Relationship Spotlight: Tony Stark & Col. James Rhodes (The Avengers)

Woe to anyone who has the misfortune of caring for Tony Stark; as much as he needs it, goodness knows he won’t make it easy.  Pepper is in a similar boat to Rhodey, but with her, Tony at least has a little incentive to try not to piss her off too much.  Rhodey, on the other hand, is Tony’s best friend, and that’s a pretty thankless job (Tony-Rhodey-related spoilers.)

In Iron Man, I couldn’t see it, not really.  I mean, I see Rhodey’s genuine concern whenever Tony’s in real trouble – like when Tony is brought back home after his capture and Rhodey gets emotional as he admonishes Tony to let Rhodey keep an eye on him – but I don’t ultimately see why Tony is worth it to him.  I don’t get those flashes like we see with Tony and Pepper in the first film, those little moments that cut through Tony’s self-absorption and show you why Pepper puts up with him.  Honestly, Tony hooks the military up with sweet weapons, which obviously benefits Rhodey, but there’s not much to suggest that either man actually likes the other.

Through what seems to be a combination of better writing and the different dynamic Don Cheadle has with Robert Downey Jr. (compared to Terrence Howard in the first movie,) things get a lot better from there.  Don’t get me wrong – it’s far from a warm, fuzzy friendship, and these guys get on each other’s nerves a lot, but it feels so different, enough to make me understand why they’re friends.  While originally, their dynamic mainly seems to consist of Tony dumping on and undermining Rhodey every chance he gets, their vibe moving forward is much more mutual.  They both like to rib each other, and yes, Tony has a larger, more aggravating talent for it, but Rhodey gets his licks in, too, and for the most part, Tony’s antics roll off his back.  They have great banter together; I especially love them interrogating the Mandarin together in Iron Man 3 and bickering as they try to lift Mjolnir in Age of Ultron.  To an extent, they just get each other, and that lets them have fun even when they annoy one another.

But of course, everyone has their limits, and like so many people in Tony’s life, Rhodey gets to the point where he’s had enough and gets serious.  Usually, it’s borne out of concern for Tony, who can get reckless and overly-obsessive when stuff bothers him, and he’s really bad about asking for help when he needs it.  Rhodey delivers tough love on more than one occasion, and even though Tony generally takes it about as well as he does when anyone is worried about him, I like that Rhodey keeps trying but knows that, in the end, Tony’s the one who has to decide to accept help.

That’s a lot about what kind of friend Rhodey is and very little about what Tony brings to the table.  It’s understandable, since Tony’s a main character and Rhodey isn’t, so Rhodey’s character is designed more to revolve around Tony’s narrative (not to mention, he’s Tony – “doesn’t play well with others” is in the job description.)  Still, it’s not entirely one-sided.  Tony works pretty well with Rhodey in the field, respecting his friend’s handling of the War Machine suit with only minimal macho posturing, and whenever Tony is ready to ask for help, Rhodey is one of his go-to guys.  It’s mostly little things, but it adds up enough that, when Rhodey takes a serious hit in Civil War, you can see why it devastates Tony so much.