Back when the first Iron Man came out, and when the whole Marvel experiment was seen as a very, very big gamble, the role of James 'Rhodey' Rhodes was played by Terrence Howard. But Howard didn't return for Iron Man 2 onwards, with the role being taken on by Don Cheadle instead.
Howard has discussed what happened before, but while on the promotional circuit for his new movie, The Best Man vacation, he's pointing the finger a little bit firmer. Admitting that the comment is going to get him into trouble, Howard said 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's not naming names, but you don't need to give Angela Lansbury a call or anything to get to the bottom of who he's talking about.
"We did a three picture deal", he continued. "A certain amount for the first one, For the second a certain amount. For the third.... They came to me for the second one and said 'we will pay you an eighth of what we contractually had for you, because the second one will be successful with or without you'. And I called my friend who I helped get the first job and he didn't call me back for three months".
Ouch. There's been no comment from anyone associated with Marvel, and nor, in truth, should we expect one.
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