In fact, an Oscar-nominated actor like Terrence Howard probably only agreed to star in Iron Man in the first place because his role would grow exponentially in Iron Man 2, where he’d become War Machine. Except it won’t now, because Terrence Howard isn’t going to be in Iron Man 2.

Thanks to rumoured financial disagreements, Howard is out of Iron Man 2, and he’ll be replaced by Don Cheadle – the man whose godawful British accent ruined Ocean’s 11 and its sequels. There are bound to be some cosmetic changes to the script because of this casting change – for example, to suit Cheadle’s voice, War Machine will now only be referred to as Woooaaar Mableedingchine Innit Guv’nor Chin Chin Toodlepip Mary Poppins.

When Marvel makes a movie, it likes to hint at sequel possibilities to arouse the geeks. That’s why Nick Fury turned up at the end of Iron Man, Iron Man turned up in The Incredible Hulk, the crappy semi-outline of Captain America popped up in one millisecond of a deleted scene in The Incredible Hulk and the rest of The Incredible Hulk was so bad that people fantasised about a sequel because it could only ever be better than the film they were actually watching.

And another moment like this came in Iron Man when Terrence Howard took a loving look at the Iron Man suit, patted it and murmured “Next time.” The message was clear – rather than just being Robert Downey Jr’s dull, Driving Miss Daisy-style companion, in Iron Man 2, Terrence Howard was probably going to become War Machine. In fact, that’s probably the only reason why Terrence Howard agreed to play such a menial part in Iron Man to begin with.

But that dream is over, because Terrence Howard is out of Iron Man 2, and in his place is lovely old Don Cheadle, as Reuters reports:

In a surprise move, Don Cheadle will replace Terrence Howard as Robert Downey Jr’s best friend in “Iron Man 2,” the sequel to the superhero saga. Marvel had no comment, but sources close to the deal said negotiations with Howard fell through over financial differences, among other reasons.

Apparently, along with the casting change, Marvel wants to take the Howard/Cheadle character Jim Rhodes, in ‘another direction’.

We’re not completely sure what that means but, given Don Cheadle’s previous movie roles, we’re fairly certain that in Iron Man 2 War Machine is either going to end up as a victim of racism who works as a UN humanitarian volunteer in Darfur, or as a gor blimey chim-chiminey cockney urchin who lives up the apple and pears, stands up and weeps every time the national anthem plays and works as a rag and bone man with his cantankerous old father. Our fingers are crossed for the latter.

However, Terrance Howard’s sudden unexplained removal from Iron Man 2 should just go to show the other other actors that nobody is bigger than the movie and everyone is expendable. So everyone had better watch out, otherwise there’s a fairly solid chance that, in Iron Man 2, Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow will be replaced by Gary Coleman and Gary Coleman in a blonde wig and a miniskirt. Consider that a warning.