"Next time" said Terrence Howard's Col. Jim Rhodes admiring the IRON MAN suit in his good friend Tony Stark's basement towards the end of this year's Marvel epic. It got me excited, I almost geeked out in the theatre much to the dismay of my girlfriend who didn't have a clue what I was talking about. For those in the know, it was clearly a not so subtle hint from director Jon Favreau that he wanted the character to grow in the sequel to take on the mantle of War Machine. It's clear Favreau had big plans for Howard and they had a great bond. But once again, those tight-fisted idiots at Marvel (who remember, nearly dropped Favreau himself because he wanted a slight pay rise) have dropped the Howard from the movie's sequel and replaced him with the cheaper Don Cheadle. It's pretty clear from the wording of The Hollywood Reporter that Cheadle was very much Marvel's casting and not Favreau's, the studio wanting him for this project for quite some time. Well I'm shocked that Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. haven't walked on the project because of this. I mean I'm sure they put up a fight because it was clear from the press those three guys did for the movie, they had a great friendship and Bond. Marvel couldn't afford to lose Downey Jr. He should have threatened to walk if Howard didn't get the money he wanted... unless of course his demands were WAY high. Well this is one of those annoying situations when a big comic book character has been replaced so early on and just when we were looking forward to seeing Howard grow with a much bigger part. I like Cheadle and all, he is a great actor. But man, Howard had such a likeability and felt like Jim Rhodes to me. He was the perfect foil for Downey Jr's Stark. I hate re-casting comic book roles... a pet hate of mine.
