Tony Stark/James Rhodes
| Pairing | |
|---|---|
| Pairing: | James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark |
| Alternative name(s): | Iron Husbands, RhFe, Iron Bros, The Big Guns, Iron War, War Machine/Iron Man, Iron Patriot/Iron Man |
| Gender category: | M/M, Slash |
| Fandom: | Iron Man, Iron Man Movieverse, The Avengers (Marvel) |
| Canonical?: | No |
| Prevalence: | Rare |
| Archives: | |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Tony/Rhodey is the slash pairing of James Rhodes/War Machine and Tony Stark/Iron Man in the Marvel universe.
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Canon
Rhodey and Tony appear together in all three Iron Man movies as well as The Avengers 2. They are long-time best friends and Rhodey works as military liaison to Stark Industries.
Fandom
A small number of fans have shipped Tony/Rhodey since the first movie, but despite being a buddy pairing with significant on-screen interaction and affectionate physical contact, it has remained a very small pairing in the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. After the release of both the first and second movie it was outcompeted by the canonical het pairing of Tony/Pepper; once the first Captain America movie was released, Steve/Tony quickly overtook and surpassed both Tony/Rhodey and Tony/Pepper in the Iron Man fandom. Both before and after the releaseAvengers (2012), some fans combined the competing ships into the F/M/M relationship of Pepper Potts/James Rhodes/Tony Stark or into the poly ship of Tony/Steve/Rhodey.[notes 1] Some fans speculate the relative lack of popularity for Tony/Rhodey is due to fandom's preference for Two White Guys pairings; others argue it is simply due to the change in actors playing Rhodey causing his character to be less consistent across the movies.[1]
Tropes & Fanon
- Nicknames: In the movies, Tony at various points calls Rhodey "sourpatch," "platypus," and "honeybear;" as a result, nicknames in general and "honeybear" in particular often appear in fic.
- Tony & Rhodey went to MIT together: The opening voiceover of the first movie stated that Tony went to MIT and in a later scene Rhodey is wearing a brass rat, so many fans assume that they met in college and have been friends since then.
- Genderswap: Most commonly with always-a-girl!Tony, like in gyzym's takes a lot of love and compliance, though scrollgirl wrote always-a-girl!Rhodey here.
- Threesome or Poly ship with Pepper Potts: Most commonly in a triad, but sometimes in a V-shaped relationship.
Example Fan Works
Fan Fiction
- Five thousand roses by forestgreen: Always-a-girl!Tony. (27,110 words)
- Fiercer and More Frail by icarus_chained: Soulbond AU set just after Afghanistan. (3,770 words)
- A Guide to Handling the Unhandleable Tony Stark by nightrider101: A/B/O verse with Alpha!Rhodey and Omega!Tony. (3,635 words)
- James Rhodes in 8C by what_alchemy: Fic starts when they are at MIT and goes past The Avengers. (5,122 words)
- Merrier the More by kahn: Set just post-The Avengers; Rhodey/Steve/Tony threesome. (5,218 words)
- A Silver Anniversary series by Not Applicable: Rhodey & Tony have been together and monogamous since MIT. (16,439 words)
- Sleeping With the Light On by starkly: Pepper/Rhodey/Tony threesome. (4,045 words)
- What I Need I Just Don't Have by gyzym: Established Tony/Rhodey. (2,199 words)
- Just As They Wished It To Be by phoenixfalls: A Tony/Rhodey series beginning at MIT with planned Avengers-Era polyamory. (31,623 words)
Fan Art
Rhodey/Tony by qouinette
Rhodey/Tony bondage by brumous
Rhodey/Tony Kiss by zeewa
TonyRhodey Wedding by bitchaemajoris
Other Fan Works
Marvel Comics
This article or section needs expansion. |
Canon
Fandom
Example Fan Works
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Fan Fiction
- Layers, Cells, Constellations by SakuraTsukikage: Canon-compliant missing scene, set during Stark Resilient. (5,307 words)
- No Touchy by greatbriton: PWP with Marvel-616 characterization. (1,447 words)
Fan Art
Circuits Maximus Era Rhodey/Tony by whileothersreap
Other Fan Works
Archives and Communities
Archives
- Tony/Rhodey tag on AO3
- AO3 Feed - The Big Guns, an automated tumblr that blogs everything posted in the Tony/Rhodey tag on AO3.
- tonyrhodey tag on tumblr
- Tony Stark + James Rhodes on fanfiction.net
LiveJournal Communities
- The Funvee, a LiveJournal community
Resources
- Fuck Yeah Tony/Rhodey on tumblr
- Incorrect Tony's Pairings Quotes on Tumblr
- Image-heavy multi-fandom Rhodey/Tony ship manifesto (of sorts), Archived version by jhenne-bean
- Incorrect Tony's Pairings Quotes on Tumblr
Notes
- ^ The pairing of James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark is extremely rare (for a MCU ship), with only 24 works on AO3. (As of March 21, 2021.)
References
- ^ "SVU shipping with added commentary by brobaiting about white guys shipping and mixed race shipping". Archived from the original on 2020-06-01.