War Machine #1
Something to Believe In
War Machine is flying into action, unloading all of his onboard weapons into an army of super-villains. After mowing them all down, a parade is thrown in War Machine’s honor. However, this is all a day dream of Jim Rhodes, who dismisses the idea that he could make a difference in the world. He might have been able to do that when he ran Stark Enterprises, but not so much now that he has quit. He is paying a visit to his girlfriend, Rae LaCoste, whom he hasn’t seen in a few days. She invites him in and the couple have dinner together.
As they eat, Rae admits that she doesn’t know much about Jim’s past, so he decides to tell her all about it. Jim grew up on the streets of Philadelphia and was a frequent target of bullies growing up. He was of average intelligence but worked hard. In high school he learned that he was really good at repairing machines. When he graduated he didn’t have the money to go to college so he joined up with the US Marines instead where he became an excellent pilot. His life all changed when he was deployed overseas.[1] He tells her about how he was stranded on a mission and only got back to base after a chance encounter with Iron Man, aka Tony Stark.[2] Keeping Tony’s double-identity a secret, Jim explains that “Iron Man” introduced him to Stark who offered him a job once he was out of the service. Jim took him up on the offer years later and became Tony’s personal pilot. The two formed a strong bond and were like brothers. During their friendship Jim also became Tony’s personal confidante and helped him expand his knowledge when it came to machinery.
When Tony seemingly died, Jim was devastated.[3] He was also shocked to discover that he had been put in charge of Stark Enterprises. While he didn’t really want the job he took it anyway and tried not only to run the company, but use it to make the world a better place.[4] Soon after, Tony revealed that he was alive all this time. Although Tony was cured of his condition, Jim was furious that Stark didn’t tell him the truth and quit on the spot. Although they were parting company, Tony told Jim to keep his suit of Iron Man armor — dubbed the War Machine — as it was his legacy.[5]
Since then, Jim has been trying to find purpose in life, a task that hasn’t been helped since his phone has been ringing non-stop with calls from Tony Stark’s rivals looking to hire him on.[6] Rae understands that Jim is driven to do something meaningful with his life and tells him that the right opportunity is probably just around the corner. She then tells him that she is going to dinner with some fiends in a week and asks if he’d be interested in tagging along. When Jim asks if it’s anyone he knows, she name drops Vincent Cetewayo, a famous human rights advocate. Jim is a huge fan of Vincent’s work and agrees to attend.
And so, the following week, Jim and Rae go to dinner with Vincent Cetewayo and his colleagues Ranald Jeffries and Rebecca Bergier. Vincent talks about how he wants to start a new human rights advocacy group called WorldWatch. Jim would like to help and offers to write a check. However, Vincent is more interested in hiring Rhodes onto his team. Jim is annoyed because it turns out Rae only invited him to this dinner to get him to join up with WorldWatch, something that Jim doesn’t really want to do. Vincent of course understands but hands Jim a copy of his latest book A Destiny to Create and asks him to read it before totally making up his mind. On the ride home, Jim expresses his displeasure of being tricked into the situation. Rae tries to justify it saying that this is exactly what Jim needs. Rather than accept this, Rhodes asks LaCoste to pull over so he can walk the rest of the way home and think. When Jim returns to his apartment he puts on the evening news. It is full of stories of racial bigotry in Germany, military conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, and police brutality on the streets of Los Angeles. Frustrated by this news, Jim shuts off the television and picks up Vincent’s book and starts to read.
On the other side of the world, in the nation of Imaya, dictator-for-life President Eda Arul denounces Vincent Cetewayo’s book to a crowd of citizens. Cetewayo is a former citizen of Imaya and denounces Arul’s government in the book and he has declared him an enemy of the state and promises his people that Vincent will be severely punished. After his public address, Eda Arul goes back into his palace where he pays a visit to a shelf containing the severed heads of all his defeated enemies and mocks them. He is interrupted by a man known only as the Advisor to discuss the capture of Vincent Cetewayo. While Arul wants to send a team into America to kidnap him there, the Advisor has already arranged for a much simpler way of getting at him. A few weeks later, Cetewayo is on a chartered flight to the Middle East. However, he doesn’t reach the destination as the plane is staffed with people loyal to President Arul and once over Imayan airspace they take him prisoner at gun point and make a landing.
The brazen kidnapping makes international headlines and is while this is denounced by the world community, nobody is doing much about it. Captain America watches the news and wishes the Avengers weren’t bound by UN rules. The cyborg mercenary known as Deathlok on the other hand is not so stymied and orders his computer to prepare the Dragonfly for flight. When Jim Rhodes gets the news he gets on the phone with SHIELD and demands to speak to Nick Fury. Fury agrees to meet with Rhodes at the SHIELD branch office in Los Angeles.[7] When Jim asks what the spy agency is doing to rescue Vincent, he learns that there isn’t much they can do. When it’s clear that Fury isn’t going to do anything, Jim decides to take matters into his own hands and storms out. Once he is gone, SHIELD Agent Sheva Joseph can’t help but feel the same way Jim does, Fury understands but tells her that she’ll get over it eventually.
Back at his apartment, Jim changes into his War Machine armor and travels to Imaya. This is made easier by using a suborbital parabolic maneuver that exploits the Earth’s planetary rotation to cut down on travel time. However, his trek doesn’t go unnoticed as his trip is picked up by the Professor, the artificial intelligence at Cable’s safehouse in Switzerland. Cable is concerned that War Machine’s actions might alter world history in a negative way and so he teleports to Imaya to stop him. Moments after he is gone, Professor picks up Deathlok’s Dragonfly ship also heading into the region.
When War Machine arrives in the region, he is met by the Imayan Air Force as President Arul scrambles to eliminate the intruder in his airspace. Unfortunately, the fighter jets are no match for War Machine’s advanced weapons and they are all shot down. Jim tries to avoid making casualties but one of the pilots is blown up when his plane gets too close to War Machine for him to safely eject. The resulting blast causes War Machine to crash land on the ground below.
The battle is picked up by SHIELD spy satellites prompting Sheva Joseph to inform Nick Fury of War Machine’s unsanctioned activity. Fury is not happy and begins making phone calls with officials in order to figure out how to deal with this mess.
Back in Imaya, War Machine’s computer systems reboot allowing him to pull himself out of the crated created when he crash landed. He is then confronted by Cable who tells War Machine to back down and go back home.[8] Cable says that the best way to get Vincent Catawayo out of captivity is through diplomatic channels. War Machine refuses to do this as it would take months or years and Vincent might not live that long. When it becomes clear that Rhodes won’t back down, Cable attacks. The two fight it out but they are too evenly matched and the two end up in a stand-off. However, before a conclusive victor can be found they are shot at by third party. This turns out to be Deathlok and he tells the pair that he is there to rescue Vincent Cetewayo and asks them if they have a problem with that.
Recurring Characters
War Machine, Deathlok, Cable, Rae LaCoste, WorldWatch (Vincent Cetewayo, Ranald Jeffries, Rebecca Bergier), Eda Arul, the Advisor, SHIELD (Nick Fury, Sheva Joseph), Captain America,
Continuity Notes
Here, Jim doesn’t mention which conflict he fought in, just that it was somewhere in Southeast Asia. Previously, he was stated as fighting in the Vietnam War but that soon became a topical reference. Since History of the Marvel Universe #2, that has been specified as the Sin Cong Conflict instead of a real world war.
For the full story on how Iron Man and Jim Rhodes first met see Iron Man #144.
After a long running health condition that started when Tony was shot in Iron Man #242, Tony faked his death in Iron Man #284. This was so he could go into cryogenic suspension in secret until a team of scientists could find a cure for his condition. He left Jim in charge of the company and to take up the mantle of Iron Man in the War Machine armor.
We are next shown a montage of the various threats Jim fought as Iron Man during the period where Tony was believed dead. Specifically his fights with Atom Smasher (Iron Man #287-288), Firepower (Iron Man #288), and the Living Laser (Iron Man #289).
Stark revealed that he was still alive in Iron Man #289, leading to Jim quitting on the spot.
This is an explicit reference to Marvel Comics Presents #152, part of a story where War Machine goes up against an LA street gang that co-opted his name a story that came to its conclusion in Marvel Comics Presents #155.
Fury reminds Jim of the time he was offered a job with SHIELD. That was in Iron Man #282.
Here, War Machine mentions how he recently fought Cable’s “junior mutant patrol”, this happened in X-Force #20-21. War Machine was tapped by SHIELD to help secure Nathan’s space station Graymalkin. They were opposed to X-Force who chose to blow up the station then let it fall in the hands of anyone else.
Topical References
On the opening splash page War Machine says “Listen up, you screw-heads: You’re history!” This is a play on a line uttered by Ash Williams (played by Bruce Campbell) in the 1992 film Army of Darkness. There is a scene in the film where Williams — stranded in medieval times — terrorizes a group of peasants with his double barreled shotgun. To get their attention he shouts “All right you primitive screw-heads, listen up!”
When dismissing his fantasy, Jim says “and maybe monkey’s will fly out of my armpit.” This is another variation of a movie quote. This time 1992 film Wayne’s World where the title character (played by comedian Mike Myers) would exclaim “and monkey’s will fly out of my butt!” whenever commenting on something unlikely.
Jim Rhodes’ television is depicted as a CRT model. This should be considered topical as this is an obsolete technology. The news stories that are on the TV are topical as well as they were events that happened around the time this story was published. They include:
Neo-Nazi protests in Germany: This is in reference to riots that happened in Germany during the period where Neo-Nazis attacked migrants on the street. The first was the Hoyerswerda riots which occurred from September 17-23, 1991 and the other Rostock-Lichtenhagen riots that took place on August 22-24, 1992.
The Bosnian War which took place from April 6, 1992 until December 14, 1995.
The Gulf War which took place from August 2, 1990 until February 28, 1991, which had lasting ramifications in the Middle East all throughout the 1990s.
Police beating in Los Angeles: This is a reference to when Rodney King (a Black man) was beaten by 4 White LAPD officers on March 3, 1991. The incident was recorded by a bystander. The handling of the case led to the 1992 LA riots as people protested the officers getting off relatively light considering the egregiousness of their crimes.
