Iron Man 2 was going to be Terrence Howard’s big chance to shine, at least until he got the boot in favour of Don Cheadle.
Even now, nobody has any idea about why Terrence Howard was sacked from Iron Man 2 – not even Terrence Howard himself. In fact, Howard claims that he’s still in the dark about it all. All he knows is that he’s angry enough to wail about it to anyone close to him who happens to be holding a microphone.
Still though, Terrence Howard will get the last laugh here. After all, Iron Man 2 might be one of the biggest movies in history, but can Don Cheadle look himself in the eye and say that he’s making a rubbishy Karate Kid knock-off about street fighting that starts Channing Tatum? No. No he cannot. So in that respect, Terrence Howard wins. He loses the bits about being rich and famous and powerful, but he wins the Karate Kid bit.
It seemed like such a brilliant idea, didn’t it, when Marvel decided that it’d hire big-name credible actors for the roles in their movies. Robert Downey Jr, perhaps the finest actor of his generation as Iron Man. Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts. Edward Norton as The Incredible Hulk. Terrence Howard as Jim Rhodes. What a brilliant way to make low-grade superhero schlock seem intelligent and highbrow, we all thought.
Marvel forgot one very important thing in all of this, though – the reason why nobody had thought to do it first is because everyone knew that when you hire an important actor for a movie you’re essentially hiring an enormous raging ego trapped inside the body of Veruca Salt from Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.
That’s why earlier this year we were treated to the sight of Edward Norton threatening to hold his breath until Marvel made The Incredible Hulk into a three-hour exploration of the frailty of the human condition – and it might be why Terrence Howard is no longer in Iron Man 2.
There were plenty of hints in Iron Man that Iron Man 2 would be Terrence Howard’s film – all the nods to War Machine certainly pointed that way – but last week it was revealed that Don Cheadle was replacing Terrence Howard as Jim Rhodes in the sequel.
At the time there were vague murmurings about Terrence Howard wanting too much money, but according to Howard himself, he hasn’t got a bloody clue about anything. And he’s mighty displeased about it, as he told NPR:
“It was the surprise of a lifetime. There was no explanation. I read something in the trades that implicated it was about money or something but apparently the contracts that we write and sign aren’t worth the paper that they’re printed on. And promises aren’t kept. Good faith negotiations aren’t always held up. You know, even friendships, people that you support…”
So who knows why Terrence Howard got the shove from Iron Man 2. Maybe it was money, or maybe it’s because Terrence Howard seems to be such a self-important nobsack that nobody could bear to spend another second working with him.
Either way, let’s just pray that Marvel doesn’t run into the same difficulties with Don Cheadle, because then it’d have to switch black actors a third time for Iron Man 3 and, as well as giving the slightly dubious impression that the moviegoing public can’t really tell the difference between one black actor and another, it’d only be a matter of time before the studio decides to cast Chris Tucker as Jim Rhodes, and that would just be hideous.
With all of this in mind, someone who should be watching his back is prospective Thor director Kenneth Branagh. He’d better not get any flighty ideas about the movie or he’ll be out and Marvel will jump on the phone to the bloke who directed Beverly Hills Chihuahua.
KAREN says
WHAT ARE THEY CRAZY HOW DUM ARE THEY TO KICK OUT TERRANCE HOWARD SOMEONE DOESNT SEEM TO REALIZE WE ARENT STUPID YOU CANT START SOMETHING WITH ONE PERSON AN USE ANOTHER IT DONT FIT AN TERRANCE HOWARD WAS GREAT IN THAT PART … ONLY IN HOLLYWOOD WE THE PEOPLE PAY FOR THE MOVIE AN WE ARE THE ONES THAT MAKE IT FAMOUS SO WHY BE STUPID AN CHANGE HIM NOW WE WANT TO SEE WHO WE WANT TO SEE IN THE MOVIES I … WILL WAIT FOR IT TO COME OUT ON SHOWTIME OR SOMETHING STUPID BEFORE I PAY FOR IT IN THE MOVIES NOW BUT DONT GET ME WRONG Robert Downey Jr WAS A GREAT IRONMAN KEEP TERRANCE HOWARD AN STOP THE SWITCHIN PEOPLE WE ARENT STUPID STOP THE MADNESS
Stabby McGee says
Karen, I have to ask… did you copy and paste Robert Downey Jr’s name from Wikipedia into your rant or something? Were you not sure of the spelling?
Miki says
Don Cheadle – UGH! Not intersted in the sequel after all. I’ll wait for Transformers.
Ironlung says
i hear this terrance guy is gonna be in meteor man 2. true story. sort of.
QueenOfNarnia says
Yeah, I like Don Cheadle sometimes, but not in this movie. It’s like replacing Orlando Bloom with Pierce Brosnan or something. Bad idea. Terence Howard’s absence from the film is going to kill it, I fear. Too bad, I was really looking forward to it, too. Freaking Hollywood.
Michy says
Its a shame, Terrance Howard played a great roll as Jim Rhodes on the first movie and the sequel was hes time to shine, How I hate replacements on sequels. The worst replacement I can remember was Rachel Mcadams replacing Katie Holmes on the roll as Rachel Dawes in Batman The Dark knight, lucky Rachel Dawes got killed in this movie.
HMMMM says
I know its 3 years too late but dumb is spelled with a B