War Machine

James Rhodes was created by writer David Michelinie with artists John Byrne and Bob Layton.[1] Rhodes first appeared in a single panel of Iron Man #118 (1979), introduced as a friend of Tony Stark,[2][3] and he saw a recurring role as Stark's personal helicopter pilot.[4] Many comic books and other works in popular culture began introducing duos of one white character and one black character.[5] Such a development had not occurred in Iron Man until Rhodes's introduction. One African American character, Eddie March, was introduced as Iron Man's successor in Iron Man #21 (1970), but this character was severely injured and written out of the series before being elevated as Iron Man's partner.[6] Shortly after appearing, Rhodes assisted Iron Man in defeating Justin Hammer throughout issues published in 1979.[7] He was established as a more prominent supporting character in Iron Man #144 (1981), which described his connection to Tony Stark when they met during the Vietnam War. This depiction of Rhodes made him a central character in Iron Man's history and origin, elevating his importance beyond what had been written for Marvel's black characters to that point.[2][8]

While Denny O'Neil was the writer for Iron Man comics, he chose to write Stark out of the role entirely in favor of Rhodes.[9] Rhodes was first portrayed using Iron Man armor in Iron Man #169 (1983) when he had to fight a villain in the stead of a drunk and defeated Tony Stark.[10] A black superhero replacing a white one was almost unprecedented at the time, with DC Comics having only recently attempted a similar change with its character John Stewart.[11] From this change, O'Neil created a story arc in which Stark relapsed into alcoholism and Rhodes reluctantly took up the armor and the title of Iron Man.[11] The change saw mixed reactions from readers, as Rhodes's tenure as Iron Man emphasized his lack of experience or expertise regarding the Iron Man armor.[12] For the duration of the story arc, the Iron Man series focused primarily on Rhodes, with Stark's recovery being relegated to a subplot.[13] It also included the Secret Wars crossover event, which featured Rhodes as Iron Man rather than Stark.[14] Stark resumed the role of Iron Man in Iron Man #200 (1985).[13]

During Iron Man's 1988 Armor Wars story arc, Rhodes accompanies Iron Man in his mission to fight those who had acquired the Iron Man armor technology.[15] Rhodes again served as a replacement for Stark beginning in Iron Man #284 (1992), while Stark was in suspended animation.[16] He began using the War Machine armor at this time, continuing as Iron Man until Stark returned the following year in issue #289. Keeping the War Machine armor, Rhodes was established as a new superhero, War Machine. He subsequently appeared in Avengers West Coast beginning in issue #94, but the series ended shortly afterward.[17] Iron Man writer Len Kaminski did not intend to give Rhodes the War Machine armor permanently, but editor Nel Yomtov insisted after it was well received.[18]

War Machine was one of several characters to serve as grittier and more violent anti-hero versions of established characters during the 1990s.[19][20] The character received his own series with the release of War Machine #1 in April 1994, written by Kaminski and Scott Benson and penciled by Gabriel Gecko. This series also featured Deathlok and Cable.[21] The series ran for twenty-five issues across two years.[22] War Machine was introduced with a story relating to Africa and the continent's politics, reflecting Western interest in the subject following widespread reporting of the Somali, Rwandan, and Liberian civil wars.[23] By issue #15, the focus shifted to speculative fiction involving aliens and time travel.[24] Rhodes was given an alien symbiote armor during this series to differentiate him from Iron Man, but the change was short-lived.[25] The series ended during a larger reorganization of Marvel amid financial problems.[24] In the years following the end of War Machine, Rhodes became a minor character with only limited appearances.[26]

The short-lived 2003 series The Crew by Christopher Priest and Joe Bennett featured War Machine as a main character.[27][26] This role saw him entirely separate from Iron Man for the first time, as he pawns off parts from his armor.[27] He subsequently appeared in the Sentinel Squad ONE miniseries.[26] As anti-terrorism became a prominent theme after the September 11 attacks, War Machine slowly became a more significant supporting character. Stark's central role in the Marvel Universe elevated War Machine, as did Rhodes's own military backstory.[28] During the 2008 Secret Invasion event, writer Christos Gage wrote issues #33–35 of Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. in which War Machine replaced Iron Man as the main character.[29]

A second War Machine series ran for one year from 2009 to 2010, following a similar plot to the African story arc of his first series but instead takes place in the Middle East, reflecting American interest in the region during the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War.[30] War Machine became more well known after the character was adapted to film, beginning in 2008. He had a significant presence in The Invincible Iron Man, which began the same year and ran until 2012.[31] In this series, writer Matt Fraction had Rhodes join the military as War Machine. Rhodes's next solo series was Iron Man 2.0 (2011).[31] Following this, Rhodes was reintroduced as the Iron Patriot, reflecting changes made to the film adaptation of the character. The political thriller series Iron Patriot ran in 2014, written by Ales Kot and drawn by Garry Brown.[32] As part of Marvel's 2016 Civil War II event, Rhodes's character was killed off to emphasize the story's stakes. The choice was controversial, both for the lack of narrative payoff and for the choice of killing one of Marvel's main non-white characters.[33] The character was resurrected in Invincible Iron Man #600 (2018).[34]

James Rhodes grew up in South Philadelphia until he enlisted in the military.[7] While serving in the Vietnam War, Rhodes encounters Iron Man, who had just built his first armor and escaped from his captors, and the two work together to reach safety at the U.S. embassy.[2] As time went on and the Vietnam War no longer corresponded with Rhodes's age, the conflict was retroactively changed to a war in the fictional nation of Siancong.[35] He eventually began working for Stark as a pilot, and the two became friends.[4] When Stark's alcoholism prevents him from fighting the supervillain Magma, Rhodes takes the Iron Man armor and continues the fight. Stark's alcoholism grows worse, and Rhodes takes the armor to become Iron Man. As Iron Man, he resigns from the Avengers and destroys the other Iron Man armors to keep them from being taken by Obadiah Stane.[11]

As Stark begins to recover, Rhodes accompanies him in a new business venture, and they begin sharing the role of Iron Man. Since the armor was not designed for Rhodes, he begins experiencing headaches and mood swings, eventually returning the role to Stark in its entirety.[36] When Stark is believed to be dying, he appoints Rhodes as his successor. Rhodes becomes the CEO of Stark Industries, and he becomes the new Iron Man using the War Machine armor.[36] He gives up the role when he discovers that Stark faked his death, but he keeps the War Machine armor on Stark's insistence. Becoming a new superhero, War Machine, Rhodes briefly joins the West Coast Avengers and then becomes a solo superhero after the team is disbanded.[22] When human rights activist Vincent Cetewayo is kidnapped by his corrupt government in the fictional African country of Imaya, War Machine partners with Deathlok to stage an extralegal intervention and topple the government, despite protest from S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers.[23] In response, Stark disables the War Machine armor until he needs Rhodes's assistance to defeat the Mandarin.[24] Rhodes retires from superhero work, and he briefly runs a salvage business until he finds himself investigating the death of his sister.[37] He then works as a combat instructor for the Sentinel Squad.[26]

When Rhodes is injured in a terrorist attack, he is augmented with cybernetic body parts, permanently turning him into War Machine.[28] He travels to the fictional Middle Eastern country Aqiria where he encounters a military contractor that tortures and experiments on prisoners. Rhodes takes action without authorization, and he is put on trial for committing war crimes.[30] His cybernetic body is destroyed in the subsequent jailbreak, but a cloned version of his healthy body had been made and his mind is transferred into it.[38] Rhodes later takes on a new title, Iron Patriot, wearing armor in the national colors of the United States. In this new role, he goes to New Orleans, where he assesses the environmental risk posed against the city.[39] He also rejects any further alignment with the military, unless it is purely in the capacity of domestic action or rescue operations.[40] Rhodes is killed in a fight against Thanos, triggering a schism within the superhero community. He is later resurrected by Stark, who had discovered that their bodies could be restored due to the various augmentations that they had undergone while using the Iron Man armor.[34]

Rhodes is moralistic relative to Stark, divesting Stark Industries from nuclear technology as CEO over objections from the board and taking action against foreign nations without regard for legalities.[41] He takes actions that he believes to be right even when others believe it to be ill-advised, and he believes in ideals of "freedom and love".[40] He is willing to give the benefit of the doubt to other characters as opposed to Stark's brasher approach.[42] This aspect of his character was emphasized in the 2014 series Iron Patriot, which contrasted his sense of moral duty with his responsibility to his family.[32] Writer Christos Gage described War Machine as someone prefers to lead soldiers into battle rather than deploy them.[29]

When Rhodes first experienced the power of the Iron Man armor, he developed an addiction to it that mirrored Stark's addiction to alcohol that necessitated his replacement.[13] As a superhero, Rhodes pledged to help anyone without regard for race, nationality, or beliefs.[40] His opposition to discrimination also included discrimination against mutants.[26] He believes that the role of superheroes goes beyond fighting supervillains, and that they should also take action against global problems such as world hunger and oppressive governments.[43]

War Machine is an African American superhero in a genre that historically presented white characters as the default without meaningfully portraying the lives or worldviews of racial minorities.[44] Rhodes's origin, a black boy who left the ghetto to enlist in the military, reflected conservative sentiments in the late 1970s that African Americans should seek betterment through individual agency and that the military was a place where success was based on merit rather than race.[7] His unsuccessful tenure as Iron Man similarly reflected the conservative belief that racial minorities were harmed by sudden increases in power.[36] Conversely, his tenure as CEO of Stark Industries and his second tenure as Iron Man in 1992 reflected the increased acceptance of African Americans being depicted in popular culture. This depiction put him on a more equal ground to Stark, portraying Rhodes as a capable CEO and hero in his own right.[17] When Rhodes became the main character of Iron Man, he faced many of the same obstacles as Stark, and many of the same themes were explored. Rhodes allowed these issues to be explored from a different perspective, of a character who diverged from the realism associated with Stark's Iron Man and whose views were influenced by his African American identity.[41] In the 1990s, Rhodes was one of several African American characters whose comics incorporated imagery associated with African American culture.[22] Unlike other black Marvel heroes such as Falcon and Cloak, Rhodes's race is not explicitly invoked as a defining aspect of his character or a common source of conflict.[45]

Rhodes's relationship with Stark evokes ideas of control and agency. Stark has control over the armor that Rhodes wears, and this becomes even more apparent when Stark installs the armor through cybernetics as part of Rhodes's body.[28] During Rhodes's earliest outings in the Iron Man armor, he was pretending to be Stark's Iron Man rather than acting independently with his own identity. This was somewhat addressed when Rhodes received his own standalone series,[4] but the nature of the character inherently ties his identity to that of Iron Man.[45] Their relationship also has a racial component, as Stark, the man in control of Rhodes's destiny, is white.[46] Despite this, any possible racial conflict between the two is not addressed explicitly.[45]

War Machine writer Len Kaminski intentionally challenged the violent imagery of a heavily-armed character named War Machine by focusing on themes related to global human rights and liberal internationalism. He described the decision saying that "it could subvert some of the people who might be attracted to it for all the wrong reasons, and maybe [the writers will] get them thinking".[47] Rhodes is contrasted with Stark in his sense of responsibility.[31] His backstory as a soldier became relevant in the 2000s when the United States engaged in the controversial Iraq War, and the character was used to explore ideas relating to such wars.[30]