WAR MACHINES
Earth-818

Membership: None identified

Purpose: To police the world on behalf of Earth-21798's Black Skull

Aliases: None

Affiliations: The Black Skull (Johann Shmidt of Earth-21798)

Enemies: Ant-Man (Tony Stark), Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes of Earth-616), Infinity Thing (Ben Grimm), Moon Knight (Spector), Shellhead, Wonder Man (Simon Williams), an unidentified Deathlok cyborg

Base of Operations: The wastelands of Earth-818

First Appearance: Avengers Forever II#1 (February, 2022)

History:
(Avengers VII#50 (fb) - BTS) - The War Machines became the soldiers of the Earth-818's supreme ruler, Earth-21798's Black Skull.

(Avengers Forever II#1 (fb) - BTS) - The War Machines became the enforcers of the Black Skull's laws.

(Avengers Forever II#2 (fb) - BTS) - The War Machines became headquartered in the Black Skull's main compound.

(Avengers Forever II#1 (fb) - BTS) - Over time, the young Tony Stark grew up with his bootlegging father caring about few things in life aside from a bottle of alcohol in his hands, food on the table and gas in his flying truck so that he could outrun the War Machines. Eventually, Tony Stark became an archaeologist and when he was caught looting the tomb of the Fist of Khonshu, Stark was locked in a cave by the Black Skull and tortured until he agreed to make whatever weapons the Black Skull desired, ultimately designing flying armor for the Black Skull's War Machines and soon escaping with the aid of an ant-sized robot he created named Shellhead the Iron Ant. When Stark's later archaeological digs threatened to land him in a War Machine prison, Stark shifted his focus into disappearing from the War Machines' notice, soon discovering the size-changing Stark Particles and assuming the heroic alias of Ant-Man.

(Avengers Forever II#1) - Some time later, after locating the lost hammer Mjolnir belonging to the all-father Odin, Ant-Man commented that he and Shellhead depart the scene, as War Machines were likely already above ground waiting to kill them. As if on cue, the War Machines above ground demanded Ant-Man show himself and announced Ant-Man's impending arrest on charges of defying their wastelord. Before Ant-Man emerged from his underground excavation, the War Machines threatening to arrest Ant-Man received an alert from another sector of the wastelands and they flew off to investigate, leaving Ant-Man to wonder where they were going.

(Avengers II#50) - Having been summoned to the scene of the arrival on Earth-818 of Earth-616's Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes) and an unidentified Deathlok cyborg, the War Machines immediately attempted to arrest the two for being in the possession of an illegal motorized vehicle. The War Machines ordered Ghost Rider to exit the vehicle and plead for mercy from their ruler, the Black Skull. As Ghost Rider and the Deathlok prepared to escape, the War Machines announced that the two had no rights, not even the right to scream while dying. When the War Machines gave their final warning, Ghost Rider leaped from his Hell Charger and savagely attacked the War Machines alongside the Deathlok cyborg.

(Avengers Forever II#1) - When their weapons proved ineffective against the Ghost Rider, the fearful War Machines fled into the air but Ghost Rider pursued, catching one of the War Machines with his hellfire chains and hurling him into the ground. Some of the War Machines continued trying to attack Ghost Rider's Hell Charger vehicle and while the Deathlok shot one of the flying War Machines, he remarked to Ghost Rider that the War Machines would never surrender as long as the Black Skull was watching their actions. Despite this knowledge, Ghost Rider continued his attack, again leaping from his Hell Charger to take down several War Machines as they neared Earth-818's Crematrain, which carried human wastelanders as its fuel source. Some of the War Machines reported back to the Black Skull while Ghost Rider subjected the remaining War Machines to his Penance Stare, burning the eyes of one of the armored soldiers. The Deathlok soon warned Ghost Rider that more War Machines would be coming. When he asked Ghost Rider what to do with the humans inside the Crematrain, Ghost Rider hooked his chains to the train to pull the humans to safety as more War Machines arrived on the scene. Ghost Rider dragged the Crematrain as far as a barricade set up by the Black Skull, guarded by numerous War Machines and other soldiers. Upon seeing Earth-616's Ghost Rider, the Black Skull remarked that the War Machines' reports had been accurate and that he was very curious to hear the Ghost Rider explain how he could be on Earth-818. Having secretly followed the War Machines when they departed, Ant-Man saw the Ghost Rider and returned to his superheroic allies to report what he had seen.

(Avengers Forever II#2) - While torturing the now-captive Ghost Rider of Earth-616, the Black Skull commended the Ghost Rider on how he had torn through the War Machines, remarking on how they seemed to be kindred spirits, he and the Ghost Rider. After sawing off the Ghost Rider foot, the Black Skull ordered one of the War Machines to fly the skeletal foot into the sun but as soon as the War Machine touched the fiery foot, it burst the War Machine into flames due to its soul-burning hellfire. Following the torture session, the Black Skull had some of the War Machines toss the injured Ghost Rider back into a cell with the unidentified Deathlok cyborg. During a later torture session, the Ghost Rider managed to knock the Black Skull back with a blast of hellfire, prompting War Machines to immediately surround the Rider, who eventually summoned his equally captured Hell Charger. When the Black Skull's teammate Ghost Goblin arrived on Earth-818 and helped down Ghost Rider-616, the curious Black Skull noted that, since arriving on Earth-818, Ghost Rider-616 had killed forty-eight War Machines and he wondered what made Ghost Rider-616 so different from the other Riders he had encountered.

(Avengers Forever II#3) - Ant-Man staged a rescue of Ghost Rider-616 and the unidentified Deathlok cyborg while his shrunken allies Infinity Thing, Vision, Moon Knight and Wonder Man monitored the War Machine-surrounded compound of the Black Skull from the outside. When the Moon Knight lost contact with Ant-Man, Wonder Man opted to keep the War Machines busy while the other heroes went after Ant-Man, Ghost Rider-616 and the Deathlok. Infinity Thing soon joined Wonder Man against the War Machines, destroying some and avoiding the attacks of others. As the battle progressed, Moon Knight and Vision infiltrated the Black Skull's compound but their Stark Particles wore off in a room guarded by more War Machines that contained portals to other realities. Moon Knight immediately announced that the moon had judged the War Machines for their crimes against the world and the two heroes began fighting the War Machine guards. Eventually, the Ghost Rider managed to defeat the Black Skull and both he and Ant-Man rode out the Black Skull's compound in Ghost Rider's Hell Charger just as Wonder Man and the Infinity Thing were taking down the remaining War Machines outside. Having down their own group of War Machines in the reality portal room, Moon Knight contacted Ant-Man to inform him that the battle was not yet won but she was interrupted when several alternate reality Red Skull counterparts emerged from the reality portals.

(Avengers Forever II#4 - BTS) - After Ghost Rider-616 and the arrival of Reality-14412's daughters of Thor helped banish the Red Skull counterparts, the Black Skull was left chained in a catatonic state of forever penance in a world no longer ruled by the Skull and his War Machines. Ghost Rider-616 and Wonder Man then set out to round up all of the remaining War Machines and over the course of a night, the screams of the War Machines were heard all over, and by morning, Earth-818 was truly freed.

Comments: Created by Jason Aaron, Aaron Kuder and Cam Smith.

    There's a bit of confusion as to when exactly the War Machines became the soldiers of the Black Skull. Tony Stark-818 mentions his father trying to outrun the War Machines from his past but then Tony later mentions having been forced to design the War Machines after being held captive and tortured in a cave by the Black Skull. The best I could come up with in terms of history is that the War Machines must have existed without their Iron Man-like armor during Tony Stark's younger days and during that time, Tony's father always tried to avoid them, then after being tortured, Tony Stark designed the armor the War Machines later used.

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Earth-818's War Machines have no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Avengers Forever II#1, p15, pan1-2 (War Machines as a group, main image)
Avengers VII#50, p60, pan4 (red-masked War Machines in flight)
Avengers Forever II#1, p16, pan2 (group of War Machines flying)
Avengers Forever II#3, p6, pan1 (War Machines guarding the Black Skull's compound)

Appearances:
 Avengers Forever II#1 (February, 2022) - Jason Aaron (writer), Aaron Kuder (pencils), Cam Smith (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers VII#50 (February, 2022) - "An Earth Unlike Any Other (Just Like All the Rest)" story - Jason Aaron (writer), Aaron Kuder, Carlos Pacheco, Rafael Fonteriz, Ed McGuinness, Javier Garron (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers Forever II#2 (March, 2022) - Jason Aaron (writer), Aaron Kuder, Carlos Magno (pencils), Scott Hanna, Roberto Poggi, Cam Smith (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers Forever II#3 (May, 2022) - Jason Aaron (writer), Aaron Kuder (pencils), Cam Smith, Scott Hanna (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers Forever II#4 (May, 2022) - Jason Aaron (writer), Jim Towe (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First Posted: 08/27/2023
Last updated: 08/27/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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