It appears Terrence Howard isn’t as interested in playing War Machine as he led on in oh so many reviews prior to Iron Man‘s release last year. At least not interested unless all the zeroes lined up as THR has announced Howard is out and Don Cheadles is in.
Cheadle will replace Howard as Jim Rhodes in Iron Man 2 (5/7/2010), Tony Stark/Iron Man’s best friend and future armor-clad hero War Machine. As THR denotes, one scene in Iron Man features Howard looking at a silver suit of armor and saying “Next time,” a line that caused great delight for fans due to the implication that War Machine would make an appearance in the sequel.
Sources close to the deal with Howard tell THR negotiations with Howard fell through over financial differences. Seems like a strange move for Howard considering Rhodes is likely to play a much larger role in the sequel especially since Favreau was recently quoted saying, “We need War Machine. Agreed. Shoulder cannons and all.”
For those not in the know (myself included), War Machine is an alternate version of Iron Man assumed by Jim Rhodes after Tony Stark’s lapse into alcoholism.
One can only speculate as to why Howard and his agents pushed for more money, but perhaps it’s because he is persuing a career in music. Check out his video for “Sanctuary” and see what you think… I will keep my comments to myself as I assume they are probably obvious.
