

Feige said of Rhodes and the armor, "The notion in the movie is that a red, white and blue suit is a bold statement, and it's meant to be. In Iron Man 3, Rhodes operates the redesigned/upgraded War Machine armor, taking on an American flag-inspired color scheme similar to the Iron Patriot armor from the comics. Cheadle said his suit was 23 kilograms (50 lb) of metal, and that he could not touch his face while wearing it. How is their friendship impacted once Tony comes out and owns 'I am Iron Man'?". On how he approached his character in Iron Man 2, Cheadle stated "I go, what's the common denominator here? And the common denominator was really his friendship with Tony, and that's what we really tried to track in this one. The War Machine armor, as depicted in Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Cheadle said he thought Iron Man was a robot before the first film came out. He commented that he is a comic book fan, but had not previously participated in comics-themed films due to the scarcity of black superheroes. Ĭheadle only had a few hours to accept the role and did not even know what storyline Rhodes would undergo. A person with knowledge of his creative approach said, however, that Perlmutter "neither discriminates nor cares about diversity, he just cares about what he thinks will make money". Isaac Perlmutter, who had previously overseen the development of Marvel Studios, was alleged to have been removed from that position in part due to replacing Howard with Cheadle on the grounds that black people "look the same". Following the contract dispute between Howard and Marvel Studios, Don Cheadle was cast to portray War Machine, and Cheadle has portrayed the character for the rest of his MCU appearances. Įntertainment Weekly reported that Howard was offered a 50 to 80 percent pay cut for Iron Man 2, though it said that it was unclear whether Howard turned down the role or whether Marvel withdrew their offer. He was a Downey fan since he saw him in Weird Science, and the two competed physically on set. Howard and his father are Iron Man fans, partly because Rhodes was one of the few black superheroes when he was a child. Howard prepared for the role by visiting Nellis Air Force Base on March 16, 2007, where he ate with the pilots and observed HH-60 Pave Hawk rescue helicopters and F-22 Raptors. Favreau cast Howard because he felt he could play War Machine in a sequel. Howard was signed on before any of the other major actors and was the highest paid actor in the film. Terrence Howard was contracted to play Rhodes in the 2008 film Iron Man. Feige, a self-professed "fanboy", envisioned creating a shared universe just as creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had done with their comic books in the early 1960s.

In the mid-2000s, with a number of movies having been made from other Marvel properties licensed to other studios, Kevin Feige realized that Marvel still owned the rights to the core members of the Avengers, which included those from Iron Man's supporting characters. Other variations of the character debuted later, with an up-armored Rhodes becoming known as War Machine in Iron Man #282, in July 1992, and as Iron Patriot in Gambit #13, in May 2013.

In Iron Man #170, in May 1983, Rhodes became Iron Man for a time. The character of James Rhodes first appeared in Iron Man #118, in January 1979.
REAL WAR MACHINE SUIT SERIES
He is also set to appear in the upcoming series Secret Invasion. Rhodes is set to return as the main protagonist in the upcoming series Armor Wars. As of 2021, he has appeared in seven films, as well as the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and the animated series What If.? as an alternate version. Rhodes first appeared in the 2008 film Iron Man and has since become a central figure in the MCU. He eventually becomes a member of the Avengers. He becomes involved in Stark's heroic efforts, later gaining armor like that of Stark's Iron Man persona, but with heavier weaponry. Air Force officer who is the best friend of technological savant Tony Stark. James Rhodes is a fictional character initially portrayed by Terrence Howard, and then by Don Cheadle, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name and sometimes referred to by his alias, War Machine.
