Howard blames Downey for being replaced by Don Cheadle.
Former “Rhodey” actor Terrence Howard opened up about his being replaced in the Iron Man sequels. Terrence Howard essentially blames series star Robert Downey Jr. for him losing the role to Don Cheadle in the second and third films.
Howard told Vulture about his departure from the franchise after playing Col. Jim Rhodes in only the first Iron Man movie:
“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.”
When questioned about reportedly wanting to make the same money on the sequel as Robert Downey Jr did, Terrence Howard explained that he’d done a three-picture deal with set pay raises for each subsequent sequel.
“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,'” he recalled. “And I called my friend, that I helped get the first job, and he didn’t call me back for three months.”
Asked how things are now between himself and Downey, Howard said, “Oh, I love him. God’s going to bless him.”