What Happened To Everyone Who Wore Iron Man's Armour?

11. Rhodey Rhodes

Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes has been a part of the Iron Man family of comics since 1979, and is considered Tony Stark's BFF. Fortunately for Rhodey, he's also a heck of a lot more than just Tony's dependable friend, having assumed the identity of War Machine in 1992 and never looking back since.

Long before Rhodey became War Machine, however, he actually took on the identity of Iron Man. He did so in the wake of Obadiah Stane's takeover of Stark's company - at which point Stark himself succumbed to a booze-fuelled depressive spiral - and even served as a member of the West Coast Avengers. Even after he was injured and left temporarily unable to remain as Iron Man, Rhodey took on the armour once again after Tony's apparent death, taking control over the company and continuing the Iron Man legacy as his own hero - War Machine.

Since taking on the War Machine identity almost 40 years ago, Rhodey has become just as iconic as Tony. The two have worked together as allies and independently as their own heroes, and though the character has only been used as a supporting element in the MCU thus far, his comics more than illustrate that he's a leading man.

Unfortunately, just as Rhodey shares leading man status with Tony, he's also shared his fair share of tragedy. He was killed fighting Thanos during Civil War II, but was thankfully resurrected in 2018. He's yet to return to the War Machine armour though, and it's unclear if he ever will.