We all know and love Don Cheadle as James Rhodes aka War Machine from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The actor will soon be reprising his role in Armor Wars, a solo film for the character. However, Don Cheadle would not have been part of the MCU at all if things didn’t end so badly with Terrence Howard.
Terrence Howard played the role of Tony Stark’s best friend in Iron Man, the film that kick-started the MCU. Unfortunately, despite the fact that Terrence Howard was supposed to reprise his role in the future, the actor had to back away from the franchise after a drastic salary deduction that seemed unfair to him. While on one hand, Robert Downey Jr.’s salary sky-rocketed, Terrence Howard stated his pay was reduced causing him to leave the role behind.
Why Terrence Howard Left the MCU
After the success of Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr.’s salary was reportedly increased to a whopping ten million dollars, back-end profits excluded. As a result, the studio had to make some cutbacks and they did that in Terrence Howard’s paycheck. During his appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Howard stated,
“We did a three-picture deal. You did the deal ahead of time. A certain amount for the first one. For the second, a certain amount. For the third … they came to me for the second one and said, ‘We will pay you one-eighth of what we contractually had for you, because we think the second one will be successful with or without you.’ And I called my friend that I helped get the first job, and he didn’t call me back for three months.”
Howard has time and again asserted that he had a hand in Downey getting the role of Iron Man, something which Marvel has denied. His anger was also directed toward the renowned actor who he believes didn’t help him when he could’ve.
“It turns out that the person that I helped become Iron Man, when it was time to re-up for the second one took the money that was supposed to go to me and pushed me out.”
In 2015, Howard told Rolling Stone,
“And guess who got the millions I was supposed to get? He got the whole franchise, so I’ve actually given him $100 million, which ends up being a $100 million loss for me from me trying to look after somebody, but, you know, to this day I would do the same thing. It’s just my nature.”
As for Downey, the actor denied having anything to do with the studio cutting Howard’s salary or the actor’s decision to leave the franchise.
Don Cheadle Talks about Replacing Terrence Howard
Don Cheadle was accused of ‘Aunt Viv’ing’ Howard. The term refers to the time when the actress who played Aunt Viv in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was replaced in between episodes. In an interview with GQ, Cheadle stated,
“I Aunt Viv’d him? I did not move Terrence out of a role. He was not…they had decided that they weren’t…that was not happening. Then it was an open part. I was at my kid’s laser tag birthday party and they called me and said, ‘This is what’s happening.’”
Cheadle went on to say that he was only given an hour to decide whether he was in or out.
“’We’re giving you the offer. If you don’t say yes, we’re going to the next person. This is gonna happen very fast.’ So they said, ‘Why don’t you go ahead and take an hour and decide if you want to do it.’”
An hour is not enough time to make such life-changing decisions. On top of that, Cheadle was not only saying yes to one film. His contract had a six-picture deal. When the actor told the studio that he was at his kid’s birthday party, they spared him one more hour. After playing laser tag for two hours and talking to his wife and agent, Cheadle decided to say yes to the role. The rest, as we know, is history.
Cheadle will reprise his role in Armor Wars set to release in 2025.
Source: Watch What Happens Live
