When Terrence Howard was cast as Rhodey in 2008’s Iron Man, it looked as if the Hollywood actor had just about found himself in one of the most promising franchises to come, with Marvel spending tens of millions to produce the films that would conclude with Infinity War and Endgame.
And while Howard would’ve probably made a fortune had he continued playing his character for the sequels that followed with the first flick, the latter later announced that he would not be reprising his role for the sequel over Robert Downey Jr.’s decision to have him fired.
Apparently, because the first motion picture was an enormous success at the box office, Downey wanted a bigger cut, which evidently meant that Marvel would not be able to cough up the money to keep Howard on board.
Robert Downey Jr. Allegedly Got Terrence Howard Fired
While they made the perfect team on-screen, it appeared as if things were far from friendly between the actors behind the scenes — but that wasn’t until negotiations begun for the lead stars of the first flick to return for Iron Man 2 in 2010.
It should be mentioned, however, that a report via Entertainment Weekly already claimed that during filming for Iron Man, several crew members had allegedly complained about Howard’s “difficult behavior.”
For his role, he earned $4.5 million, but for the follow-up film, his salary was expected to increase to a whopping $8 million, but supposedly Downey had other plans in mind seeing that the atmosphere on set had already been bad enough for people not to want to work with Howard again.
On top of the issues the latter had brought on himself with the film crew, instead of having Marvel bring the Empire star back for a second run, Downey is said to have taken the money as part of his salary increase for Iron Man 2.
Note that this was on top of the actor’s revised contractual agreement, which totaled his amount to a cool $10 million.
Understandably, Howard was furious over Marvel’s decision not to bring him back, stressing that the studio had initially signed him on for a multi-picture deal, but after having gotten the impression that the follow-up would be a success with or without him in the film, they decided to cut him from the project entirely.
But the good thing was that he was still going to get paid — just not the full amount he would’ve hoped to have gotten.
“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,” he said during a 2013 appearance on Watch What Happens Live.
“We did a three-picture deal. That means you did the deal ahead of time—a certain amount for the first one, a certain amount for the second, a certain amount for the third.
“They came to me with the second and said ‘look, 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 certainly has every reason to be upset, particularly since he had already inked a deal that would’ve seen him star in at least three movies with the billion-dollar firm, and paying him his $8 million wasn’t going to be a dealbreaker for their pockets either.
But since the Hustle and Flow star had already created a name for himself with crew members for being not-so-easy to work with, it seemed as if getting rid of him was ultimately going to make a lot of people’s lives easier while doing their job.
And Marvel was right since Iron Man 2 generated even bigger numbers than its predecessor, while Downey’s salary spiked to an incredible $75 million for the third installment and $50 million for Avengers.
Another $40 million was made from Avengers: Age of Ultron, and two separate $75 million checks for Infinity War and Endgame.
Needless to say, the New York native, who is worth a reported $300 million, has made an incredible fortune thanks to his success playing Iron Man, but Howard will undoubtedly always resent his former “friend” for allegedly playing a part in his departure from a lucrative franchise.
The two haven't spoken since the whole fiasco went down during negotiations for the sequel, but the 51-year-old says he's moved past the issue and is only focused on his career at this point.