War Machine: Weapon of SHIELD #34

March 17, 2023 Nick Peron

War Machine: Weapon of SHIELD, Part 2

Secret Invasion continues from Mighty Avengers #19…

The Skrulls are invading the Earth and have shut down every piece of StarkTech with a computer virus leaving the planet defenseless. Having prepared for such a crisis, Tony Stark has enlisted his best friend Jim Rhodes, aka War Machine, to fight back against the invaders. Travelling to a secret satellite, Jim is hooked into its defenses with the aid of Suzie Endo, another Stark ally. This allows the space station to transform into a massive suit of armor for Jim to pilot and fight the Skrull invasion fleet.

However, any damage caused to the satellite sends feedback that Jim experiences as pain. When the station is blasted from behind, the blinding agony causes Jim’s mind to drift back many years earlier when he was a kid living in Grays Ferry, Philadelphia. He was crossing a parking lot, minding his own business, when he was attacked by a group of white kids. They didn’t seeing a black kid on their turf and gave him a beating, warning Jim to stay with his own. A few years later, when Jim was a teenager, he remembers how he took a beating from his own peers who didn’t like the fact that Rhodes got better grades than they did. After taking his beating, the leader of the gang told Rhodes that if he doesn’t side with his people he is going to be alone. Being alone will ensure that he won’t make it in the world.

From that moment on, Jim Rhodes refused to be vulnerable ever again. He began learning how to box. Once he was out of school, he joined the military. Whenever people asked him if he as tired, or if he wanted to give up, he refused. He refused to give up, even when he worked as a pilot for Tony Stark and later was War Machine.[1]

Jim snaps back to reality and refuses to surrender now either and unleashes all of the satellites weapons all at once. He decimates the Skrull fleet, but one of the ships tries to escape back to Earth. Since the satellite can’t follow after it, Jim disconnects and follows after it alone. As he makes planet fall, Suzie patches him into video feeds of what is going on elsewhere on Earth. The Skrull’s invasion is global and Earth’s heroes are struggling to push back their invaders.[2]

After War Machine destroys the final ship, he asks Suzie to direct him to the nearest trouble zone from his position. She tells him that he is closest to the scene where Russia’s Winter Guard are defending their country from their Skrull invaders. She warns him that the Skrulls are trying to get ahold of a nuclear facility in the Russian town of Tatischevo. Jim is also given the next nearest conflicts zones in Tokyo and Wakanda. Jim isn’t sure if he can handle something so big. Suzie reminds him that there is no crying in the marines, and Rhodes pulls himself together and heads into Tatischevo to help the Russians.

War Machine arrives to see that Winter Guard — the Crimson Dynamo, Darkstar, Ursa Major, and Red Guardian — are being attacked by Super-Skrulls with powers based on the Avengers West Coast, something that Jim takes great offense with.[3] However, the Crimson Dynamo gets word from his superiors and he declines War Machine’s help, as his superiors don’t want the aid of the Amerian Initiative. Jim tries to convince them that he just wants to help, but when he can’t get through to them he decides to head to Wakanda and help the Black Panther instead. However, Suzie convinces him that the Russians are in a dire situation and convinces him to go back. War Machine complies, but when the Super Skrulls begin swarming him, Winter Guard are told not to help and they leave Jim to face the Skrulls alone. Rhodes is then quickly beaten int submission.

When he wakes up, he Rhodey discovers that he has been captured by the Skrulls. Two of their scientists are taking apart his armor in order to find out what makes him tick. They discover that Jim is a cyborg.[4] When they notice that the human is awake, the lead doctor is unconcerned as he’ll be dead when they start dissecting him.

… Secret Invasion continues in Secret Invasion: Amazing Spider-Man #3.

Recurring Characters

War Machine, Suzi Endo, Winter Guard (Crimson Dynamo, Red Guardian, Darkstar, Ursa Major), Skrulls, Black Panther, Captain Britain, Stature, Storm, Vision

Continuity Notes

During Jim’s flashbacks, we see a scene of Iron Man and War Machine fighting the Mandarin. This was taken from the Hands of the Mandarin storyline see Force Works #6-7, War Machine #9-10, and Iron Man #311-312.
Here we see the Skrull invasion from different fronts, the battle in Times Square is from Secret Invasion #5, the invasions of Wakanda in Black Panther (vol. 4) #39-41, and the UK in Captain America and MI-13 #1-4.
War Machine takes offense because he was briefly a member of the Avengers West Coast from Avengers West Coast #95 to 102.
How Jim became a cyborg is explained in War Machine (vol. 2) #1.

Secret Invasion Reading Order