Throughout Hollywood history, no other film franchise has reigned supreme in the way that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has. Currently made up of several different series and 24 different films as of this writing, with more to come out soon, it seems like everything the MCU touches turns to gold.
Since the Marvel Cinematic Universe is such a massive deal, it seems like just about every actor in the world wants to be a part of it. Unfortunately, the majority of actors will never land an MCU role and there are some famous performers that Marvel likely will never want to work with.
Even though so many actors would love to be a part of the MCU, there is one famous performer who regrets being a part of the franchise in the past. In fact, the actor in question has said that their MCU role destroyed their career because of something that Robert Downey Jr. didn’t do.
Getting Recast
After Iron Man became a mammoth hit for Marvel, moviegoers all over the world were extremely excited to see Tony Stark on the big screen once again. Fortunately, they wouldn’t have to wait long as Stark made a cameo appearance in The Incredible Hulk and then plans for Iron Man 2 were quickly announced.
While the world was busy relishing the news that Iron Man 2 was coming to a theater near them soon, one famous actor wasn’t excited in the slightest. After all, even though Terrence Howard reportedly was the first actor hired to star in Iron Man, he was informed that another actor would be taking over his role for the sequel.
In the years since Don Cheadle first played James Rhodes and his alter ego War Machine in Iron Man 2, he has appeared in six MCU movies in total. Unsurprisingly, Cheadle has made a lot of money during his MCU tenure and he is set to take on an even bigger role in the franchise as the star of the upcoming Disney+ series Armor Wars. Given everything that Cheadle has accomplished in the MCU, watching all of that from afar must have been painful for Terrence Howard.
Behind The Scenes Machinations
When people talk about Terrence Howard being replaced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the common consensus has been that it was all his fault that he lost the role. For example, there were reports that he was difficult to deal with on the set of Iron Man and that he demanded too much money to return for Iron Man 2.
According to what Terrence Howard has said about being replaced in the MCU, the coverage of his departure has been very unfair. For example, Howard says that he didn’t go to Marvel asking for some crazy raise. Instead, when Howard signed on for the first Iron Man movie, he agreed to a multi-film deal. As a part of that contract, Howard was set to get a raise for Iron Man 2 which makes sense since stars almost always get a pay bump when they return for a sequel.
Unfortunately for Terrence Howard, Marvel felt they originally agreed to pay him too much Iron Man 2. Instead of negotiating a reasonable new deal, Terrence Howard says Marvel offered to pay him one-eighth of the amount his contract for the first film called for him to make from Iron Man 2. Considering that the majority of people wouldn’t agree to a pay cut that steep, why does anyone think that Howard should have?
Completely Abandoned
Since Robert Downey Jr. has become so synonymous with Iron Man, some people think he always was destined for the role. In reality, however, Marvel took a huge risk when they hired Downey Jr. since he had been through years of personal tribulation before he took on the role. As it turns out, one of the reasons why Marvel took a risk on Downey Jr. is that Terrence Howard pushed them to hire the highly talented actor.
Since Terrence Howard knew the role he played in Robert Downey Jr. landing the role of a lifetime, he expected the Iron Man actor to back him during his Iron Man 2 negotiations. However, Howard says that when he called Downey Jr. looking for help, his former co-star ignored him for months. “They came to me (for) the second 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.”
In the years since Terrence Howard lost his Iron Man 2 role, he has made his disillusionment with Hollywood very clear. For example, Howard once told a Hollywood.com reporter "(The) worst thing I witnessed was 'Iron Man' killing my career. Or trying to. They tried to." Based on that quote, Howard clearly believes the people at Marvel tried to end his career and Robert Downey Jr. allowed that to happen.