War Machine #18
Long Weekend
The FBI has been sent to investigate some strange goings on in the town of Matlin Lake. They are attacked by a strange creature until only one agent is left standing, Mike Gerero. Fleeing from the monster that is stalking him, Mike attempts to call for back-up but the monster is somehow jamming his radio. Five seconds later, the creature is on him and Mike Gerero is dead.
The following day, Jim Rhodes arrives in town looking to spend some time off to do a little fishing. He stops at a local shop to get some directions to a good fishing spot and a hotel for the night. His presence are noticed by two CIA agents who are also in the shop and when Jim leaves they force him into the back of their car. They demand to know what Rhodes is doing in the area. Jim insists that he has just come to enjoy a short vacation and since they have no reason to hold them, he gets out of the car and sarcastically wishes them a good day.
Later that afternoon, Jim has stopped at a local restaurant for a bite to eat. Here he is visited by a woman who introduces herself as Skye. She warns him that things aren’t waht they seem in Matlin Lake and points out more federal agents that are keeping tabs on Jim. Turns out, Skye knows all about Jim Rhodes and figures he is here to investigate the biggest UFO sighting in the area in the last 20 years. Rhodey bursts this bubble, telling Skye that he’s not interested in anything but taking time to relax. In fact, if he knew that the place would be crawling with government spooks, he’d have gone snowboarding instead. Skye doesn’t buy it but tells Jim to enjoy his vacation.
Returning to his hotel room, Jim begins unpacking his bags. He finds a photo of himself as War Machine with Hawkeye and US Agent and thinks how that moment of victory feels like it happened centuries ago.[1] This stirs up memories about how he had to kill a man on his recent mission and tries to push the thought out of his head.[2]
The following morning, as Jim arrives at a local fishing spot he is greeted by Hawkeye. Clint had come out looking for him because he is concerned for Rhodey’s wellbeing since he lost his War Machine armor.[3] However, Jim doesn’t see losing the War Machine armor as a bad things, but as a blessing considering what he had to do with it recently. Hawkeye was told about what happened by Sheva Joseph and Clint thinks that despite how he feels, Jim did the right thing. Also, with Captain America now gone, Barton doesn’t want to see the loss of yet another hero.[4] As Clint tries to convince him of this, they hear a scream and race to the sound of the person in distress.
This turns out to be Skye who is being chased by some kind of creature. As Hawkeye prepares to attack whatever comes out of the woods, Jim gets her to calm down. When nothing shows up, Clint looks around and finds that Skye dropped a strange device on the ground. Neither man knows what it is, but it has a tooling mark saying that it was made in Timely, Wisconsin.[5] As they try to make sense of this device and who Skye is, Hawkeye suddenly smells something that is like a mix of cinnamon and ammonia. Then there’s a flash of light and the pair are ambushed by a giant creature which resembles a carnosaur. Hawkeye keeps the monster at bay with his trick arrows so Jim can get Skye somewhere safe. Unfortunately, the monster shrugs off these attacks and knocks Hawkeye out. With the bowman down, the monster ignores him and races off after Rhodes and Skye.
Up ahead, Jim can hear the monster gaining on them and begins to wonder what he can do to stop it. Suddenly, he runs into a massive ball of light which calls out to him. He can sense that it had summoned him to this area so they can bond together. Unsure what this means, Jim reaches out and touches the light and suddenly an alien substance shoots out and begins bonding to him. This material transforms into a new suit of alien battle armor giving Jim the edge he needs to fight back against the monster chasing him.
Recurring Characters
War Machine, Lictor, Hawkeye, Skye
Continuity Notes
The photo of War Machine, Hawkeye, and US Agent was taken when the trio were in San Revilla on a mission together. See Force Works #12, War Machine #15, and Iron Man #317.
While on a mission into the past, War Machine was forced to kill a Nazi official in order to preserve the timeline in War Machine #15-17. This, after Jim swore never to kill again in issue #7.
When returning to the present in War Machine #17, Jim’s War Machine armor was lost in the time stream. It will turn up again in the possession of Parnell Jacobs in Iron Man (vol. 3) #11-12 and 18-20.
At the time of this story, Captain America’s Super Soldier Serum was wearing out and he was at risk of permanent incapacitation or death. This started in Captain America #425. By issue #443 he was completely immobilized and was about to die when his body mysteriously vanished. Cap was kidnapped by the Red Skull who will cure him of his condition in Captain America #445.
Timely, WI is the location of one of Kang the Conqueror’s staging grounds in this era. He set up the town in the mid 1900s and it operates as a gateway to Chronopolis. See Captain America Annual #11, Thor Annual #17, Fantastic Four Annual #25, and Avengers Annual #21. As of this writing in November, 2022, Skye’s association with Timely, who she really is, and what she is doing remains unexplained. See below.
Topical References
Hawkeye says Jim Rhodes’ look is very “River Runs Through It” This is probably a reference to the 1992 film based on a 1976 book by Norman McLean. The story follows lives of two sons of a Presbyterian minister growing up around World War I, the Great Depression, and the Prohibition. This should be considered a topical reference.
Theory: Enjoy the Sweet Taste of the Crossing Nothing Burger
War Machine #18 to 23 tries to tie Jim Rhodes’ new Warwear armor to The Crossing event which takes place in Avengers: The Crossing #1, Avengers #390-395, Iron Man #319-325, Force Works #16-20, and Avengers: Timeslide #1.
In that story, it appears as though Kang the Conqueror is attempting to conquer the present day and had been using Iron Man as a sleeper agent since the early days of the Avengers. This was all to prepare for some massive war with some unseen enemy. The Crossing is never clear on who this foe might be.
With respects to War Machine, the Lictor was apparently send to Kang’s mystery foe. Later on, we also find another connection between the Warwear and The Crossing when War Machine fights another Warwearer named Dirge.
Basically, the entire storyline was a dud and later on in Avengers Forever #8, writer Kurt Busiek swept all of this nonsense away by revealing that The Crossing was all one massive deception created by Immortus. Immortus was posing as Kang while the majority of Kang’s minions in the Crossing were Space Phantoms in disguise.
What’s never fully explored is how the Warwear storyline may or may not have tied into Immortus’ deception. Since a lot of the plot lines that were abandoned when War Machine was cancelled were quickly forgotten and the Warwear itself was unceremoniously destroyed in Tales of the Marvel Universe #1, one could assume that everything associated with it was also part of Immortus’ hoax. It would have been very easy for Immortus to pluck the Warwear from somewhere and orchestrate events for it to fall into Jim Rhodes’ hands. Once The Crossing was over, Immortus no longer had a use for the Warwear and likely manipulated events so it would be destroyed and forgotten about.
Given Skye’s mysterious background and sudden death in War Machine #23, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was yet another Space Phantom in disguise.
