The Italian Army (Esercito Italiano) is the ground defence force of the Italian Armed Forces. It is an all-volunteer force of active-duty personnel, numbering 108,355 in 2010. Its best-known combat vehicles are the Dardo infantry fighting vehicle, the Centauro tank destroyer and the Ariete tank, and among its aircraft the Mangusta attack helicopter, recently deployed in UN missions. The headquarters of the Army General Staff are located in Rome, opposite the Presidential Palace.

The army's history dates back to the unification of Italy in the 1850s and 1860s. The army fought in colonial engagements in China, Libya (1911), northern Italy against the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I, Abyssinia before World War II, and in World War II in Albania, Greece, north Africa, Russia and Italy itself. During the Cold War the army prepared itself to defend against a Warsaw Pact invasion from the east. Since the end of the Cold War the army has seen extensive peacekeeping service and combat in Afghanistan and Iraq.

War Machine (James Rupert Rhodes) is a fictional character, a comic book superhero appearing in comic books set in the Marvel Comics universe. The character of James Rhodes first appeared in Iron Man #118 (January 1979) by David Michelinie, John Byrne and Bob Layton. The War Machine armor, which became Rhodes' signature armored battlesuit, was designed by Len Kaminski and Kevin Hopgood.

Also known by his nickname Rhodey, Rhodes has been a featured character in the Iron Man animated series, Iron Man: Armored Adventures and The Invincible Iron Man animated film. He was first portrayed by actor Terrence Howard in the 2008 film Iron Man. Don Cheadle replaced Howard in the 2010 sequel Iron Man 2 and will reprise the role in Iron Man 3.

In addition to Iron Man and his own title War Machine, Rhodes has been featured in the ensemble titles West Coast Avengers; Force Works by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning; Sentinel Squad O*N*E; The Crew by Christopher Priest; and Avengers: The Initiative by Dan Slott and Christos Gage. Rhodes was also featured in the alternate-reality Marvel MAX imprint's U.S. War Machine series by Chuck Austen, and U.S. War Machine 2.0, by Austen and Christian Moore.