This morning I read a really interesting piece on /Film about why Terrence Howard was kicked off of Iron Man 2. Or probably more aptly worded.. was not re-cast as Rhodes aka War Machine. You will recall that Marvel has announced that Don Cheadle will replace him. The rumor originally was that Howard was kicked off the movie over differences over money. If you believe Entertainment Weekly the source of the new info in Slashfilms article… it WAS about money.

EW reports that Terrence Howard was first to sign on for Iron Man. What does this mean and why does it matter? Well SHOCKINGLY as part of signing on first he also somehow ended up being the highest paid. Thats right. He was reportedly paid more money then even Robert Downey Jr who was the star.

The report goes on to say that Jon Favreau was not at all happy with Terrence’s performance and they spent alot of time cutting and editing his scenes from Iron Man. The rumor now is that they presented Terrence a contract similar to the money that the other supporting actors got which was a 50 to 80% pay cut. Terrence refused… and now we have Don Cheadle as War Machine. I am pretty damn shocked that Terrence got paid more money then Robert Downey Jr for Iron Man… shocking! That said I still disagree with the casting of Don Cheadle but I do now see things from Marvels side and agree with their decision to replace Terrence based on those $$$.

We know that War Machine will make his debut in this next film and we also know the entire film will focus on the statement Tony Stark made at the end of the first film telling the whole world that he is Iron Man. Add to that Jon wants to shoot the entire film in IMAX 3d and its safe to say Iron Man 2 sounds even better then the first one.