iron Man in the 2006 video game.
- In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, James Rhodes as War Machine appeared as a boss character in the 2009 video game.
- In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, James Rhodes as War Machine appeared as a character with a Dossier in the Facebook video game.
- In Marvel Heroes, James Rhodes appeared as a playable character in the MMORPG where he was voiced by again actor James C. Mathis III.
- In Marvel: Contest of Champions, War Machine appeared as a playable character in the mobile video game.
- In Marvel: Future Fight, War Machine appeared as a playable character in the mobile video game.
Appearances
- Iron Man v1: (1979)
- War Machine:
- War Machine v2:
- Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. v1:
- Iron Man 2.0 v1:
- Secret Avengers v1:
- Secret Avengers v2:
- Iron Patriot v1:
- Invincible Iron Man:
- Civil War II v1:
- Tony Stark: Iron Man v1:
External Links
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