Talking to MTV, Howard admitted that - while still hurt from being replaced in Iron Man 2 by Don Cheadle, whom he thinks Marvel "wanted all along" for the role of James Rhodes - he's looking towards DC Comics for future superhero movie roles. If nothing else, he's talking as if he knows what Warners has planned for the Green Lantern movie franchise, when answering whether he'd like a green ring of his own:

[H]e doesn't become black until the third [movie]... I think they're planning to take those steps. We'll see, I haven't felt those out yet.

Suddenly Green Lantern is a trilogy that'll bring in John Stewart in the third movie? Either Howard knows more than we do (Not always a difficult thing), or he's got an active imagination. Whichever it is, that doesn't change the fact that he's got his eyes on a different member of the Justice League:

Black Lightning... I don't think he's really been explored.

If anyone from Warners is reading this: Please make this happen. I loved Lightning's original stories, where he put on an afro wig and spoke "jive" because that's what villains expected from a black superhero. Better disguise than Clark Kent's glasses and slouch anyday.

Terrence Howard Talks ‘Iron Man 2,' Eyes DC For Future Roles [MTV Splash Page]

If nothing else, the increasing to-and-fro surrounding the cast of the sequel to last year's best superhero movie (Don't groan, Dark Knight fans, you know it's true in your hearts) is becoming an unexpected black eye on the previously perfect public face of Marvel Studios, which only months ago was looking like one of the most successful independent studios in the business and unable to put a foot wrong. Perhaps we should have seen the warning signs when Terrence Howard was unceremoniously replaced by Don Cheadle, and Howard's public confusion over the move was met by somewhat dirty leaks from studio insiders, but even so; that seemed like a one-time thing at the time, instead of the start of a trend.

Since then, of course, Samuel L. Jackson has hinted that Marvel are not bringing him back to reprise his role as Nick Fury, despite Fury appearing to be central to the planned Avengers movie (especially if it's as close to Mark Millar's Ultimates comic as has been rumored) because of a breakdown in negotiations over money. Just over a week later, Variety announces that the studio has offered Mickey Rourke a stunningly low $250,000 to play one of the two lead villains in Iron Man 2... a move that led, earlier this week, to Rourke saying that he wouldn't be doing the movie after all (The usual anonymous sources are saying that the deal isn't necessarily dead just yet).

Marvel, of course, haven't officially commented on any of these situations - and it's unlikely that they will, particularly as the Rourke and Jackson negotiations are still, officially at least, ongoing - but the fact remains that Iron Man 2 is beginning to look like a movie that's being hamstrung by accountants with their eyes staring a little too intently on the bottom line. This isn't exactly news - director and co-writer Jon Favreau has also complained about being lowballed by the studio in their initial offer to sign him for the sequel - but at this point, it's getting embarrassing for Marvel; the only actor who's not complained about the progress of the movie has been Robert Downey Jr. himself (Gwyneth Paltrow has griped about not having seen a script yet, and the production seems to be having trouble keeping the love interest that they cast... but at least neither of those are money-related).

We're still a year away from the release of the movie - Iron Man 2 is scheduled to open May next year (Although, let's face it, that date may end up being as unrealistic as Favreau publicly declared it when it was first announced) - but that doesn't change the fact that Marvel needs to either start coughing up some more money for this movie - and considering the first made close to $600 million, that shouldn't be too much of a struggle - or else start putting together a more convincing PR push to explain that everything's going to be alright in the end. Because, right now, it's not looking as if Tony Stark's second outing is going to be quite as bulletproof as his first.

While Howard's replacement as Tony Stark's military sidekick James Rhodes by Don Cheadle may have come out of the blue for Howard, a recent Entertainment Weekly story tried to make it very clear that it was Howard's behavior on set during the first Iron Man movie - and a performance that director Jon Favreau apparently didn't like - that led to the actor's removal:

As such, when Favreau and screenwriter Justin Theroux went to map out the sequel they found themselves minimizing Howard's story line. Once Marvel learned that Favreau was thinking of curtailing the role, the studio went to the actor's agents with a new and drastically reduced offer — a number that's similar to what supporting cast members were paid for the first movie.

The problem with this version of events, according to Theroux, is that it's just not true. He told MTV's Splash Page:

I can’t really speak to the plot stuff and all the rest of it but Rhodes is completely present in a very strong and big way [but h]e’s COMPLETELY present... All that stuff that was in the ‘EW’ article... I don’t know. I can only tell you what I know which is that from a writing standpoint we didn’t do anything differently [with the character]. It’s not like we were sitting there going, we need less of this or that. We just approached the characters and the story on their own terms.

So the role, apparently, wasn't being intentionally curtailed... which leads us to wonder whether the stories about Favreau's unhappiness with Howard during the first movie are also untrue, and Marvel's "sources" at EW were just trying to keep the studio from looking cheap when asking for the paycut...

‘Iron Man 2’ Screenwriter Justin Theroux Sounds Off On Terrence Howard Departure, Role Of War Machine In Sequel [MTV Splash Page]

Talking to MTV, Downey Jr. said,

I had nothing to do with that decision. I love Terrence very very much. That’s all I’ll say because I haven’t talked to him yet... I’ve always admired Don [Cheadle]... It’s one of those situations where I still don’t quite know what happened or why. Here’s what happens too: things happen and you wind up commenting on them before you’ve actually talked to the people and it’s in poor taste.

This would seem to suggest that Downey wasn't one of the people "unhappy" with Howard's performance on the set of the first Iron Man - or just that he knows better than to go about making enemies right now. We're hoping for the latter, if only for the potential gossip that will inevitably spill out when one of the sides decides to go all out in the PR battle.

Robert Downey Jr. On Terrence Howard/Don Cheadle ‘Iron Man 2’ Swap [MTV Splash Page]

The first big surprise in the EW story is that Howard was the most highly paid actor for the original Iron Man movie - and that Marvel had asked him to accept a substantial (somewhere between 50 - 80%) paycut for the sequel. The reason for the paycut? His behavior during shooting for the first movie:

It didn't help that, according to one source, Favreau and his producers were ultimately unhappy with Howard's performance, and spent a lot of time cutting and reshooting his scenes. (Favreau could not be reached for comment, while Howard's publicist says: ''Terrence had a tremendous experience working on Iron Man.'')

As such, when Favreau and screenwriter Justin Theroux went to map out the sequel they found themselves minimizing Howard's story line. Once Marvel learned that Favreau was thinking of curtailing the role, the studio went to the actor's agents with a new and drastically reduced offer — a number that's similar to what supporting cast members were paid for the first movie.

It's at this point where the story gets murky - Did Howard walk from the project because of the low offer, or did Marvel replace him before he had even responded to the offer? No-one seems to be sure, but the latter is definitely hinted as a possibility, which may explain Howard's comments about finding out about Don Cheadle taking over the role when it was announced to the press.

This new version of events certainly casts new light on the story - but also suggests that we may hear another version from more Howard-friendly sources in weeks to come, taking us back to the "Marvel are meanies" narrative that we started with... before Marvel's sources leak more "Howard was insufferable" rumors. After all, this one has the potential to run and run.

'Iron Man 2': How Terrence Howard Lost His Metal [EW.com]

Talking to Scott Simon on Weekend Edition, Howard said,

It was the surprise of a lifetime [finding out that Cheadle has taken over the role]. There was no explanation. I read something in the trades that implicated it was about money or something but apparently the contracts that we write and sign aren't worth the paper that they're printed on. And promises aren't kept.

Our guess is that certain "promises" were made about money regarding sequels that, when the movie became as big a hit as it did, certain parties (*coughMarvelcough*) starting having second thoughts about - especially if the conversation about whether Howard could carry a potential War Machine spin-off ever came up. Nonetheless, it's sad to see Howard's relatively restrained quality being replaced by a potential scenechewer like Cheadle, and sadder still that Howard doesn't seem to know why.

Terrence Howard Talks Tunes, Family, Science [NPR] (Via)

Marvel has a no comment on the matter to THR but their sources close to the movie said that negotiations with Howard went south over financial reasons.

Although this is a very surprising movie (Howard was a fantastic Rhodey) it's not a huge shocker. Howard is a tough negotiator and my suspicion is he talked himself right out of the role. Sorry man the bottom line is you're not Robert Downey Junior and Marvel can still pretty much do whatever the hell they want.

I love Cheadle but Howard did a great job as super loyal Rhodey and was a great straight man to Downey's antics. Plus he would have been great as the super-armored War Machine, Stark's right-hand-man and occasional stand-in. It will be really sad to see Iron Man 2 without him.

Cheadle to Replace Howard [via Hollywood Reporter]