4. Terrence Howard - Iron Man 2
Terrence Howard was the first actor signed onto 2008's Iron Man and was the highest paid of the group to boot. Yes, that's right. More money than Gwyneth Paltrow. More money than Jeff Bridges. And more money than Robert Downey Jr. himself. Of course, Iron Man was directly responsible for Downey's resurgence in Hollywood. But rumors about Howard being difficult to work with, reports about director Jon Favreau being unhappy with Howard's performance, and Howard asking for too high a salary for the sequel, led to Marvel Studios parting ways with the Academy Award-nominated actor and securing Don Cheadle to take the role of Rhoads in Iron Man II and III. Howard stated recently that being ousted from Iron Man II was "the surprise of a lifetime" and that he found about it through the press and didn't even receive a call from Marvel. He also claimed that Cheadle was always their first choice to play Rhodes and only after he declined for the first film, did they decide to sign Howard. Howard signed on for $4.5 million and his contract also suggested he would get $8 million for a sequel. Instead, they offered him a paltry (and I use the term loosely) $1 million for the sequel, basically begging him to leave and allowing Marvel the chance to once again cast Cheadle.