War Machine #25: Review

Apr 1996

Dan Abnett, Fred Haynes

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Story Name:

The kiss off

Review & Comments

Rating:

War Machine #25 Review by Rob Johnson (June 4, 2019)

Despite James Rhodes saying he's only taking a break that's the last we see of Worldwatch and Ranald Jeffries. It's also the end for Kirby Martell.
More significantly we don't hear from Rae LaCoste again either, and no further mention is made of Jim having a son.
But it's not quite the end of the Warwear.

This is the end of the series. But despite supposedly going off with Rae for 6 months to sort everything out we'll immediately see Rhodey in Iron Man #327-331. In #327-329 he's a co-executor of Tony Stark's will. But in #330-331 he activates the Warwear to help the teen Tony Stark who was brought from an alternate timeline at the end of the Crossing to take our Tony's place.
Then in flashback in Avengers Annual 1999 Black Widow tries to form a team to replace those who have gone off to Heroes Reborn. The Warwear War Machine is 1 of those who turns her down, because he's too busy keeping Stark's Iron Man tech out of the hands of Fujikawa International in Tales Of The Marvel Universe #1. And to do that he sends the Warwear system into the Fujikawa computer system to purge all relevant data. And that as far as we know is the end of the Warwear. And Rhodes doesn't die without it.

This seems to be the last part of a general dismantling of almost everything that Dan Abnett introduced in this volume of War Machine.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

War Machine #25 Synopsis by Rob Johnson

Last issue Sheva Joseph died in the SHIELD hospital. Her corpse is only just starting to cool when SHIELD Agent Groom and others in Mandroid armour try to take James Rhodes into custody so SHIELD can study the alien Warwear that shares his body. Jim tells Agent Kirby Martell, his girlfriend Rae LaCoste and Worldwatch's Ranald Jeffries to stand back as he offers to 'discuss' it with the Mandroids outside where nobody else will get hurt.

Of course when they get outside Rhodey activates the Warwear armour and they fight. War Machine makes short work of the Mandroids but leaves the Agents alive.

Then Jim takes a leave of absence from Worldwatch and thanks Agent Kirby for all her help, She replies that since Nick Fury (supposedly) died (Double Edge Omega) SHIELD has got out of control. Then he and Rae drive off into the sunset and a hotel room in Los Angeles where they discuss the past and the future.

Rae still hasn't forgiven him for not talking to her since #12, but she mellows as he tells her more about what's happened since then. He covers the time-travel adventure (#15-17) which cost him his War Machine armour and made Sheva age rapidly to death. Then the Warwear armour attached itself to him (#18-19) and dragged him into the Crossover event (#20-23 plus issues of Avengers, Force Works and Iron Man) in a war against Tony Stark and Kang the Conqueror. (He still doesn't mention that their friend Tony is now dead.)

They move on to his alleged son. He still doesn't know whether his parents were telling the truth when they told Rae he had 1. Or whether it was just a way of getting rid of her. And if so whether it was because she was white or something else that made them dislike her before meeting her. But he needs to find out what the alien stuff inside him really is before he can deal with the other stuff.

So he suggests they disappear for 6 months together. And Rae agrees.

Next day Rhodey goes to his apartment to pack up what little he doesn't want to leave behind. But Groom turns up with more Mandroids so War Machine has to fight again. But 1st he releases 1 of the drones built in to the armour with instructions to take his suitcase to Rae. He and his other drones take care of business.

Then he meets up with Rae and the suitcase in her car. And they really do drive off into the sunset.

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