Aahana Swrup
‘War Machine’ starts as an action-thriller that follows the protagonist’s journey to become a RASP Ranger through the rigorous military selection program. However, as soldier 81 and his team embark on their final simulation test, The Death March, they stumble upon a greater, possibly otherworldly threat. As they’re left to fend for themselves against a killing machine without any viable defence weapons of their own, they begin to realize the robot might have something to do with the news reports of a suspicious asteroid, RX-505-Polemas, which had been hurtling towards Earth for days.
Although the asteroid itself plays a small role in the survival thriller story that unravels, its impact ripples throughout the narrative. For the same reason, fans are bound to grow curious about the involvement of the interstellar object in the film and its possible basis in reality. SPOILERS AHEAD!
RX-505-Polemas is a Fictional Asteroid That Plays Into Tropes of the Alien Invasion Genre
‘War Machin’ charts a fictitious story, penned in its entirety by James Beaufort and his co-writer/director Patrick Hughes. As a result, most of the elements in the story, from the characters to the giant killer robot on the loose, are confined within the fictionalized premises of the story. This also applies to the RX-505-Polemas asteroid, which remains at the center of the plotline. In real life, while there have been numerous asteroids discovered in Earth’s solar system over the years, no off-screen celestial object serves as a direct counterpart for the on-screen RX-505-Polemas.
Instead, the latter simply serves as a storytelling device, equipped with genre conventions that influence the narrative’s alien invasion storyline. In the film, RX-505-Polemas is initially introduced on the plotline’s peripheries as an asteroid with a concerning trajectory that NASA is keeping an eye on. Eventually, once the killing machine enters the narrative, the asteroid’s bigger impact is revealed. As it turns out, RX-505-Polemas is really an interstellar threat, populated with countless pods that crash land on various regions of the planet. Upon entry, the pods transform into giant, murderous robots that wreak havoc on humanity.
Thus, it’s revealed that the asteroid is actually a weapon of mass destruction working on behalf of an unidentified alien species that is looking to conquer Earth. Over the years, numerous movies and TV shows about alien invasion have employed similar narrative elements to move the plotline forward. In the 1996 film ‘Independence Day,’ the Harvester Mothership fulfills this role, while other comparable cinematic counterparts include Kaijus from ‘Pacific Rim,’ Mimics from ‘Edge of Tomorrow,’ and more. Therefore, while RX-505-Polemas lacks a tangible inspiration or counterpart in real life, it retains grounded roots in tropes of the genre. For the same reason, the asteroid adds a sense of familiarity in the fictional world-building of ‘War Machine.’
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