20 Worst Performances In MCU Movies
15. Terrence Howard
Character: James Rhodes
Appeared In: Iron Man
Terrence Howard, despite his shortcomings as a person, is an often strong actor and was notably the only A-lister who turned in a good performance in Movie 43. With hindsight, casting him as Rhodes seemed like a good idea and he arguably suits the cocky, slightly arrogant character of James Rhodes more than Don Cheadle (who's more of a character actor), but Howard's performance in the original Iron Man is immediately forgettable.
He has no chemistry with Robert Downey Jr at all and has little depth in his performance, while his character is also just an a**ehole through and through. Tony Stark is a huge D-bag, but Downey Jr's nuanced performance makes us love the guy and understand why he's so difficult. On the other hand, James Rhodes is just an under-developed cocky fly-boy where it's hard to understand what Stark sees in him.
Luckily, after Howard started being difficult they kicked him out and brought in Don Cheadle. Although Cheadle had a shaky start in Iron Man 2, he's generally done a good job with the character.