10 Subtle MCU Gags Everybody Missed At First
7. "I'm Here, Deal With It" (Iron Man 2)
The MCU has done a bang-up job with all of its major recastings, whether you're talking Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, Ross Marquand as Red Skull, or Don Cheadle as James "Rhodey" Rhodes - aka War Machine.
Cheadle made his debut in Iron Man 2 after Rhodey's original actor, Terrence Howard, dropped out due to a pay dispute. This recast Rhodey first appears during the court scene early on, telling his best mate Tony Stark that "it's me, I'm here, deal with it, let's move on", which, in the context of the scene, is a response to Tony's surprise that Rhodey has even showed up.
But when people started to stop and think about this dialogue in the months after the movie's release, its other, much cheekier intent started to become clear.
"Deal with it, let's move on", was the filmmakers' way of telling audiences to get over the Howard recasting, and, well, to just deal with it. Though not in-your-face obvious at first, Iron Man 2 was attempting to put the recasting issue to bed with a single meta wink: Cheadle was here, it was done, and he was our new Rhodey. Boom.
