War Machine Armor Gets Different Actor in Iron Man 2

War Machine Armor Gets Different Actor in Iron Man 2

Actor Terrence Howard, who was slated to play Jim Rhodes again in Iron Man 2--and who would've put on the War Machine armor for that flick, has been replaced by Don Cheadle. Marvel wouldn't comment except to say there were compensation disagreements...

By ComicBookMovie - Oct 14, 2008 10:10 AM EST
Filed Under: Iron Man 2

In the first movie, Jim Rhodes was Tony Stark/Iron Man's best friend and was supposed to be a major part in the sequel as the artillery-heavy hero War Machine. One scene featured Howard looking at a silver suit of armor and saying "Next time," a line that caused great delight for fans.

But there will be no next time for Howard.

Marvel had no comment, but sources close to the deal said negotiations with Howard fell through over financial differences, among other reasons. Marvel, which had wanted to work with Cheadle, then decided to take the role in another direction and approached the actor, who is shooting Antoine Fuqua's "Brooklyn's Finest" with Richard Gere and Ethan Hawke currently.

Rhodes is expected to play a larger part in the sequel, which is rumored to go beyond high-tech villains. Justin Theroux is writing the screenplay.

Jon Favreau is returning as director, and Robert Downey Jr. is expected back as billionaire industrialist Stark/Iron Man. Gwyneth Paltrow also is expected to be back as Stark's assistant, Pepper Potts.

Cheadle, most recently starred in "Traitor," a thriller on which he was also a producer. He will next be seen in DreamWorks' "Hotel for Dogs."
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OriginalPhysco
OriginalPhysco - 10/14/2008, 10:44 AM
why, i liked him as jim rhodes
SGA
SGA - 10/14/2008, 11:23 AM
I liked Howard as Rhoadie, but Cheadle is one of my favorite actors...I'M TORN :(

Hopefully he'll do a good job, especially in the armor.
schuellerdg
schuellerdg - 10/14/2008, 11:34 AM
I don't think that Cheadle fits the Jim Rhodes persona. I think a good canidate for the character would of been the same guy that did spawn. I mean Jim Rhodes is a bit of a bad ass. I don't see bad ass in Cheadle.
hbk82287
hbk82287 - 10/14/2008, 1:01 PM
Terrance Howard had the right persona for the movie, but he dropped the ball straight up. Rhodie may have been part of the army but that doesn't mean he was this black guy with a white guy voice and personality. I am in no way trying to be racist but Rhodie shouldnt have acted so white in Iron man
Scottymagic
Scottymagic - 10/14/2008, 5:25 PM
Shame Terrance Howard was cool iron man and it seems as if they are setting him up for a much bigger role so suprised at this, not sure about Cheadle...but post-ledger im willing to give a guy a chance.
Scottymagic
Scottymagic - 10/14/2008, 5:27 PM
Also im mostly annoyed they'll be a continuity annoyance in iron man 2, sure maggi g in dark knight and katie holmes you can forgive as she was merely a plot device but this dudes a big part of iron mans and therefore by extension the marvel movie universe...was hoping these films would all sink up well...minor gripe im sure ill get over it.
schuellerdg
schuellerdg - 10/14/2008, 7:04 PM
Michael Jai White is the man that should be Jim Rhodes. He is the guy that played Sqawn/Al Simmons. He has the deep voice that I imaged Jim Rhodes in having. Plus he seems like a bad ass.
Isact
Isact - 10/14/2008, 10:06 PM
I think this is a great change. Terrence Howard just seemes a little to soft voiced to play that part, Cheadle is a better choice in my opinion.
SuperFlyinPwrs
SuperFlyinPwrs - 10/14/2008, 10:39 PM
I like Cheadle but not as Rhodey maybe as the voice of War Machine but not as Rhodey. In my opinion, Howard was the best Rhodey, I've seen so far. But Cheadle is a very good actor so go figure. I still would like a better exclamation as to why they won't let him do it.
schuellerdg
schuellerdg - 10/15/2008, 11:24 AM
Ok,what do you mean so far? What other Jim Rhodes have there been? You don't have anyone to compare him to...yet.
RPM
RPM - 10/17/2008, 2:44 PM
The Rock should play Jim Rhodes. :)
Fayth17
Fayth17 - 10/19/2008, 12:55 AM
A comment to fearless: War Machine is an Iron Man character if you ever read any Iron comics you would know that Rhodes has been in Iron man since the 60's-70's its no reject its one of Tony Stark's suits that his friend Jim Rhodes uses and having "some black guy" wearing his suits did make a big difference back in the day when there weren't many black super heroes so to some it makes a large difference so please before you go around trying to rant about nothing please make sure you know your facts
solidspider
solidspider - 10/19/2008, 2:05 PM
Hahahaaaa.....Yeah!...The Rock would make a Good Jim Rhodes! I am suprised about Terrence not Returning for part 2?! But Don Is an Excellent Actor though, so I know he'll do well. I guess Terrence is more busy with his musical Aspirations. He was very good in Hustle and Flow as that Rapper Dee-Jay :)
My comment to Fayth: I totally Agree with you. Also, when Tony was battling his own personal demons with Alcoholisim and refused to don the Armor, or was unable to for various reasons- Rhodey was there to Act on IronMan's Behalf or Save Tony's Life-Plenty of Times- thus Rhodes WAS Iron-Man for some time! He eventually returned to using the "War Machine" Armor. LOTS of Other stuff Happened too! Check out this Link:
http://www.comicvine.com/war-machine/29-1926/
Have a Great Day :)
Kalabog
Kalabog - 10/19/2008, 8:54 PM
Do you know who's the best candidate to play jim Rhodes-- ROBERT DOWNEY JR.! Who else? Make it a dual role. Watch Tropic Thunder and you'll see what I'm talking about! NOT!!!
Seriously. Cheadle is OK but I feel War Machine deserves a more imposing persona. The Rock is a good choice but believe he is too imposing and deserves an independent character like Luke Cage. Terence Howard was perfect but if he has to go then Michael Jai White is my second choice.
dscspurs
dscspurs - 10/21/2008, 4:36 PM
off the subject, but there was no lead in for DareDevil... so here's my take on the last one.I’m an avid movie and comic book fan, and this had been troubling me ever since your Dare Devil movie hit the screen years ago. The fact that a second DD movie has yet to hit theaters since the last one is a statement in its self that it produced a failure and did not meet the public’s opinion and expectation of a good movie.

As Stan Lee states, enough said…

Below are the reasons why the Dare Devil movie failed and did not gross as much as it could of.

First off, everyone who watched the Spider-Man movie series, were expecting the same type of world class movie product which was not the same with the Dare Devil movie. The special affects were second to third rate; DD looked like a bad cartoon at times. The suite was superior and had fantastic color to it though.

The movie needed to be more life like; having Murdock fight in public playground with kids watching was the biggest mistake of this film. Then there was the smiling smirk he had while he was fighting…this didn’t help.

If he had dressed like Dare Devil that would have been believable and enjoyable to watch because the viewing audience would of expected it but that was not the case. The fight screen made Murdock look like a fake blind man who could see and fight like a professional. It’s obvious that the screenwriter had never read the DD comic book(s).

In the movie where the newspaper man found out Dare Devil’s real identity should have been kept a mystery and written as such…

Bulls-Eye was an excellent villain but the fight screen in the church, because of the terrible special affects, was the worst I’d had ever seen - it was again, third rate. Improvement is greatly needed in this area if your company were to try and re-sell DD as a likeable super hero.
..
MDreamer
MDreamer - 10/23/2008, 11:25 PM
For people who don't think Don can be a bad ass need to see a movie called devil in a blue dress where he played the homicidal side kick of denzel washington his character was named Mouse. Its a great flick.
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