this is brilliantly giffed op, but can we just talk about this for a second??

one of the main criticisms i see about tony and rhodey’s relationship- is the fact that rhodey fought him in im2 when he was clearly going through something

which okay, fair enough- i would give that to you except, e x c e p t, exCEPT:

this scene clearly proves that tony specifically designs his tech to respond to him. which means, that in im2- unless tony had specifically coded the war machine suit to respond to rhodey; rhodey couldn’t have accessed the suit

allow me to say that again

unless tony had specifically coded the war machine suit to respond to rhodey; rhodey couldn’t have accessed the suit

now im no genius and i don’t pretend to be but it seems very clear to me that tony intended for rhodey to have that suit all along

that, coupled with the fact that im1 established that the suit is ridiculously hard to pilot sober; and the immense co-ordination that tony shows during that im2 fight sequence: is proof enough for me that tony always intended for rhodey to fight him for a suit

i can think of a couple of reasons why, the primary being that he knew that if he just gave a suit to rhodey; his bestfriend would know something was up because tony just spent all other parts of the film refusing to share his tech

but more importantly

stop attacking rhodey and tony for being toxic they aren’t toxic yall are just mad that your faves aren’t this tight

and idk about yall- but if my bestfriend got drunk and started recklessly using potentially fatal technology at a party with thousands of guests; i would also knock them the fuck out im just saying

In IM2 as well Fury even mentions that saying how did his buddy just come in and take his suit and Natasha states that there are multiple redundancies to prevent unauthorized use of the suits and Tony just kinda gives them a knowing smirk and deflects the question. He totally always planned for it. He wanted Rhodey to step up and take his place when he was gone, and only Rhodey. He was the only person he trusted to carry on that legacy at that time if he were gone.

How is this even a debate? That was *obviously* Rhodeys version of a training montage. A fight against the master who knows its exact tolerances? That’s graduation day in any other movie. Rhodey is badass enough to start andnfinish all in one day. Add in the aforementioned scene with fury and Natasha, and he’s clearly passing the mantle.