Terrence Howard Thinks Robert Downey Jr. Is The Reason He Was Replaced In ‘Iron Man 2’
Terrence Howard has a bone to pick with Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr.
After appearing in director Jon Favreau’s hit 2008 comic book flick, the actor was ultimately replaced by Don Cheadle in the follow-up. Although there’s plenty of rumors out there regarding why this whole thing went down, Howard firmly believes Robert Downey Jr. is the reason he didn’t star in the sequel. What’s more, he’s ready to tell the world about it.
According to Worst Previews, Terrence Howard explained his theory while promoting his latest movie The Best Man Holiday. In his opinion, the Iron Man star ended up grabbing some of the cash that was originally earmarked for Howard.
“This is gonna get me in a lot of trouble. 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,” Howard said during a recent interview.
The actor went on to explained how the whole thing went down:
“We did a three picture deal. [I] did the deal ahead of time. 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 1/8th 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 who I helped get the first job and he didn’t call me back for three months.”
This certainly isn’t the first time Terrence Howard dished about his experience with Marvel Studios and Iron Man. While he’s grateful for the opportunities that arose following the release of Favreau’s flick, he blames the movie for essentially killing his career.
The Huffington Post reports that Howard made the comments while promoting his film Dead Man Down earlier this year. He may have started out as the highest-paid member of the Iron Man cast, but that all changed when producers came knocking for the sequel.
The actor said:
“I love the fact that ‘Iron Man’ put me on a world stage and tested my strength of character. I chose not to fight back, not to deal with the allegations, but to continue forward and do what I had to do. I had to start all over: went from making $6 million a movie, back to $60 thousand a movie. But as long as you don’t give up you are able… I’ll make $20 million soon. Because I have learned the lessons of yesterday.”
Here’s the part that must sting the most: Robert Downey Jr. is currently among the highest-paid actors on the entire planet. The guy reportedly made upwards of $50 million from The Avengers alone. Chances are he’ll make even more money down the road.
Do you think Robert Downey Jr. is to blame for Terrence Howard getting bumped from Iron Man 2? Were you disappointed that he didn’t star in the sequel?
[Image via Marvel Studios / Walt Disney Pictures]
