Real Name: James R. "Rhodey" Rhodes
Occupation: Former Lieutenant,
United States Marines, now pilot and adventurer Identity: Secret Legal
Status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record Place of
Birth: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Former Aliases: Iron Man (II)
Marital
Status: Single
Known Relatives: Josh (Uncle)
Group Affiliation:
Reserve member of the West Coast Avengers Base of Operations: Los Angeles,
California
First Appearance: (James Rhodes) IRON MAN #118, (as Iron
Man II) IRON MAN #170
History: James Rhodes was a pilot in the United States
Marines stationed in South Viet Nam during the U.S. military involvement
in Southeast Asia. Blasted out of the sky by enemy rockets, Rhodes
managed to land in one piece and was attempting to get his craft
airworthy when inventory Tony Stark, clad in his Iron
Man armor, happened by. Stark had just completed his original
armor, had avenged his fellow prisoner Professor Yinsen, and was
trying to make his way through the jungle to the American defense
perimeter. Attacked by the Viet Cong, Iron Man proved to Rhodes
they were on the same side, and Rhodes allowed him to drain the
helicopter's batteries to recharge his armor. The two then trekked
through the jungle together, finely discovering a hidden enemy
rocket base. Steeling an enemy helicopter, they destroyed the
base, and flew to the nearest American encampment. Before leaving
Viet Nam for the United States, Stark offered Rhodes a job as
a pilot as soon as his military stint was over. After a succession
of other jobs, Rhodes finally accepted Stark's offer and became
his personal pilot and chief aviation engineer. While working
at Stark International, Rhodes aided Iron Man in his battles against
such foes as the Roxxon Oil Company, Justin
Hammer, the Dreadnoughts, and Obadiah
Stane.
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 Rhodes take on the responsibility of being
Iron Man for a while to enable Stark to enjoy himself. Reluctantly
Rhodes agreed, and after Stark employee Morley Erwin helped him
figure out how to operate the armor, found himself in battle with
such foes as Thunderball, Firebrand, Krang,
Flying Tiger, the Radioactive Man, the Mandarin,
the Zodiac, and Vibro. Although he was unable to help Stark from
being swindled out of proprietorship of Stark International by
Obadiah Stane, he did prevent Stane from taking custody of all
of Stark's Iron Man armors. 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. Stark still was not interested in resuming his Iron
Man role and gave his blessing to Rhodes to continue. Rhodes was
initiated into the established ranks of superhuman champions when
he became one of those who participated in the first Secret Wars.
Soon afterwards, he was invited to join the newly-founded West
Coast Avengers by chairman
Hawkeye, who believed him to be
the original Iron Man. After proving his worth to the group, Rhodes
revealed to them he was Iron Man's replacement.
Soon after first donning the armor, Rhodes began to get severe
headaches because the cybernetics in the helmet had never been
properly recalibrated for his brain patterns. Working in close
proximity with Stark again, Rhodes began to fantasize that Stark
secretly disapproved of him keeping the armor and wanted it back.
This led to increasingly hostile and irrational behavior on Rhodes'
part. As work therapy, Stark began to construct a new set of armor
based on his original armor's design. When Rhodes finally began
to endanger the lives of innocents by his behavior, Stark donned
the unsophisticated new armor and managed to stop Rhodes' rampage.
Ashamed of his behavior, Rhodes went off to look for a cure for
his headaches when adjusting the helmet to his brain patterns
did not end them. Stark went to the West Coast Avengers to tender
Rhodes' resignation, and was invited by Hawkeye to use the laboratory
facilities to create a new state-of-the-art set of armor. Rhodes
returned to Circuits Maximus after the Indian mystic Shaman helped
him cure his headaches, and briefly joined forces with Stark battling
Obadiah Stane's latest machinations against them. Rhodes was injured
in an explosion Stane engineered that destroyed Circuits Maximus
and killed Morley Erwin. Consequently, he could not assist Stark
in his final assault on Stane, an assault that ended in Stane's
death.
Rhodes joined Stark in his new business venture, but even after
his bones mended, he was reluctant to put the Iron Man armor on
again. Stark had resumed his responsibilities as Iron Man using
the new state-of the-art armor, and Rhodes not only felt a second
armored Avenger would be superfluous, he also felt contrite about
his irrational period. But while the Iron Man armor is in James
Rhodes' possession, there is always the possibility that he will
decide to wear it again.
Several years later, Tony Stark "died," and Rhodes
was named CEO of Stark Enterprises. It was at this time that Stark
Enterprises created the War Machine armor and Rhodes briefly took
the place of Iron Man (even replacing him in the Avengers West
Coast). However, when he discovered that Stark was not dead, Rhodes
became furious and resigned, severing his friendship with Stark.
The two would occasionally team up to battle the evil that was
trying to take over, but the friendship of old was no longer the
same. War Machine went on his own for some time, and during this
time, he acquired a new, and very alien, costume, which in a sense,
became a part of Jim Rhodes. Some time after this, Rhodes returned
to the Avengers, and was one of several Avengers who tried to
find a way to stop Tony Stark who, under the control of Kang,
tried to frame Hawkeye as a killer; Rhodes joined the Black
Widow, the US Agent and Hawkeye
to find a way to stop Tony Stark. Eventually, Stark broke the
control of Kang and sacrificed his life to save his friends. After
his death, Rhodes returned to Stark Enterprises, which was soon
bought out by Fujikawa; his attitude about Stark changed for the
better as well.
As War Machine, Jim Rhodes discovered that Fujikawa was somehow
trying to gain access to some of Tony Stark's old technology.
In order to save that technology from falling into another's hands,
and to preserve the legacy of his old friend, War Machine 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.
No longer wishing for any superhero identity, Rhodes returned
to civilian life to start up his own company. He returned to Stark's
life briefly to help him stop a new villain calling himself War
Machine.
Height: 6 ft. 1 in.
Weight: 210 lbs. Eyes: Brown Hair:
Brown
Strength Level: Without the armor, James Rhodes possesses
the normal human strength of a man of his age, height, and build
who engages in moderate regular exercise.
Known Superhuman Powers: None
Weapons: War Machine wore a sophisticated suits of body
armor containing various offensive weaponry.
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