Long-time collaborators, Bob Layton and David Michelinie have co-written almost 100 issues of “Iron Man” over the course of the series. Jim “Rhodey” Rhodes (a.k.a. War Machine) is quite possibly their most significant contribution to the “Iron Man” mythos. Rhodes was originally introduced as a soldier who helped Tony Stark escape from behind enemy lines in “Iron Man” #118 with artist John Byrne, before becoming his best friend and confidant. After Layton and Michelinie left the series for the first time, Rhodes eventually took over the role of Iron Man for a time. However, Rhodes was never intended as replacement for Stark.
Layton said,
“Part of the problem was that Tony Stark never had a best friend, He didn’t have anyone who he could confide in and share his point of view. We wanted to create someone who was a counterpart to him who didn’t have superpowers and wasn’t just an employee — somebody that he had a personal relationship with. We felt he needed a human foil there. It was never our intention for him to take over as Iron Man.”
“In fact, when we came back to series, both characters were operating as Iron Man, To me, it’s confusing whenever you have more than one super-powered characters in a story, especially when it’s focused on a single character. It’s Iron Man not Iron Men. In all of our stories, Jim Rhodes was always Tony’s best friend and not Iron Man 2.”
Len Kaminski and Kevin Hopgood created the iconic War Machine armor and cemented Rhodes’ status as a leading character in the 1990’s. The long time popularity of War Machine has helped push the excitement for “Iron Man 2” and despite the departure from his original intent for Jim Rhodes, Layton is quick to note his support for War Machine.
Layton says,
“I think the War Machine concept is a lot of fun and I think it’s terrific, It just wasn’t something we subscribed to because we felt that the focus should always be on Tony Stark and his identity as Iron Man. The more Iron Men you have running around, the more we felt it diluted the uniqueness of the character.”
Layton also offered his opinion on the current status of War Machine in the Marvel Universe.
“I know they’ve turned him into some sort of cyborg, That’s kind of unfortunate. I saw that Sean Chen — one of my former protégées — had drawn that particular ‘War Machine’ story. But look, its Marvel’s toys and they can do what they want with them. David and I had a particular take on the character and the way we saw it, but they can do whatever they want. I think the War Machine character is terrific. It turned out to be very popular and as you know, it’s going to be featured prominently in the next ‘Iron Man’ movie.”
Layton met Robert Downey Jr. on the set of “Iron Man 2” last summer, and apparently his status preceded him.
Layton said,
“When I was on the set of ‘Iron Man 2’, Robert Downey Jr. was like ‘What did you think? Were you happy?'” He was so concerned with whether we were pleased with his performance as the character. I told him, ‘Dude, you knocked it out of the park! You were amazing.’”
Layton added,
“I think he was perfectly cast, Everybody there seems to be devoted to the spirit of that character and the series and it really shows in the films. I thought [the first] ‘Iron Man’ was incredibly well done. It was as close to the spirit of what David [Michelinie] and I did as anything could be. [And] I think the second film is going to be amazing.”
The first “Iron Man” movie introduced a significant change in the relationship between Tony Stark and Jim Rhodes by keeping Rhodes in the military and portraying the characters as equals instead of the classic employer/employee relationship that developed in the comic. As one of Rhodes’ co-creators — along with Michelinie and artist John Byrne — Layton enjoyed the new dynamic onscreen.
“For the most part, I think keeping him in the military was an interesting idea, The more I thought about it, the fact that he wasn’t an employee of Stark’s actually made their friendship work a little better. Part of the problem with the book is that all of Tony’s friends are his employees.”
“It was unfortunate that so much of the characterization between Jim and Tony in the first movie wound up on the cutting room floor, If you see the DVD and the stuff they cut out. I loved some of the scenes they shot that didn’t make it into the movie because it really solidified their friendship.”
Layton also gave his opinion on Terrence Howard’s performance as Jim Rhodes in the first film as well as his thoughts on Don Cheadle taking over the role in “Iron Man 2.”
“I thought [Howard] was good, He looked more of the role than perhaps Don Cheadle does. Because Cheadle is a smaller guy and we always portrayed Jim Rhodes as a bigger guy. And Terrence Howard is obviously a terrific performer. All of the acting was first rate in [‘Iron Man’].”
“I think what they’ve got coming up in ‘Iron Man 2’ is terrific, Obviously Don Cheadle is an Academy Award nominee. How could he not bring something to role? I’m really anxious to see how Don Cheadle comes off as Jim Rhodes.”
