Line #219 Characters/IronManHeroes


1	[[foldercontrol]]
2
3	!!Iron Man
4
5	[[folder:Tony Stark]]
6	-> See [[Characters/MarvelComicsTonyStark Tony Stark]]
7	[[/folder]]
8
9	[[folder:Teen Tony]]
10	!!Anthony Stark (Earth-96020)
11	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/teen_tony.jpg]]
12	!!!'''First Appearance:''' ''Avengers: Timeslide'' (1995)
13
14	A younger Tony Stark from an alternate universe, brought in by the Avengers to try and help fight Tony when he went insane during ''The Crossing''. In the process, this Tony received injuries to his heart, but tried to fill the void of his counterpart, before sacrificing his life along with the other Avengers to defeat Onslaught.
15	----
16	* DependingOnTheArtist: The armor he designed himself and wore for the majority of his time (not the one pictured, that was designed by the original Tony and destroyed the one time this Tony wore it) was ''not'' drawn consistently ''at all''. Officially, this was supposed to look like [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/a/a3/Iron_Man_Armor_Model_YT1_from_Iron_Man_Vol_1_328_001.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20170122055807 this]], but oftentimes, artists just drew a riff of the classic Mark 4 armor or even what the original Tony wore during ''The Crossing''.
17	* FusionDance: He's now merged with the original Iron Man, thanks to Franklin Richards recreating Tony when he saved the Avengers and his family from Onslaught. It doesn't get mentioned much.
18	* KidHero: His title of "Teen Tony" says it all.
19	* MergerOfSouls: He was fused with the adult Tony thanks to Franklin Richards recreating the original Iron Man while saving the Avengers and his family from their deaths by Onslaught, though as of 2023 the only impact it had was Tony mentioning that he had vague memories of his counterpart's life.
20	* PoweredArmor: Much like the classic Tony, he wore armor as Iron Man, though his most famous one had the yellow/gold parts be composed of hard-light holograms.
21	* RedeemingReplacement: The intention the Avengers had when recruiting him. It succeeded.
22	* TeenGenius: He is a college-aged Tony Stark, so naturally, he's just as smart.
23	* TraumaCongaLine: His parents are killed by a dimension-hopping supervillain, he finds out an alternate future version of himself has gone insane and evil, and he's injured fighting him. This is all in the same day.
24	* WeHardlyKnewYe: Introduced in 1995, he dies in 1996 and as of 2023, has [[KilledOffForReal stayed dead]] (technically) since.
25
26	[[/folder]]
27
28	[[folder:Victor von Doom]]
29	!!Victor von Doom
30	[[caption-width-right:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3133300_0binfamous_iron_man_1_ribic_variant.jpg]]
31	!!! '''First Appearance:''' ''Fantastic Four'' #5
32
33	->''"I am here because I figured out what I have to do. I will pick up your mantle. I will be Iron Man."''
34
35	The ruler of Latveria and a technological genius on par with Tony, Doom was reformed and an ally of Tony's... right before Tony died. In the wake of Tony's death, Victor decides to honour Tony's memory (against his wishes) by donning the mantle of Iron Man, modifying his own armour's design to fit Tony's aesthetic and augmenting his already considerable technology with magic. Everyone is very confused by this.
36	----
37	-> See [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom his page]] for more details.
38	[[/folder]]
39
40	[[folder:Arno Stark]]
41	!!Arno Stark / Iron Man IV
42	!!! '''AKA:''' Iron Metropolitan
43	[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arno_stark_earth_616_from_iron_man_vol_5_23now.jpg]]
44	[[caption-width-right:280:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/c496ae90_6395_41bc_9134_3ee52deea848.jpeg Iron Man 2020]][[/labelnote]]
45
46	!!! '''First Appearance:''' ''Iron Man'' (Vol 5) #12
47
48	->''"Everything in my entire life has been leading to this. It's my destiny. This is the year I save all life on Earth... and nothing will stand in my way."''
49
50	Tony's adoptive brother (Tony was the adopted one), his existence, backstory, and the reason for the secrecy about him was revealed in ''The Secret Origin of Tony Stark''. What can be said is that he's been confined to an iron lung for most of his life and is as smart as Tony, if not considerably smarter. He and Tony get on very well and work together on the Troy project. Then he starts going off the deep end.
51	----
52	* AmbiguouslyEvil: Through ''Tony Stark: Iron Man'' and ''Iron Man 2020'', before it's ultimately revealed that he's on the far end of WellIntentionedExtremist - he really is genuinely trying to save the world... he's just willing to [[spoiler: strip humanity and robots alike of free will]] to ensure it.
53	* AntiHeroSubstitute: Arno became one of these went he {{took a level in jerkass}} and became Iron Man 2020, becoming more violent than Tony ever was.
54	* BadassBookworm: Intended to be the ultimate example of this trope by [[spoiler:451]].
55	* CanonImmigrant: Sort of. He appeared in several Marvel UK storylines in the '80s. The ''Iron Metropolitan'' storyline officially brings him into Earth-616 (mainstream Marvel) continuity.
56	* ControlFreak: Devolves into this under stress in ''Tony Stark: Iron Man'' and ''[[ComicBook/IronMan2020Event Iron Man 2020]]'', with every part of his arc being about his obsession with gaining and maintaining control [[WellIntentionedExtremist to save the world]].
57	* CrazyPrepared: Hardened his iron lung against EMP's decades ago. When he goes up against a revived Tony in ''Iron Man 2020'', however, he finds himself far outclassed - he's prepared, but as Tony points out, he's not even in the same class when it comes to [[CrazyIsCool crazy]].
58	* DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery: Averts this, oddly enough. Despite spending his life in an iron lung and doubtless being very lonely, he's a total NiceGuy. If anything, he TookALevelInJerkass ''after'' he figured out how to fix his disability.
59	* DisabledSnarker: Occasionally. He ''is'' a Stark, after all.
60	* DisabledMeansHelpless: [[AvertedTrope This is very much not the case.]]
61	* GeniusCripple: Engineered to have an intelligence capable of advancing all human technology, but an attempt to curtail an also programmed killswitch left him incapable of breathing on his own.
62	* GoodIsNotNice: [[AmbiguouslyEvil Possibly]], where his focus issue in ''Tony Stark: Iron Man #5'' involves him engaging in morally dubious acts such as transplanting a hand onto a violinist so he can play again. Problem is it's a hand from the woman killed in the same car accident where the violinist lost use of his. Some of her consciousness is still preserved in there, and she's horrified at her situation. Arno coldly explains this to the violinist as a kind of karmic punishment and simply tells him to make her a part of his music. In the follow-up, ''Iron Man 2020'', he starts becoming more and more AmbiguouslyEvil.
63	* KnightTemplar: Has become one in ''Iron Man 2020'', as his obsession to protect the Earth from the Extinction Entity turns him into a tyrannical madman.
64	-->'''Arno:''' Until now, I've failed to bring A.I. and humanity together into the unified force I'll need. Trying to reprogram all robotkind didn't work... but now I see it's because they're not the real problem. Machines make sense. It's humanity that's complicated... irrational... unruly. Once I've installed my new invention on the Stark Space Station, all that will change. Every man, woman, and child will obey me... without question. This is my penultimate task. Once it is all completed, all that will remain is the sole reason that I, Arno Stark, exist: To save you all!
65	* LivingWeapon: Was intended to be this [[spoiler:by 451]] and consequently spent decades afraid of being found by the character in question and used as such.
66	* TheMentallyDisturbed: [[spoiler:The "Extinction Entity" he wants to guard life against in ''Iron Man 2020'' is a figment of his imagination, a symptom of his congenital disease.]]
67	* MythologyGag: Aside from being a canon immigrant, he serves as a CallForward to the ''other'' Arno Stark, the Iron Man 2020 from Earth-8410. His armor has the same gear shoulders, and in one issue Arno makes a quip about hindsight (It's "20-20".) He officially becomes Iron Man in ''[[ComicBook/IronMan2020Event Iron Man 2020]]''.
68	* NiceGuy: Originally. Despite the capacity of his disability to make him bitter, he's honestly a very nice, friendly guy, being charming to Pepper and [[spoiler:showing that he's been consistently trying to find Tony's biological parents]]. Considering that he's spent decades trapped in an iron lung and is only now free to pursue his ideas, the fact that he's devoting time to the latter is really quite sweet. Unfortunately, he TookALevelInJerkass in his obsession to protect Earth.
69	* PoweredArmour: Is quite firm that he doesn't want Tony building one for him. [[spoiler:Instead, he builds several of his own - one quite close fitting one that gives him day to day mobility, one large combat suit and kaiju sized one made out of a ''city'']]. Come 2020 proper, he's got his own, normal sized one... which is a modernized version of that ''other'' Arno Stark's armor, albeit with the same big-ass shoulder cogwheels. Unfortunately for him, [[spoiler: it's not a patch on Tony's new eScape holographic armour, as Tony underlines in a [[BreakingSpeech cutting speech]] as he beats the crap out of him]].
70	* PutOnABus: He just disappeared after ''Iron Man: Original Sin'' (barring a cameo in ''The Search for Tony Stark''), only to reappear in the new ''Tony Stark: Iron Man'' series seemingly working on his own.
71	* ShoutOut: His Iron Metropolitan armor is a TransformingMecha with a city-based alt-mode, and it even bears some resemblance to [[Franchise/TransformersGeneration1 Omega Supreme]].
72	** If you look closely, the armor has the engraving '''MMXX''' - the Roman numeral for 2020.
73	* SuperIntelligence: was genetically engineered with this in mind (making him quite possibly smarter than Tony - though Tony has him well-outclassed in the ImprovisationalIngenuity and [[CrazyIsCool balls-out crazy]] departments), building on what he had already as [[spoiler:a son of Howard Stark]] - though it seems that [[spoiler:451's]] tweaks were mostly focused on ensuring that he focused his intelligence in the right areas.
74	* SwitchedAtBirth: [[spoiler:Is Howard and Maria Stark's biological son, switched with Tony to outmanoeuvre 451]].
75	* TechnicianVersusPerformer: He's the Technician to Tony's performer; while he's utterly brilliant at redesigning and improving technology, he's not so much of an innovator, as Tony ends up demonstrating in ''[[ComicBook/IronMan2020Event Iron Man 2020]]'' in a fight so brutally one-sided (complete with lecture about how Arno's suit was obsolete before he even put it on) that even the robots with good reason to hate Arno were wincing.
76	* TookALevelInJerkass: As written by Dan Slott, he becomes a lot more snide and condescending, as well as willing to commit dodgy actions. And that's just to start with - ControlFreak doesn't even ''begin'' to describe it. It's eventually explained as being at least in part due to fears of a world-killer level enemy coming to Earth and needing to prepare for it [[spoiler: which was actually a symptom of his congenital disease that he ''hadn't'' managed to entirely fix - indeed given 451's intentions, his autocratic tendencies could have been part of that engineering]].
77	* TykeBomb: Engineered by 451 to uplift human society, while also being a deterrent to any alien empires seeking to wipe out humans, given the capability to pilot the Godkiller Celestial artifact.
78	* WalkingSpoiler: It's quite hard to say much about him without spoiling considerable amounts of story.
79	* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Injects the Hulk with the Extremis virus, leading to the creation of the Doc Green persona, who goes after Tony with a vengeance.
80	* YoungConqueror: Again, he was engineered with this in mind, judging by [[spoiler:451's]] references to UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat. While he tries to evade [[spoiler: 451's]] legacy and intentions, [[SelfFulfillingProphecy he ends up travelling down that path anyway]].
81	[[/folder]]
82
83	!!War Machine
84
85	[[folder:James "Rhodey" Rhodes / Iron Man II / War Machine]]
86	!!James "Rhodey" Rhodes / Iron Man II / War Machine
87	%% Image Pickin' thread left top image in place: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1572010288094397100
88	%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
89	%%
90	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/war-machine-8_4525.jpg]]
91	[[caption-width-right:300:"[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomClashOfSuperheroes No, not Iron Man; War Machine,]] [[Film/IronMan2 deal with it!]]"]]
92
93	!!! '''Alter Ego:''' James Rupert "Rhodey" Rhodes
94	!!! '''Notable Aliases:''' Iron Man, Iron Patriot, Commander Rhodes, Hulk Machine, Iron Man 2.0, Rhodey, Shellshock, The Pilot
95	!!! '''First Appearance:''' ''Iron Man'' #118 (January, 1979) [[note]]As James Rhodes[[/note]]; ''Iron Man'' #170 (May, 1983) [[note]]As Iron Man[[/note]]; ''Iron Man'' #284 (July, 1992) [[note]]As War Machine[[/note]]; ''Gambit'' #13 (May, 2013) [[note]]As Iron Patriot[[/note]]
96	!!! '''Team Affiliations:''' ComicBook/TheAvengers, ComicBook/WestCoastAvengers, ComicBook/SecretAvengers
97	!!! '''Joined Team In:''' ''West Coast Avengers'' #1 (September, 1984)
98
99	->''"I'm handling the hero chores these days. You might want to write that down somewhere --- so you remember it."''
100
101	Stationed in Vietnam during UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, then [[SemperFi Marine]] [[AcePilot combat pilot]] Lt. Col. James Rupert Rhodes first met Iron Man after his helicopter was shot down by Viet Cong rocket fire during one of his tours of duty. Iron Man himself, fresh off escaping his captors with a suit of armor made ''[[MemeticMutation in a cave, with a box of scraps]]'', encounters Rhodes. Together, they defeat the Viet Cong and fly to safety in a stolen helicopter.
102
103	After the war, [[MillionairePlayboy playboy oligarch industrialist]] Tony Stark, [[SecretIdentity who secretly was Iron Man all along]], thanks Rhodes for saving Iron Man and offers him a job as Stark's personal pilot. Rhodes initially declines, but after trying other career options, including being a [[PrivateMilitaryContractors mercenary]], he eventually takes Tony up on the offer. He also becomes the chief aviation officer.
104
105	Tony and Rhodes become close friends to the point where he becomes one of Tony's/Iron Man's {{secret keeper}}s and given the nickname "Rhodey". When Tony was battling Obadiah Stane for control of his company as well as his own issues with alcoholism, Rhodey became Iron Man for a brief time. As the shellhead he successfully battled against Iron Man's RoguesGallery and became a founding members of the ''[[WestCoastTeam West Coast]] [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]]'' (though they thought it was Stark at the time). Issues including [[UnusualUserInterface headaches caused by the armor because the helmet was only calibrated for Stark during long-term use]] and being gravely injured in a bomb attack by Stane forced Rhodey to give up being Iron Man.
106
107	He became Iron Man a couple more times during his time at Tony's new company, Stark Enterprises, but only temporarily. When Stark seemingly dies, Rhodey takes over running Stark Enterprises and becomes Iron Man once again. This time he uses the Variable Threat Response Battle Suit, a silver and black suit with a mix of laser guided munitions, ballistic weaponry, a flame thrower and repulsor and unibeam technology used in other versions of Stark's armor. Designed for all-out warfare, the armor was nicknamed "War Machine". After discovering Tony [[FakingTheDead faked his death]], Rhodey quit the company. Tony told Rhodey to keep the "War Machine" armor stating that the armor always belonged to him (with it properly attuned to Rhodey's brain patterns of course). After which, he decided just to call himself War Machine while he wore the armor.
108
109	Rhodey and Stark would make-up and break up several more times with the former sometimes going solo or joining a separate cause from the latter. Eventually he would rejoin the West Coast Avengers, this time as himself using the War Machine armor. He would also join the [[ComicBook/TheDefenders Secret Defenders]] and Force Works (a reorganizing of the West Coast Avengers). He would also retire, only to join up with ComicBook/TheCrew -- without PowerArmor at his disposal -- after his sister was killed by a powerful street gang. Eventually, he returns to superheroics and is currently a member of the ComicBook/SecretAvengers. In 2014 he took up the identity of Iron Patriot, paralleling ''Iron Man 3''. However, both versions of Rhodey would return to the more iconic War Machine name not long after. Rhodey would later die in ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'', but be brought back to life by Tony Stark using augmentations that Stark himself used to save his own life during the same crossover. For a time, Rhodey was too traumatized to be in the suit again, instead using the Manticore, a weaponized vehicle, but during ''ComicBook/IronMan2020Event'', Tony figured out this was caused by aberrations in his DNA and was able to fix them, allowing Rhodey to become War Machine again.
110
111	Ever since he started wearing the Variable Threat Response Battle Suit, War Machine has been featured in media outside of the comics. His most notable appearances were in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse films, played by Creator/TerrenceHoward in ''Film/IronMan1'' [[TheOtherDarrin and]] Creator/DonCheadle in all subsequent appearances.
112
113	Not to be confused with the future ''[[TabletopGame/IronKingdoms War Machine]]'' VideoGame.
114
115	----
116	!!Tropes associated with War Machine include:
117
118	* AFriendInNeed: In Secret Avengers, his military friend Phil Coulson, who's recently been recruited to SHIELD and is working as part of the ComicBook/SecretAvengers asks him to help them, despite what they're doing going beyond what's reasonable or right, citing that Rhodes never let them down when they were in the military. Rhodes replies that this is what he does, and tells Coulson to tell him where they need him.
119	* AcePilot: Whether it be a plane, jet, chopper, or a flying suit of armor.
120	* AntiHero: Traditionally an [[PragmaticHero idealistic soldier]], but was an UnscrupulousHero in the past.
121	* AntiHeroSubstitute: Inverted as Tony wore the prototype of the Variable Threat Response Battle Suit first and that Rhodey wasn't any more DarkerAndEdgier when he wore the Iron Man suit. In fact, the suit was intentionally designed to MINIMIZE casualties and offer less-lethal options, since hitting a non-superhuman opponent with repulsor rays would splatter them worse than standard ordinance, according to the Iron Manual. Also inverted as Iron Patriot because he was definitely a saner and more straight-up hero than his predecessor, ComicBook/NormanOsborn.
122	* AscendedExtra: He started out as just another random pilot working for Tony, got upgraded to a supporting character after a few more appearances, and then ended up becoming a superhero himself.
123	* BadassNormal: Like Tony Stark, Rhodey can handle almost any threat until he can suit up. If anything, Rhodey is arguably ''better'' at this than Tony, in that he's ex-military and was a trained combatant long before he met Tony. He's repeatedly fought alongside Iron Man even without a suit of his own, using real-life weapons like guns and staffs.
124	* BloodKnight: "Sometimes the world needs a war machine"
125	* BreakoutCharacter: He went from being a RecurringExtra to Tony's best friend and eventually became a second new armored hero, even filling in Tony's place when he was out of commission on more than one occasion.
126	* CanonImmigrant: Not Rhodey himself, but him being Iron Patriot was introduced in ''Iron Man 3'', and in the comics he inherits the identity from ComicBook/NormanOsborn in 2014, taking up the Iron Patriot armor on behalf of the government.
127	* ClothesMakeTheManiac: Whenever he (or Kevin O'Brien) wore Tony's armor for too long due to the armor's [[UnusualUserInterface neural-interface controls]] were only calibrated for Tony Stark's brainwaves. Tony later corrected the problem by ensuring the armor's controls could be adjusted for Rhodey when he was the one putting it on.
128	* ColonelBadass: His rank in the military is Colonel.
129	* ContagiousPowers: Courtesy of Iron Man.
130	* CorporateSponsoredSuperhero: As Iron Man while working for Circuits Maximus and Stark Enterprises.
131	* CostumeCopycat: After Rhodey retired from superheroics, the original War Machine armor was found by his old friend Parnell Jacobs. Jacobs used the armor and the War Machine name as a criminal mercenary for a while.
132	* {{Cyborg}}: Around the time of the ''ComicBook/CivilWar2006'', but during the ''ComicBook/DarkReign'', his brain was put in a cloned body [[StatusQuoIsGod making him normal again]].
133	* DiedInYourArmsTonight: [[spoiler:[[ComicBook/MsMarvel Captain Marvel]] cradles Rhodey as he dies. He GetsBetter though.]]
134	* DrillSergeantNasty: Rhodey acts as one to the Iron Patriot drones. Was one of the Initiative's commanders too.
135	* FakingTheDead: Prior to his third tenure as Iron Man, Rhodey sacrificed his War Machine armor so that the world would believe he was dead. Now that he was a dead man, he was free to fill in as the new Iron Man without anyone suspecting him.
136	* FateWorseThanDeath: He considers the time he was forcibly made into a cyborg as one. [[spoiler: He uses this reasoning as to why he wears his War Machine suit despite gaining PTSD from them, reminding him of death.]]
137	* FiveRoundsRapid: In his origin story, Rhodey's first reaction to a strange metal man lumbering out of the Vietnamese undergrowth was to whip out a rifle and try and shoot it.
138	* FlyingBrick[=/=]LightningBruiser. Rhodey's armor lets him become this in strength, speed, durability, logistics analysis, and sheer firepower.
139	* FlyingFirepower: Flight and "repulsor beams" (name varies), one of the few instances where the same capability allows for both flight and energy blasts. War Machine, like Iron Man, has all this, plus a good old fashioned minigun on the shoulder.
140	* FriendshipMoment: In ComicBook/IronMan issue 184, James Rhodes and two other guys were working on creating their own tech company, they were getting ready to leave for California. [[TheAlcoholic Tony Stark]] came up asking for a job. In the past few months he had [[HumiliationConga lost his company, lost access to his money, gave up being Iron Man and became homeless.]] Not only that but he had only spent a week being sober. Tony was afraid that he would be rejected for what happened. But Rhodey and the others promptly accepted him.
141	** Just a few issues later, Rhodey is going nuts because he is starting to fear that Tony wants the armor back. It doesn't help that Tony has built a prototype suit, though Tony insists it is "therapy". At first, Tony thinks it is simply the suit's interface not being properly synched to Rhodey, but Rhodey's headaches keep coming back, and he finally goes on a rampage. Stark has to suit up in his outmatched prototype to try to calm him down, and manages to use everything he knows about the Iron Man suit to temporarily disable Rhodey's suit. Tony then takes off his suit, telling Rhodey that he doesn't want the job back, and unfreezes Rhodey's suit. Rhodey gets up... and shakes Tony's hand.
142	* GatlingGood: A gatling gun on his armor's left shoulder as a default. When he had the Stanetech Armor he can add more [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill way more]].
143	* GuiltComplex: The real cause of Rhodey's headaches when he was Iron Man. He'd enjoyed being a hero and didn't want to lose that, but deep down he felt that he had stolen the identity from Tony and this conflicted with his loyalty to him; the ensuing headaches created a sense of paranoia expressed in rage toward Tony. Once Rhodey demonstrated he was willing to give up being Iron Man, the headaches ceased. Of course, he did have to go on an [[AlternateDimension Interdimensional]] VisionQuest to learn this about himself.
144	* HandBlast: Whether it is coming from a repulsor blast from his palms or bullets from the guns on his wrists.
145	* TheHeroDies: ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'' is kicked off by Rhodey's death. Tony brings him BackFromTheDead in ''[[ComicBook/IronMan Invincible Iron Man]]'' issue #600 with rather little fanfare, even after becoming a regular in the next series.
146	* HoverTank: After being unable to handle "armoring up" due to the events of Civil War II, he manages to get one of these in the Manticore, a multi-purpose tank with flight and submersible properties that was created by Sunset Bain with stolen Stark tech. Tony buys it from them for Rhodey.
147	* HyperspaceArsenal: He can create an endless amount of weapons and ammunition from his armor.
148	* IdentityImpersonator: When he replaced Tony Stark as Iron Man. During the "ComicBook/ArmorWars", he impersonated Electro briefly as well.
149	* InSeriesNickname: Rhodey and in the first season of the [[WesternAnimation/IronManTheAnimatedSeries '90s Iron Man cartoon]], Jimmy.
150	* JetPack: More like Jet Boots but, thrusters and repulsors of the armor allow him to fly really long distances.
151	* KnowWhenToFoldEm: During ''Iron Man'' #349, when Doctor Doom invades Tony's lab looking for a macguffin, Rhodes is left facing off against him with nothing but a gun. Jim sensibly doesn't even try to fight him, just keep [[NoMacguffinNoWinner the doohickey away from Doom]].
152	* LegacyCharacter: To Iron Man. Took the War Machine identity some time after Tony resumed the Iron Man role, though he's temporarily take up the mantle again in 2012. He temporarily took over the identity of Iron Patriot from ComicBook/NormanOsborn in 2014. And in 2017 Frank Castle, as an anti-villain Hydra agent, took up the mantle of War Machine.
153	** AffirmativeActionLegacy: During ''ComicBook/SecretWars1984'', Reed Richards got to see the man under the armour while repairing it. Jim asked him if he was surprised that the man under the armour was black; Reed just said that he knew that 'there was a man in there', reacting more along the lines of 'what's race got to do with anything?', being as unconcerned about the race of who was in the armor as he's always been about everyone else.
154	*** When the Mandarin captured Rhodey as Iron Man, he forced Rhodey to remove his helmet so the Mandarin could finally see his enemy's face. The Mandarin was surprised that Iron Man was a black man, and [[{{Irony}} thought at one point that Tony Stark was the armor's pilot]].
155	** LegacyLaunch: Has has his own series on more than one occasion.
156	* ManOnFire: After donning the old red-and-gold armor to escape an [=AIM=]-infected space station (Iron Man issues 215-216), Rhodey discovers the hard way that the armor's seals have been damaged as he and Tony reenter the atmosphere. Tony has to cradle Rhodey and use his own Silver Centurion suit as a heat shield to keep Rhodey from being killed, and Tony is able to get Rhodey medical attention as soon as they reach civilization. Rhodey managed to recover from his burns, but the incident left him unable to don the armor again for a long time.
157	* MilitarySuperhero: Personnel of the US Air Force and War Machine.
158	* MoreDakka: War Machine has been adding more and more guns to his armor. For an illustration of the result, check out the picture for the ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill trope. For a while, Rhodey's armor had the capability to magnetically lock any piece of machinery to itself, meaning he could repurpose any weapon he found from downed enemies or destroyed vehicles. Even at his current, normal weapon loadout, he's more heavily armed than pretty much any Marvel hero.
159	* MoreHeroThanThou: At least one issue of ''ComicBook/IronMan'' where Rhodey knocks Tony out and wears the armor himself. Sort of subverted in that when Tony wakes up, he immediately goes out in a spare suit and arrives just in time to save Rhodey's massively outclassed butt.
160	** Bear in mind, Tony had been using remote-control armor because he didn't want Rhodey to have to face down the Mandarin, not to mention Fin Fang Foom and his Makluan dragon buddies; while Rhodey didn't want Tony to get himself killed in battle, since his nervous system was rapidly deteriorating at the time. In the end, the two of them end up working together [[EnemyMine with the Mandarin]] to stop the dragons.
161	* PatrioticFervor: Usually as Iron Patriot.
162	* PrivateMilitaryContractors: Before he worked for Stark Industries but after his last tour in Vietnam. Also when he was Iron Man working for Circuits Maximus.
163	* PoweredArmor: James Rhodes has used Stark armor many times, either taking up the Iron Man mantle while Tony was incapacitated or presumed dead, or working independently as War Machine. He has since gained a fear of it after many near-death experiences and actually dying.
164	* RageQuit: Rhodey's reaction to Tony FakingTheDead.
165	* RedEyesTakeWarning: During a period where he was a cyborg, one of his eyes was mechanical. Naturally, it was a glowing red.
166	* RetCanon: To tie into ''Film/IronMan3'', Rhodey took up ComicBook/NormanOsborn's old Iron Patriot identity.
167	* RetiredBadass: Though it didn't last.
168	* TheRival: Parnell Jacobs, who stole a set of War Machine armor and became a mercenary. Eventually became a friendly rivalry.
169	* SemperFi: DependingOnTheWriter, usually when his army background is played up.
170	* ScaryBlackMan: Sure, you can't see the actual pilot of the suit, but you do NOT want to piss Rhodes off. Ever. This is a guy that's taken out Hulk villains with a standard firearm on more than one occasion.
171	* ShellShockedVeteran: After his return from death, he becomes traumatized with "armoring up", viewing them akin to coffins. However, he is still able to pilot fine and actually finds it comforting.
172	* ShoulderCannon: Typically in the form of a Gatling gun on one shoulder and a missile launcher on the other.
173	* SidekickGraduationsStick: From non-superhero ally to Iron Man replacement to his own hero identity.
174	* SpandexLatexOrLeather: None, powered armor!
175	* SuperheroPackingHeat: A rather grotesque understatement.
176	* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Due to legal issues, ComicBook/IronMan was unavailable for ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomClashOfTheSuperheroes'', so War Machine was selected in his stead (for all intents and purposes, he's a PaletteSwap of Iron Man). As a result, his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBd3Y8298rU theme]] in this game is based off of Iron Man's ''VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroes'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxHZbfzSII0 theme.]]
177	* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: He's able to add more weapons to his armor so it has come to this. He's the trope's image for a reason.
178	* TonightSomeoneDies: [[spoiler:Rhodey himself! He's killed by ComicBook/{{Thanos}} in a Free Comic Book Day Special and it's his death that kicks off ''ComicBook/CivilWarII''.]]
179	* TraumaButton: After being resurrected from his latest death in ''Civil War II'', he develops a PTSD response to combat in armor after years of accruing trauma from dying in it. He can handle piloting a heavily armed ship much better.
180	* UnusualWeaponMounting: Rhodey as War Machine would mount his weapons anywhere.
181	* WalkingArmory: War Machine is a PoweredArmor version of this trope (as especially seen in [[Film/IronMan2 the film]] [[Film/IronMan3 version]]). Note that the regular Iron Man armor is already stuffed with miniaturized weapons; the War Machine suit is overflowing with them...and some of them are not so miniaturized; the iconic feature of War Machine is a shoulder-mounted Gatling gun. Many versions of the War Machine armor also have a second turret on the other shoulder with a multiple missile launcher on it. The same is also true of his incarnation from ''WesternAnimation/IronManArmoredAdventures'', if not moreso.
182	* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: In his case, it's "When all you have is an electric minigun, a missile box, and a crapload of other guns". Slightly inverted, in that the suit is designed to have MORE options for combat than the standard Iron Man armor.
183	* WhereDaWhiteWomenAt: Rhodey has had two important interracial relationships: the first was with Rae [=LaCoste=] (which was broken up by his parents), and the second is with [[ComicBook/MsMarvel Carol Danvers]] (the current Captain Marvel). [[spoiler:It ended with Rhodey's death, which ended up motivating Carol's actions in ''ComicBook/CivilWarII''. With him back to alive, they are back together. However, as of 2021, they have broken up with each other because Carol found out that Rhodey had a daughter in the future whose mother is surprisingly not her then few issues later they rekindled their relationship.]]
184	* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Rhodey develops claustrophobia as a side effect of his resurrection. Because of that, he can't wear the War Machine armor and opts for his own HumongousMecha.
185	[[/folder]]
186
187	!!Rescue
188
189	[[folder:Virginia "Pepper" Potts / Rescue]]
190	!!Virginia "Pepper" Potts / Rescue
191	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rescue.png]]
192	%% [[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]
193	!!! '''First Appearance:''' ''Tales of Suspense'' (Vol 1) #45
194
195	->''"I have to accept that you're gone. And if I can't save you, then I have to save the world from what you've become. I bought one of the largest media companies on Earth from under you. I'll use it to sink your drug, Extremis, and I will show the world the monster you've become. They will all know your imperfections, Tony. You won't be their messiah anymore. Your zealots, so blind to the truth. I will open their eyes. Whatever you do from now on, you will do it without admiration, without those who once respected you. You will do it without your friends. You might still manage to force your arrogant vision onto the world. But you will do so broken, unloved... And completely alone."''
196	-->-- '''Pepper Potts''', ''ComicBook/SuperiorIronMan'' #9 (thankfully, [[CharacterRerailment this is no longer the case]]).
197
198	Virginia "Pepper" Potts is a Creator/MarvelComics characters who mainly appears as supporting character in ''Iron Man'' comics. She is created by Creator/StanLee and Don Heck, and is introduced into Franchise/MarvelUniverse in ''Tales of Suspense'' #45 in 1963). As ''Rescue'', she's introduced in ''The Invincible Iron Man'' #10 in 2009.
199
200	Pepper is Tony Stark's secretary, assistant, and longtime friend. She was working for Stark Industries and spotted an accounting error. She raced to let Tony Stark know. Having saved the company a large amount of money, Stark promoted her to be his personal assistant. Over the years, she developed romantic feelings on her womanizing boss to the point that she rejects the advances of Stark's chauffeur and assistant Happy Hogan. As Stark's affection for her grows, she becomes part of a love triangle between the two men, but eventually falls in love with and marries Hogan. Although Pepper and Happy soon divorce after she has an affair with a former college boyfriend, she and Happy join Tony at his new company, Stark Solutions. During their time in Stark's new company, Pepper and Happy once again became involved and they remarry. But Happy eventually dies after he is massively injured by the supervillain Slaymaster during ''ComicBook/CivilWar2006'', and once again Pepper has on-off relationship with Tony. Half the time they're together, the other half they're pretending they weren't.
201
202	After ''Civil War'', Pepper joins the [[ComicBook/AvengersTheInitiative Fifty State Initiative]] as a member of ComicBook/{{The Order\|2007}}. She assumes the moniker of the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek goddess]] Hera, and uses advanced computer hardware and prosthetics to monitor and coordinate the team's missions. Upon the absorption of The Order into the Initiative, Tony Stark offers her a job on the special projects team at Stark Enterprises, which she accepts.
203
204	When Pepper is caught in a terrorist explosion caused by Ezekiel Stane, she sustains multiple internal injuries, including shrapnel wounds, and rendered unable to withstand a prolonged surgery. In response, Tony embeds a strong magnet (similar in appearance to the arc reactor) in her chest, essentially turning Pepper into a {{cyborg}} dependent on keeping her chest magnet engaged to stay alive, as he was once. She eventually gains a suit of armor (and a heart implant) of her own as the heroine Rescue. Pepper's body is further enhanced with new cybernetics and upgrades to the magnet, which are based on [[ComicBook/IronFist Danny Rand]]'s battery designs, and give Pepper new super abilities.
205
206	When Tony is blamed for the Skrull invasion of Earth that occurs in the ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'', ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} [[ComicBook/DarkReign is taken over]] by ComicBook/NormanOsborn, replaced with H.A.M.M.E.R., Stark makes Pepper the new CEO of Stark Industries, trusting only her to shut down the company in his absence. Pepper discovers a secret room in Stark's office which contains a suit of armor that he made especially for her, which she uses under the name Rescue. She becomes a superheroine herself and rescues ComicBook/BlackWidow and Maria Hill from Osborn's imprisonment. As Rescue, she has her own single-issue comic, ''Rescue'' which is published in 2010.
207
208	After her heart-mounted repulsor generator and armored suit are dismantled to reboot the brain-dead Tony Stark, Tony reinstalls a new Repulsor Tech node in her chest and gifts her new Rescue armor, complete with the A.I. J.A.R.V.I.S.. Unfortunately, after J.A.R.V.I.S. had revealed that it developed romantic feelings for Pepper, it kidnapped her to keep her away from super heroic duties, but was deactivated by James Rhodes, who assumed the Iron Man identity at the time, and was finally destroyed by Pepper Potts in Resilient's factory along with Potts' Rescue armor, thus leaving her heroic alter-ego behind.
209
210	She later gets new Rescue armor in the ''Superior Iron Man'' comic.
211
212	!!Tropes associated with Pepper include:
213
214	* ActionGirl: Despite her lack of training in hand-to-hand combat, she can definitely hold her own in battle as Rescue.
215	* AffectionateNickname: She is called "Pepper" because of her freckles and red hair, and as a pun on her last name.
216	* AlliterativeName: Her nickname, Pepper Potts.
217	* BeautifulAllAlong: When she first appeared, she had freckles and looked like a teenager. Several issues later, she "got a makeover" and became the more better-known version of the character (in terms of looks).
218	* BeleagueredAssistant: For Tony Stark at times. It's apparently bad enough that Pepper's fiance hated Tony for "ruining" Pepper's life, and this hatred made him a worthy candidate for a Mandarin ring.
219	* BlueIsHeroic: Switches to a blue suit in ''[[ComicBook/IronMan2020Event Iron Man 2020]]'', after previously wearing red and magenta.
220	* BreastPlate: On the Rescue armor, though how bad an example it was depended on the issue and artist.
221	* BroughtDownToBadass: Her first Rescue armor has been destroyed, but she still has the power from her Repulsor Tech implant in her chest anyway. She eventually gets a new armor.
222	* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Don Heck based her off of actress Ann B. Davis, known at the time for her role on ''The Bob Cummings Show''. She's best remembered today for playing Alice in ''Series/TheBradyBunch''.
223	* {{Cyborg}}: The Repulsor Tech node is implanted in her chest and is linked to her brain. It allows her to interact with different types of energies.
224	* DeadpanSnarker: She's as bad as Iron Man in this regard.
225	-->'''Pepper:''' I asked the man whose car you wrecked if I could throw it at you. He said okay.
226	* DistaffCounterpart: For a while she was a Distaff Counterpart to Iron Man under the name Rescue. While her armor was destroyed, she still has implanted repulsor-tech, giving her a few Iron Man-like powers. She eventually rebuilt the armor, including new characteristics and a pink color scheme.
227	* FieryRedhead: Played with, she's certainly strong and outspoken, but too level-headed and calm to fully fit the trope.
228	* {{Flight}}: When Tony installed an electromagnet in her chest she gained the ability to fly, independently of the Rescue suit.
229	* GirlFriday: Pepper Potts starts as Tony Stark's personal assistant who takes care of his neglected responsibilities. She then becomes more and more badass; even has her own armor now.
230	* HonestCorporateExecutive: Has acted as the CEO of Stark's various corporations, and always tries to keep things aboveboard and transparent.
231	* HypercompetentSidekick: Tony Stark may be able to build a miniature arc reactor [[MemeticMutation in a cave, with a box of scraps]], but it is no secret that for all his genius, he can't function without his ever faithful assistant, the beleaguered Pepper Potts.
232	* KnownOnlyByTheirNickname: The number of people who call her "Virginia" on a recurring basis is... well, it's extremely low. Pretty much everyone calls her Pepper.
233	* LoveInterest: Tony's primary love interest.
234	* LoveTriangle: With Tony and Happy Hogan. Until Hogan died.
235	* MeaningfulName: Her codename of "Rescue" signifies her unwillingness to be used as a weapon--she'll save people, but she won't hurt anyone. Also her real name, Virginia "Pepper" Potts = Silk hiding fire.
236	* MomentOfWeakness: During the Manhunt comic arc in Iron Man where Tony Stark is framed for the attacks on the Chinese. FBI agent Neil Streich threatens to draw in Pepper Potts and the hospitalized Happy Hogan unless Pepper agrees to cooperate with him. Pepper agrees and provides Stretch with the code he needs to activate a failsafe which deactivates the Iron Man armor. Pepper is heartbroken and horrified when she gives Neil the code and shamefully admits to a comatose Happy that that was the worst thing she could have done to him. When Tony is able to evade capture and clear his name, he forgives Pepper for her betrayal. Pepper breaks down and cries as Tony hugs her, saying "You don't have to say that. You have every right to think I let you down because I did. Stretch got me worried about Happy and I should have been stronger, or cleverer" as Tony says everything is OK.
237	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: When FBI agent Neil Stretch threatens to arrest Pepper Potts and the hospitalized Happy Hogan unless Pepper agrees to cooperate with him, Pepper agrees to work with him. Pepper provides Stretch with the code he needs to activate a failsafe which deactivates the Iron Man armor. She regrets giving Stretch the code the minute she gives it to him, as she tells a comatose Happy.
238	* PoweredArmor: She had her Rescue armor until it's destroyed when its J.A.R.V.I.S. A.I. went rogue. She rebuilt a version in time for ''Superior Iron Man''.
239	* ReallyGetsAround: Not as much as Iron Man, but she goes through a lot of disposable boyfriends, in addition to Tony and Happy.
240	* RetCanon: Pepper's Rescue armor was originally red, but the new version she began wearing in the ''2020 Rescue'' limited series instead has a purple color scheme, taken from the suit's design in both ''WesternAnimation/IronManArmoredAdventures'' and ''Film/AvengersEndgame''.
241	* SelectiveMagnetism: The Rescue armor uses this. Pepper can also manipulate magnetism outside of the Rescue armor, so long as she has the implant in her chest. This allowed her to beat down Sandman and Electro during one arc in ''Invincible Iron Man''.
242	* SassySecretary: Kind of expected, given her snarky attitude towards her boss.
243	* ServileSnarker: She's quite an expert in StealthInsult.
244	* SexySecretary: Originally, she was more of a PluckyOfficeGirl with freckles, the classic hair bun, and a huge crush on Tony, her boss. Eventually, she had a makeover, literally LettingHerHairDown and proving herself to have been BeautifulAllAlong.
245	* SilkHidingSteel: She is a polite, benevolent, elegantly dressed business woman cum art curator. She's also the only person who can wrangle the self-proclaimed [[MemeticMutation genius oligarch playboy philantropist]] superhero.
246	* StoneWall: The Rescue armor is tough, but lacks any offensive capabilities. If Pepper wants to hurt somebody, she'll have to use her magnetism. Or throw something at them. She adds in a sonic blaster in ''Superior Iron Man'', but Tony already worked the sonic weakness out of his armor ahead of time, making her still relatively weak in that respect.
247	* SubordinateExcuse: Regularly comes up vis-a-vis her and Tony.
248	* ThouShaltNotKill: Takes this far more seriously than Tony or Rhodey do, objecting strongly to the notion of being used as a weapon and/or taking life.
249	* TookALevelInBadass: Took a massive level in badass since the sixties, which culminated in her gaining a suit of powered armor during Creator/MattFraction's run.
250	* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Tony since the sixties. Half the time they're together, the other half they're pretending they weren't.
251	[[/folder]]
252
253	!!Ironheart
254	[[folder:Riri Williams / Ironheart]]
255
256	%% Image kept on page per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1501736172012572500
257	%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
258	%%
259	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ironheart_9.jpg]]
260
261	->''"Those who move with courage make the path for those who live in fear."''
262
263	Riri Williams, also known by her codename Ironheart, is a Creator/MarvelComics character created by Creator/BrianMichaelBendis and Mike Deodato, first appearing in ''Invincible ComicBook/IronMan'' #7 (dated March 2016).
264
265	Born shortly after the death of her father, Riri Williams grew up in UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} with her mother and stepfather, soon discovering a pretty surprising truth about herself: she was a genius intellect with special aptitude for engineering. By the age of fifteen, Riri was already attending M.I.T. on a free scholarship offered to her because of it.
266
267	It was during this time that Riri reverse-engineered the Iron Man Mark 41 suit in her dorm room, using (stolen) materials from the M.I.T. campus. After testing out her suit's capabilities a few times, Riri had her first taste of crimefighting by stopping a truck carrying a group of prison escapees in UsefulNotes/NewMexico, which came at the cost of her suit's armor integrity.
268
269	While rebuilding her suit from the ground up, Tony Stark learned of her accomplishment, fully endorsing her potential as a hero by offering to take her under his wing.
270
271	Later as part of ComicBook/MarvelAFreshStart, Riri returned in a new [[ComicBook/{{Ironheart}} ongoing solo]], written by Creator/EveEwing and illustrated by Kevin Libranda. It lasted for twelve issues. She also joined the teenage superhero team the ComicBook/{{Champions\|MarvelComics}}.
272
273	The character made her live-action debut in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse in ''Film/BlackPantherWakandaForever'', in late 2022, played by Dominique Thorne (''Film/IfBealeStreetCouldTalk''), followed by a Creator/DisneyPlus series focusing on her.
274	----
275	See: Characters/{{Ironheart}}.
276	[[/folder]]

Context Characters / IronManHeroes