Who is James Rhodes?
James "Rhodey" Rhodes is an Air Force officer and Tony Stark's oldest friend. He is the one person in Tony's life who can tell him he is being an idiot and still get invited back. Where Tony improvises, Rhodey follows the chain of command, and much of his story is about being caught between his loyalty to a friend and his duty to the military. As War Machine he wears a heavier, gun-loaded version of the Iron Man armor, built for a soldier rather than a showman.
His armored debut comes in Iron Man 2. Before that, in the very first Iron Man film, Rhodes was played by Terrence Howard and never wore a suit, which is why that movie is not on this list. Don Cheadle has played him ever since.
War Machine's appearances in order
- Iron Man 2 (2010, film, recommended)
- Iron Man 3 (2013, film, recommended)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015, film, essential)
- Captain America: Civil War (2016, film, essential)
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018, film, essential)
- Captain Marvel (2019, film, essential): the mid-credits scene
- Avengers: Endgame (2019, film, essential)
- What If...? (2021, series, optional): an alternate-universe animated appearance
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021, series, recommended): a cameo in the first episode
- Secret Invasion (2023, series, optional)
Key moments for Rhodey
Iron Man 2 is where he takes a suit and, for a while, stands against Tony instead of next to him. Iron Man 3 has fun with branding: the government repaints his armor in red, white and blue and calls him Iron Patriot. By the end of Age of Ultron he has joined the new Avengers lineup. Civil War is the hardest film for him. He supports the Sokovia Accords, and the airport battle leaves him with a serious injury, which changes how he moves through the rest of the saga. Infinity War and Endgame then put him back on the front line, with a soldier's steadiness when the rest of the team is cracking. In Secret Invasion he works on the political side of world events; his scenes are best watched without any prior hints.
The people around him
Iron Man (Tony Stark) is the friendship that defines him, and their banter carries the Iron Man films. Black Widow is a fellow Avenger who stays on the same side as him for most of the saga's big disputes. Nick Fury connects to him in Secret Invasion, where both men deal with threats that do not show up on a battlefield. Steve Rogers is the teammate he respects but argues with over the Accords.
Don Cheadle as War Machine
Cheadle plays Rhodey with a dry, grounded humor that makes him the sensible friend in a world of geniuses and gods. He rarely gets the big speech, but his reactions do a lot of work, especially in scenes with Tony. Outside the MCU he is known for Hotel Rwanda, for playing Basher in Ocean's Eleven, for the drug-war drama Traffic and for the comedy series House of Lies.
Watch order for War Machine
For the essentials only, watch Age of Ultron, Civil War, Infinity War and Endgame in that order. If you have more time, start two steps earlier with Iron Man 2 and Iron Man 3, which build the friendship that gives his later choices weight. Leave Secret Invasion until you have seen everything else, since it assumes you know the post-Endgame world well. Our character index has pages for the rest of the original Avengers.