Iron Man: James "Rhodey" Rhodes, the War Machine Appreciation 2019

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Iron Man #125 Aug 1979
"The Monaco Prelude"
In a shocking development, Iron Man killed the Carnelian ambassador with an inadvertent repulsor ray blast last issue.
And now Tony Stark must hand over his armor to the police and figure out what to do next!
With assistance from the Sentinel of Liberty and Ant-Man,
Tony learns that a mysterious man in Monaco is responsible for the deadly malfunction of his armor!
So the golden avenger (sans armor) and Rhodey fly to Monte Carlo

to clear Iron Man's name!


This won't be Tony's typical vacation on the French Riviera!

Plot by David Michelinie and Bob Layton. Script by David Michelinie. Art by John Romita Jr. (breakdowns) and Bob Layton (finishes).

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #4 Aug 1984
"Situation: Hopeless!"
The forces of Doctor Doom have forced the gathered heroes to flee and destroyed their headquarters,
a victory for Doom and his minions in Beyonder's on going Secret War.
Spotting their foes fleeing the scene, Titania and the Wrecking Crew begin tossing debris at the heroes.
Goaded on by Volcana, the Molecule Man one ups them all by using his powers to raise a mountain from nearby



and dropping it on their enemies, seemingly killing them all in one fell swoop.
While the others cheer, Doctor Doom is not entirely convinced that was the end of their foes.

Elsewhere on Battleworld, Thor and the Enchantress are still having their private council about the Beyonder.
Recalling the Beyonder's offer to grant them their fondest desires if they slay their enemies, Thor asks what the Enchantress could want.
When she specifies Thor's love, he tells her that love is not an object that can just be taken.
Their discussion is suddenly interrupted by a massive earthquake.
They quickly teleport back to the heroes base to see what is going on and appear in the middle of Doctor Doom's army.
When Doom demands the Enchantress choose a side, she hesitantly sides with Doom and the others attack Thor.
While the villains keep Thor on the ropes, Doom commands Ultron to use his disintegrator ray to destroy Thor.
Ultron seemingly succeeds in atomizing Thor, leaving nothing but his helmet and a scrap of his cape behind.
After this second seeming victory, Doom recounts that the X-Men were not among the heroes and that their work is not yet done.
However, he pauses to deal with some more pressing business first.
Recalling how Kang tried to kill him when they first arrived on Battleworld, Doctor Doom orders Ultron to kill Kang.
The time traveler tries to beg for his life, but it is of no avail and Ultron slays him.

Elsewhere, the X-Men are flying across Battleworld, seeking out Magneto. En route, Colossus takes the time to
think about his girlfriend back home, the youthful X-Man known as Sprite and wonders if he will ever see her again.
Rogue is also deep in thought, thinking of how not too long ago she would have been on Doom's side of the Secret War.
As the X-Men prepare for whatever their encounter with Magneto will bring, the Master of Magnetism
is using his powers to create a mental comb for his guest the Wasp to comb her hair with.
Suddenly the pair are interrupted by the arrival of the X-Men.
Xavier asks Magneto to join him, telling him of the good they can do if they operate as a third force outside of Captain America's group.
Magneto agrees, suggesting that they use the Beyonder's offer to create a golden age where mutants rule over humans.
Hearing this, the Wasp drops her pretense in being interested in Magneto and attacks.
She then manages to slip past the X-Men and get to their ship but finds it incredibly difficult to control.
When Magneto tries to stop her from escaping with his powers, Xavier stops him, recounting how he made a grave error erasing
Spider-Man's memories earlier and that they should not interfere with the others, that using evil means does not justify their good intentions.

Meanwhile, buried under tons of rock are the heroes, who have survived thanks to the Hulk holding up the rock with his strength.
However with a number of them injured and a limited supply of air, time is running out before they either suffocate or get crushed to death.
Quickly thinking, Mister Fantastic cannibalizes some of Hawkeye's trick arrows, Iron Man's spare power pack and one of Spider-Man's
web-shooters into a device that allows the Human Torch and Captain Marvel to channel their powers through Iron Man's armor.
The device works and boosts Iron Man's armor significantly to blast their way free from the mountain.
Upon getting free, the heroes find Thor alive and well, and he explains he escaped
a certain death by temporarily blinding their foes and making a hasty retreat.
Needing medical attention for some of their allies, Captain America sends Captain Marvel off on a recon mission to find someplace for them to go.
CM finds a village at the base of the mountain where Galactus is standing.
Soon the other heroes arrive and the locals prove friendly and immediately take in the wounded champions.
They quickly discover that one of these aliens, Zsaji, can heal with a touch. When she heals the Human Torch he is instantly attracted to her.
Then, Ben Grimm expresses to Reed his concerns about being so close to Galactus when suddenly he transforms into the Thing again.
When Ben asks why this is happening, Reed hesitantly tells him that he'll think about it, however, he knows more than he is letting on.
Reed then turns his attention to Galactus and is horrified when he sees the world devourer raising his hands to the sky.

Story by Jim Shooter. Art by Bob Layton and John Beatty.

[Mr. White]

Not sure it's been asked before, but did anyone like the concept of "Iron Man 2.0"?

Not talking the name actually but more the redesigned suit and the new features - stealth, "war machine mode" and the like.

Thought it was a great direction - updating the armor etcetera.

Alas as with most changes in comics, didn't last long/ wasn't well received.

Thoughts?

[Tony Stark]

Not sure it's been asked before, but did anyone like the concept of "Iron Man 2.0"?

Not talking the name actually but more the redesigned suit and the new features - stealth, "war machine mode" and the like.

Thought it was a great direction - updating the armor etcetera.

Alas as with most changes in comics, didn't last long/ wasn't well received.

Thoughts?

I really enjoyed it. The book was going along smoothly until they made it tie into Fear Itself. To me that's what killed the books momentum.

[Hypestyle]

I would like to see a mini series about Rhodey's time during the military, pre-Stark. Could make for an interesting "war" book. No super-enemies, monsters, etc. I wonder who would be a good writer/artist team.

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Iron Man #185 Aug 1984
"Terror in Tulaluma!"
After a few trials and tribulations; Rhodey, Tony, Morley and Clytemnestra finally reach California soil!
And now it looks like smooth sailing to Silicon Valley!
But the quartet happens upon a young woman being chased by an angry mob!

Iron Man rushes to rescue her...


not realizing she's part of Aquarius' special trap!
And in very short order, the modern day pilgrims find themselves in a life-and-death situation in an abandoned farmhouse!
With tensions rising between Rhodey and Tony, can the new Shell-Head work with the old one to escape from Aquarius?
They must! Otherwise a watery grave awaits!

Script by Denny O'Neil. Pencils by Luke McDonnell. Inks by Steve Mitchell.

[Michael Watkins]

Rhodey might really benefit from a soft reboot/retelling of his origin. They do it for A-listers every once in awhile. And they've already changed him to be like the movie version.

[Hypestyle]

Rhodey might really benefit from a soft reboot/retelling of his origin. They do it for A-listers every once in awhile. And they've already changed him to be like the movie version.

get Priest to be the writer and a top notch artist. Could be very cool.

[K7P5V]

get Priest to be the writer and a top notch artist. Could be very cool.

Agreed. Priest would be excellent for an ongoing series.

As for artist, my choice would be Jim Calafiore (gives him a chance to do interior artwork instead of just only doing cover art).

[Digifiend]

Rhodey might really benefit from a soft reboot/retelling of his origin. They do it for A-listers every once in awhile. And they've already changed him to be like the movie version.

History of the Marvel Universe by Mark Waid has taken care of that. Anyone with a Vietnam War based origin now has their origin in a fictional Siancong war. Not everyone was shown, but I think that at least applies to Iron Man, War Machine, Punisher, and the military service of Reed and Ben from the Fantastic Four.

[Michael Watkins]

History of the Marvel Universe by Mark Waid has taken care of that. Anyone with a Vietnam War based origin now has their origin in a fictional Siancong war. Not everyone was shown, but I think that at least applies to Iron Man, War Machine, Punisher, and the military service of Reed and Ben from the Fantastic Four.

i'm talking about his time after the war. originally, he was just Tony's weed smoking pilot. is that still canon?

[leo619]

At least James is occasionally appearing in Captain Marvel. But I definitely wish he would get his own book as well.

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War Machine #5 Aug 1994
"The Wages of Death!"
The deadly assassin known as Deathtoll

is hired to take down War Machine.


How can Rhodey hope to defeat a man who refuses to die?

Story by Scott Benson and Len Kaminski. Art by Gabriel Gecko and Pam Eklund.

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Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #5 Sep 1984
"The Battle of Four Armies!"
Mister Fantastic's worse fears have been realized: trapped on Battleworld by the Beyonder,
Galactus has summoned his worldship so that he can consume this patchwork world and sate his hunger.
Although this is an awesome sight, the assembled heroes try to figure out what to do next.
The healer named Zsaji is in a panic, so the Human Torch tries to calm her down,
however there is a language barrier between the two of them. In order to break past them, Zsaji takes Johnny to her home
where she opens a bottle containing a strange gas that allows them to meld minds so Johnny can tell her what's going on.
He recounts how they were gathered by the Beyonder to battle to the death
and obtain their heart's desire, leading to a clash with super-villains being led by Doctor Doom.
This resulted in the injuries the heroes sustained before seeking Zsaji's help.

Elsewhere, the X-Man known as Colossus tries to sleep but cannot help but think about his girlfriend Kitty Pryde whom he left at home.
His thoughts about her are quickly cut off by the telepathic summons of Professor X.
Colossus joins the rest of the X-Men in meeting with Xavier and Magneto.
With the threat of Galactus becoming apparent, Magneto orders the X-Men to attack him in order
to distract the world devourer long enough for Magneto and Xavier to take a more subtle attack.
When Wolverine balks at taking orders from Magneto, the Professor tells his team to follow Magneto's orders.

Meanwhile, the Molecule Man and Volcana are bonding and growing closer together.
As they walk past the Wrecking Crew and the Absorbing Man, Pile Driver decides to pick on the Molecule Man.
When none of his friends back him up in bullying the Molecule Man, Pile Driver learns why it is not a good idea to make him angry:
Owen Reece channels his powers to change Pile Driver's costume into into an ultra hard metal causing him to fall over.
Adding insult to injury, Pile Driver has his face pushed into the mud by Volcana
and they leave him to be ripped out of his costume by the others.
As the others just begin to notice Galactus' worldship hovering over Battleworld,
Doctor Doom has long since been aware of its arrival and is busy working on a plan to use this to his advantage.
His work is interrupted by the Enchantress who tries to seduce Doom by offering to repair the damage done to his face.
Doom resists her offers and tells her to begone. Frustrated by being rejected by a mere mortal, the Enchantress teleports away.

As Magneto and Xavier channel their powers together to try and establish telepathic contact with Galactus,
the heroes gathered at the base of his mountain decide what to do next.
Mister Fantastic figures he can try to reach out to Galactus as he had recently saved the world devourer's life.
However neither ploy works, and Galactus rebuffs telepathic contact

and causes a section of Magneto's base to explode while also blasting Reed aside.
Seeing the heroes as pests, Galactus unleashes a robot to keep them busy

while he begins forming the device he needs to consume Battleworld.
Although the heroes manage to destroy the robot set upon them, they are suddenly attacked by Doctor Doom's villains.
While the battle rages, Doom watches from a distance.
When it appears that his minions are going to succeed,
the heroes get saved thank to the timely intervention of the X-Men.
The sheer force of the battle is enough to temporarily distract Galactus from his work and while
the world devourer's head is turned, Doctor Doom quickly pilots his ship in to the Worldship of Galactus.
Doom's minions are forced to flee, but not before seriously wounding Colossus.
With the battle over the X-Men pull back but are forced to leave their comrade behind.
Although Wolverine protests this, Xavier points out that Colossus' injuries were serious enough that
to move him would have killed him and that the heroes have a healer on their side who can save his life.

In the aftermath of the battle, the heroes find Colossus and see that he needs medical attention.
When they get Zsaji to heal him, Colossus is taken by how beautiful she is
and grows instantly jealous that she happens to be interested in the Human Torch.
Colossus then pretends to be in even more pain in order to get more of her healing touch.
Meanwhile, as Mister Fantastic and Captain America fear the worst about Galactus,
they are unaware that Doctor Doom has gained access to his ship.
From within, Doom hopes to find the tools he needs to defeat both Galactus and then the Beyonder.
Suddenly his attention is drawn toward something of great interest on one of the walls of the ship.

Story by Jim Shooter http://www.comicsreporter.com/index....y_jim_shooter/. Art by Bob Layton and John Beatty.

[Snoop Dogg]

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