He was there at the beginning, which began a life long friendship. Introduced in Iron Man #118 (1979) by David Michelinie, John Byrne and Bob Layton, James Rhodes was a downed helicopter pilot when Tony Stark came upon him, after just escaping the concentration camp he was being held captive in and that he escaped in the Iron Man armor. Repairing the helicopter and helping each other, Tony offered Rhodes a job in Stark Industries after he finished his tour of duty. Years later after Tony had been Iron Man for years, Rhodey took him up on his offer and became Tony’s bodyguard and driver. When Tony fell into alcoholism and couldn’t be trusted with the Iron Man Armor, Rhodey was given the armor. He did quite a good job even being one of the founders of the WCA.

Tony later returned to being Iron Man but Rhodey had become erratic thanks to the armor not being configured to his mind properly and fought Tony over the suit. Tony eventually cured his friend and Rhodey gave up the Iron Man mantle. However he later took up the mantle again (in the first War Machine armor) when Tony faked his death. After he found out that Tony was alive, he took the new armor and officially became War Machine for the first time. He eventually forgave Tony but kept the suit for himself with Tony’s approval. He would later return to the Iron Man name when Tony created a suit for him so that the military couldn’t get his armor and when they fake Rhodey’s death so the government couldn’t get the Iron Man tech. He would also become Iron Patriot, but that was more to tie into the Iron Man 3 movie.

In action figure form, War Machine really gets the short end of the stick, mostly being a repaint of a Iron Man figure. TB did 2 of them, one in the Galactus series and one original design in the Face-Off, which was never seen in the comics so I won’t be talking about it. Hasbro did one comic version (based on a certain artist) and a few movie figure, one (or two) could be used as a comic figure. Hopefully next year Hasbro will give us an updated comic book version but that seems unlikely (although one of the Hasbro team said that he wanted to do the tank version from the Dark Reign arc.)

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Have

Iron Man

Recommend Figure: Hasbro Marvel Legends 2-pack Wave 1 Iron Man with Maria Hill

• Background:
  • Rhodey was one of the first people other then Tony to wear the Iron Man armor for a long period of time. As changing armors designs at every story arc wasn’t a thing at the time, Rhodey wore the classic armor up until he gave it up when Tony developed the Silver Centurion armor.
•  Why you need it for your collection?:
  • If you are a big War Machine fan, then this is a most as it was one of most important story lines for him. However if you don’t want a “Iron Man” then this can be skipped.
• Does it need a remake?:
  • Yes, if Hasbro redoes their classic Iron Man figure, then they could not only include Tony Stark’s head but also Rhodeys, to give it a sense of it being the 2 characters.

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Variable Threat Response Suit

Recommend Figure: Hasbro Marvel Legends Deluxe Sets – War Machine OR Fan Channel exclusive Marvel Legends Iron Man Vintage – War Machine

• Background:
  • Rhodey had been using the first War Machine armor as Iron Man for a while after Tony fake his death. When he found out that Tony was alive, he left his friend, furious that Tony as pulled a stunt. He took the first armor and had it upgraded into this version which he wore for decades.
•  Why you need it for your collection?:
  • Hasbro has just updated it so if you want a classic comic book version of War Machine with plenty of effects and a stand, then this is a must for any collection, particularly if you are collecting Iron Man, Avengers, Force Works etc. If you are a War Machine fan, this is an absolute most.
• Does it need a remake?:
  • No.

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The Initiative

Recommend Figure: Hasbro Iron Man Legends Series 1 War Machine

• Background:
  • More of an artist version of another armor, after the Civil War, Tony placed Rhodey as a trainer in the Initiative hero training camp.
•  Why you need it for your collection?:
  • I would recommend staying as far away from this as you can. Not only is the design really ugly but the figure itself was one of the hardest to find figures ever and almost no one could obtain it without using ebay.
• Does it need a remake?:
  • No, not even worth the tooling.

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Dark Reign

Recommend Figure: Hasbro Walmart Exclusive Iron Man (1st Movie) Series Stealth Operations Suit Iron Man

• Background:
  • Before Osborn gained power, Rhodey had been in an explosive accident that left most of his body broken and non-functioning. Not wanting to let his friend die, Tony grafted machines onto Rhodey turning him into a cyborg with the ability to attach any machine to his body. The body was only temporary as Tony had made a clone body of Rhodey, which Osborn stole but Rhodey eventually regain the body and had his mind transfer to the clone when he died.
•  Why you need it for your collection?:
  • Like many people, alot of War Machine movie designs were eventually brought over to the comic, with this figure being one of them. Most people only got this figure as we didn’t know if he would even appear in any of the movies but it looks close enough to pass as the Dark Reign armor.
• Does it need a remake?:
  • Yes with more comic book accuracy and attachable parts such as tank tread. Riders / Deluxe line?

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All-New, All-Different

Recommend Figure: Hasbro Iron Man Legends Wave 1 War Machine

• Background:
  • In the All-New, All-Different reboot, War Machine gained a suit similar to his Iron Man 2 suit. This was used when he venture into Japan to investigate cyber ninjas. He lost the suit when he was captured.
•  Why you need it for your collection?:
  • This is one of the harder figure to find as it was a exclusive and then part of a short lived Iron Man legends series.
• Does it need a remake?:
  • Yes with more comic book accuracy .

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Civil War II

Recommend Figure: Hasbro Target Excluisive Marvel Legends Civil War 2-pack War Machine with Disco Armor Iron Man / European Exclusive Best of Marvel Legends Giant Man wave reissue War Machine

• Background:
  • During the Civil War II storyline, which saw Rhodey final battle, he was seen wearing a armor very similar to the one he wore in Captain America…………………Civil War (oh ironic).
•  Why you need it for your collection?:
  • Yes yes. This is a movie figure but like I said in the comics he is seen wearing an armor just like this, so you could use this figure as a comic book version similar to how the MCU Hulkbuster could be used. At least, until Hasbro makes a classic version.
• Does it need a remake?:
  • No.

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Needs

Below you will find a gallery of suits that still need to be made. I have included what I think are the possibilities of them being made. Note that these are my personal opinions and not fact. Please let me know if I have missed anything.