James Rhodes is a fictional character originally portrayed by Terrence Howard and subsequently by Don Cheadle in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. He is initially depicted as a U.S. Air Force officer who is the best friend of Tony Stark. A skilled pilot and tactician, he becomes involved in Stark's heroic efforts, later gaining his own Iron Man armor and taking on the alias War Machine.
Rhodes is recruited into the Avengers, joining them during the battle against Ultron. When the Avengers face internal conflict over the Sokovia Accords, Rhodes sides with Stark. In the ensuing struggle, he is accidentally injured by Vision and temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. When Thanos invades, Rhodes joins his former team to defend Earth and ultimately survives the Blip. Rhodes continues to serve as an Avenger, participating in the time travel mission to undo Thanos's actions. With trillions of lives successfully restored, Rhodes participates in the final and victorious battle against Thanos; a conflict that costs Stark his life. At some point, a shape-shifting Skrull called Raava hijacks Rhodes' likeness and holds him prisoner. Raava uses Rhodes to gain influence with the president of the United States until Nick Fury kills her and Rhodes is then freed.
Rhodes is a central MCU character, having appeared in eight films as of 2023. He also appears in the miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021), and is expected to be the primary protagonist in Armor Wars, currently in production.
An alternate version of Rhodes appears in the animated series What If...? (2021), with Cheadle reprising the role. Cheadle also portrays the Skrull Raava impersonating Rhodes in the miniseries Secret Invasion (2023).
Character creation, characterization, and appearances
The character of James "Rhodey" Rhodes first appeared in Iron Man #118, in January 1979. In Iron Man #170, in May 1983, Rhodes became Iron Man for a time. 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 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. 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.
Casting
Terrence Howard was contracted to play Rhodes in the 2008 film Iron Man. Howard was signed on before any of the other major actors and was the highest paid actor in the film. Favreau cast Howard because he felt he could play War Machine in a sequel. 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.
Howard and his father are Iron Man fans, partly because Rhodes was one of the few black superheroes when he was a child. He was a Downey fan since he saw him in Weird Science, and the two competed physically on set.
Entertainment 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. 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. 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". 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".
Cheadle only had a few hours to accept the role and did not even know what storyline Rhodes would undergo. 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. Cheadle said he thought Iron Man was a robot before the first film came out.