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.