James "Rhodey" Rhodes - WAR MACHINE

Real Name: James Rupert Rhodes

Alias: War Machine

Title: The Iron Patriot

Identity: Public

Age: Mid 40s

Species: Human, Vagrant



Physical Appearance:

Standing at six feet, one inch tall, and weighing an impressive 240 pounds, the colonel is a very well built man. His face is always clean shaved, his hair is always kept to a buzz cut length. His sense of style can best be described as simple, but classy. Often choosing to wear well fitted jeans, tees, and a nice leather jacket, Rhodes can be an eye turner. However, it's when he chooses to dress in his suits that you can really see how well built the Colonel actually is. His suits are often of the highest quality, thanks to connections that Tony has made over the years. Hand tailored, and fitted like a glove, they also feature some mild form of ballistics protection.

When he's on the clock, he dons his War Machine armor. The armor has gone through several versions over the years, each one serving a different purpose. The version that Rhodey came with, (the JRXL-1000, the hover image) is the sleekest version of the armor, and Rhodes personal favorite. Black and silver, with a shoulder mounted missile pod, and a minigun on the other shoulder, with glowing white eyes. War Machine is an imposing figure.



Personality:

Colonel James Rhodes is a Marine with a conscience, willing to kill if a mission required, yet haunted by each and every life he had to take. Rhodey is a good man; dedicated, loyal, trustful, and like all Marines, faithful. Faithful to his Corps., faithful to his country, and faithful to his friends. The Colonel had proven time and time again, that when a job needed doing, he would rise to the occasion, and do his job better than most.

James isn't the most outspoken man, choosing instead to let his actions speak louder than anything he could have ever said in the first place. Carrying himself with the precision of a career military man, Rhodes is a neat, and efficient man who looks to better himself and those around him. While his best friend might be the center of the party, Rhodes is often hiding away, waiting for when the fit hits the shan. In that time, it's when his demeanor changes, and Rhodes proves to be the man of action; the War Machine.

Having been the one to Pilot stark back to the US, after he had escaped from his imprisonment with the first Iron Man armor, he proved to be an ever competent man, who knew what he wanted, how he wanted it done, and would get it done in a swift, military like fashion. Having proven to be trustworthy, he was hired on by Stark, and was even asked by him to take control of the Iron Man armor. This says a lot about the man's character, because unlike many others, he didn't go and tell the world the truth of Iron Man, but instead took it upon himself to help the cause.



Powers: Rhodey lacks any form of supernatural, natural, or magical power.



Abilities:


Skilled Engineer: Rhodes served several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, all the while studying while in the service to become an aviation engineer.

Skilled Aviator: He is a skilled helicopter pilot and is capable of maneuvering most, if not all, Stark-designed armors.

Skilled Businessman: While he isn't quite as good as Tony, Rhodey has shown himself to be a capable business, having taken over Stark Industries several times, and even helping Tony set up side businesses when Stark Industries was hitting hard times.

Skilled Combatant: Rhodes military training made him a very skilled hand to hand combat.

Skilled Marksman: Aside from his armor's weaponry, he is a very good marksman.

Skilled Survivalist: Due to his military training, James is very skilled and capable of remaining alive while in many types of unfavorable conditions.

Skilled Tactician: Due to his time while in the military, James has gained a rather impressive understanding of tactics.



Weapons/Equipment:

Armor: War Machine wears a sophisticated suit of body armor containing various offensive weaponry. He first operated as Iron Man using the Iron Man Armor Model 4. Rhodey later received his own identity with the War Machine Armor, which has also gone through multiple variations. While each armor is unique, they all share some common traits that spring from being powered by Arc Reactor Technology and each grants Rhodey amazing abilities. The War Machine's standard features include:

• Superhuman Strength:
• Superhuman Speed:
• Superhuman Durability:
• Flight:
• Power Cells:
• Energy Conversion Power Recharge:
• Self-Contained Life-Support System & Environmental Protection:
• Repulsor Rays:
• Unibeam:
• 30mm Gatling Gun:
• Missile Launcher:
• Various Other Weapons:
• A.I. OS:

History:

James Rhodes was a pilot in the United States Marines stationed in South Vietnam 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 to be passing 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, finally discovering a hidden enemy rocket base. Stealing an enemy helicopter, they destroyed the base, and flew to the nearest American encampment. Before leaving Vietnam for the United States, Stark offered Rhodes a job as a pilot as soon as his military stint was over.

Rhodes initially declined, but 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 Justin Hammer, Obadiah Stane and even Roxxon Oil Company. It wasn't too long after that things started to go sideways for Tony. Personal problems started to hit Stark hard, causing him to hit the bottle hard. It wasn't too long after that Rhodes stepped in, fearing not only for Tony's safety, but the safety of every person that the Iron Man would try to save. Tony happily stepped aside, letting his best friend take over the mantle of Iron Man, while Tony took a several month long vacation.

It was in this time that Rhodey got to meet the Earth's mightest heroes; The Avengers. He battled side-by-side with them for months, until crippling migraines started causing misery for the Colonel. During that time frame, Stark came back, working alongside his friend to rebuild his life and his company. It was during this time that Rhodes' migraines started causing him to get delusional thoughts about Stark. These thoughts caused tension between the two, and even lead to a full on brawl between the friends which left Rhodes defeated. He quickly resigned from being Iron Man and an Avenger, looking for a cure.


It would take years, but eventually Rhodey came back in a suit, thing time branded as the War Machine, and served as an Avenger, as well as Tony's partner. Rhodey had shown himself a capable warrior, one that had earned the respect of every man and woman that he fought alongside. There were times he wore other armors, ones like the Eidolon Warwear, basically the Marvel equivalent to the Blue Beetle, Iron Patriot armor, and an improved Iron Man armor. But Rhodes always finds himself preferring the heavier, more resilient War Machine outfits.

The more recent times hadn't been to kind to the hero community, finding themselves involved in a Civil War of sorts, which lead Rhodey to siding with Tony and actively trying to find and subdue unregistered heroes. Eventually everything would calm down, and life had started to return to normal. It was during this normalcy that the Colonel was sent to Siberia, due to high Gamma radiation readings. What he ended up finding were Titanium Man, Whiplash, and the Mandarin, working together in an unknown project. Rhodes attempted to reason with Titanium Man and Whiplash, but all that did was cause a battle to break out between the armored men. Rhodes ended up winning, but wasn't able to stop the project in time. Just as he turned to confront the Mandarin, he accessed the power of his rings and hurtled Rhodey through space and time. He ended up in the exact same location that he was in on his Earth, just on this new Earth.



Weaknesses:

Man in a Can: At the end of the day, for all his power in the suit, James is a man wearing mechanized armor. He can be thrown around and injured inside it and can be killed the same as any man when not wearing it. Furthermore each suit, while impressive, has vulnerabilities. Those with super strength can, and have, damaged them beyond repair or have destroyed specific systems aboard them.

Fear the Magnetism: As amazing as the War Machine armor is, it's still metal, and any person with the ability to control magnetism is capable of cause problems for War Machine. There have been some forms of non-magnetic armor, but the JRXL-1000 suit, isn't one of them.

Heart of the Machine: The Arc Reactor is the power source for the War Machine suit. Because of that, it is the single most vital piece of equipment that Rhodes has access too. If the Reactor is damaged, or stressed to a certain point, then the suits capabilities fall drastically. Some of the known issues have been complete overheating of the suit, causing some functions to work incorrectly, stop working completely, or even back fire. If the Arc is destroyed, then the suit is dead. It should be noted, that on this particular suit, the Arc Reactor is still housed within the chest, it's just more heavily protected than Iron Man's.

Rhodes Smash?: There have been more than a few times where Rhodes had been depicted as a hothead. During this raging moments, Rhodes had been almost as destructive as the Hulk, even going so far as engaging with Iron Man on multiple occasions.

Migraines: Early on in his career as Iron Man, Rhodes started getting crippling migraines, making it almost impossible for the Colonel to function. The migraines started to get so bad, that Rhodes had to withdraw himself from the Avengers, and looking for a cure. While he hasn't experienced them in years, it's not improbable to say that the Colonel could get them again.




Other Information:

I took information from Rift's Iron Man application, as well as information from the Marvel wiki for War Machine, and an old app I had for him on another site.

Some of the more extreme depictions of War Machine have been as a cyborg, out for revenge.

The Iron Patriot armor that was seen in Iron Man 3, was brought into the mainstream comics. However, the Iron Patriot armor differentiated itself from the movies, by giving the Colonel access to his own Iron Patriot drones.

Rhodes was initially a Vietnam vet, but with the times, the wars that Rhodey has fought in has changed several times.

I'm going to be incorporating small elements from the MCU, mainly JARVIS/FRIDAY.



OOC Information

OOC Name: Cain, or Wolverine, Magneto, Green Lantern
Character color: 9a9c9e
Group title: The Iron Patroit
Face Claim: Don Cheadle, MCU War Machine, or any comic images thereof