CBR: THE IRON MANUAL: War Machine

[CBR News]

In "Iron Man 2" Tony Stark's friend and ally James "Rhodey" Rhodes will don the black & silver armor that transforms him into War Machine. CBR examines the character in today's installment of THE IRON MANUAL.


Full article here.

[Hypestyle]

In "Iron Man 2" Tony Stark's friend and ally James "Rhodey" Rhodes will don the black & silver armor that transforms him into War Machine. CBR examines the character in today's installment of THE IRON MANUAL.


Full article here.

War Machine, you are appreciated...

[nickmarino]

Few thoughts:

- First off, the issue number you guys quote next to the first image is wrong. One panel is from Iron Man #125, while the other three are from the end of #169, if I'm not mistaken (I don't have the issue next to me, so it could actually be #170). Anyway, far as I know, #169 is the first time Rhodey puts on the armor, but it's just kinda teased, so #170 is the first time Rhodey became Iron Man (which you did get correct in the body text).

- You say that "Rhodes would become Iron Man on one more occasion" which isn't really true because he wore the armor a couple times during John Byrne's run as writer in the mid-200s of Iron Man, first during Armor Wars II and then again in the following story arc while fighting both Fin Fang Foom and the Mandarin.

- Later on you mention Heroes Reborn and then say "War Machine's next appearance was in 'The Crew.'" There are a number of things wrong with this paragraph, but I'll start with the Rhodey stuff. First off, War Machine's next appearance was actually in the Busiek-penned Iron Man series around issue #18 or so, but this time War Machine was Parnell Jacobs, Rhodey's "other" best friend. This is important because the whole Parnell friendship was a core building block of the recent War Machine v2 series. During the Busiek era on Iron Man, Rhodey is around too, but just barely, as he's running a scrap metal salvage business. He helps Tony during the whole "new" War Machine thing and then kinda disappears for the most part.

- Another error in that paragraph is when you say that The Crew "featured four African-American heroes" as the leads. The story featured three African-American lead characters (one of which was half Jewish / half black, Kasper Cole) and one Hispanic lead character, Danny Vincent a.k.a. Junta.

- You completely gloss over both Sentinel Squad O*N*E and War Machine: Weapon of SHIELD (not to mention Rhodey's severe injuries that turned him into a cyborg), both of which were pretty major points in time for the character. Sentinel Squad O*N*E came after The Crew but before Civil War (an event where Rhodey, interestingly, pretty much remained neutral). In O*N*E, following the events of M-Day, Rhodey ran a mutant watch program for the government and even had his own personal Sentinel / Iron Man hybrid armor. Then, during Secret Invasion, Rhodey hijacked the Iron Man: Director of SHIELD series for three issues and went out into space to fight Skrulls. In that story, we learn he was all deformed during his Initiative run due to serious battlefield injuries from the Middle East. Tony saved his life, but had to stuff him full of robotics to do so.

[4sake]

Few thoughts:

- First off, the issue number you guys quote next to the first image is wrong. One panel is from Iron Man #125, while the other three are from the end of #169, if I'm not mistaken (I don't have the issue next to me, so it could actually be #170). Anyway, far as I know, #169 is the first time Rhodey puts on the armor, but it's just kinda teased, so #170 is the first time Rhodey became Iron Man (which you did get correct in the body text).

- You say that "Rhodes would become Iron Man on one more occasion" which isn't really true because he wore the armor a couple times during John Byrne's run as writer in the mid-200s of Iron Man, first during Armor Wars II and then again in the following story arc while fighting both Fin Fang Foom and the Mandarin.

- Later on you mention Heroes Reborn and then say "War Machine's next appearance was in 'The Crew.'" There are a number of things wrong with this paragraph, but I'll start with the Rhodey stuff. First off, War Machine's next appearance was actually in the Busiek-penned Iron Man series around issue #18 or so, but this time War Machine was Parnell Jacobs, Rhodey's "other" best friend. This is important because the whole Parnell friendship was a core building block of the recent War Machine v2 series. During the Busiek era on Iron Man, Rhodey is around too, but just barely, as he's running a scrap metal salvage business. He helps Tony during the whole "new" War Machine thing and then kinda disappears for the most part.

- Another error in that paragraph is when you say that The Crew "featured four African-American heroes" as the leads. The story featured three African-American lead characters (one of which was half Jewish / half black, Kasper Cole) and one Hispanic lead character, Danny Vincent a.k.a. Junta.

- You completely gloss over both Sentinel Squad O*N*E and War Machine: Weapon of SHIELD (not to mention Rhodey's severe injuries that turned him into a cyborg), both of which were pretty major points in time for the character. Sentinel Squad O*N*E came after The Crew but before Civil War (an event where Rhodey, interestingly, pretty much remained neutral). In O*N*E, following the events of M-Day, Rhodey ran a mutant watch program for the government and even had his own personal Sentinel / Iron Man hybrid armor. Then, during Secret Invasion, Rhodey hijacked the Iron Man: Director of SHIELD series for three issues and went out into space to fight Skrulls. In that story, we learn he was all deformed during his Initiative run due to serious battlefield injuries from the Middle East. Tony saved his life, but had to stuff him full of robotics to do so.

I agree alot of key things were lefted out or were in error...

[Ittousagi]

There was also no mention of the B&W weekly series US War Machine. Is this because it was in a different continuity?

[Alton]

Thanks again for the article and corrections since Extremis and Dark Reign:War Machine and the previous 3 issue Skrull War arc were my jumping on point for both characters.I will have to track down previous runs as they are collected concerning War Machine.Hopefully that will be soon with the advent of the new movie.