Iron Man was pretty harsh on Harkov for leaving Venko, when he truly might had no choice and that not everyone have a suit or armor like the former has. Of course Iron Man was still recovering from losing his father, so it's probably his guilt and anger at himself that was doing the talking.
When Gene had the first five Makluan Rings, they are placed at the right hand. In various mythologies, the right hand is often associated with Heaven.
Then, came the last five rings which are placed at the left hand, associated with evil symbolizing Gene's Start of Darkness.
It seems odd at first that the most calm and collected Rhodey becomes War Machine and the most aggressive and reckless Pepper becomes Rescue. But that's actually the point.
Rhodey has been Tony's moral conciousness and can truly tell the line between good and evil. So, having him become the War Machine would ensure that the armor would apply the exact amount of force on opponents while preventing innocents from getting harmed.
Pepper won't exactly stop when people's lives are in jeopardy. So, she'll uses the Rescue armor to bust in any obstacles that get between her and the innocent at hand. And thankfully, Tony has the foresight to not put the more dangerous weaponry on Rescue so as to not get the civilian hurt or at least, ensure the supervillain won't get hurt.
The Mandroids, despite based on Iron Man, are easily taken down by more powerful opponents, including Iron Man himself. That's because Hammer designed them that way so that his buyers (SHIELD) would come back for more. Nick Fury, being a master spy, most likely figure that out and is not too pleased about it.
Makes sense Rhodes would understand Jean about discrimination since his people have suffered this kind of bigotry before.
The Guardian assessing Tony as not worthy for the Makluan Rings does have some precedence; He's very quick to anger and make reckless decisions. Not to mention, he has created monsters(Technovore, Vortex etc), albeit unintentionally.
While it's true that Gene has taken Howard Stark hostage but it also means that the former had fully intended to leave Tony to die. If it weren't for Gene informing him about Tony's survival, Howard would have fallen into despair over the loss of his child.
Ever since Season 2, there have been no mentions of Gene's stepfather nor the Tongs. Given Gene's unbridled, albeit justified, hatred towards them, he might have killed the gang off the face of the Earth.
In "Iron Man 2099", we never know how Justin Hammer's future self was able to become president. It might possibly be that the only reason he's considered the world's greatest hero is because he's the only hero left, Vortex must have killed not only Iron Man, War Machine and Rescue but also the other heroes like Black Widow and the Hulk.
