According to The Hollywood Reporter it will be Don Cheadle, not Terrence Howard, who will play Jim Rhodes (aka War Machine) in Iron Man 2.  James Rupert Rhodes, who is one of Tony Stark’s closest confidants in the Iron Man comic series and who actually took over the mantle of Iron Man when Tony Stark lapsed into alcoholism, will likely play a larger role in Iron Man 2, something that was alluded to directly in the first film when Rhodes, played by Terrence Howard, looked longingly at the Iron Man suit and said, “Next time.”

Unfortunately, it won’t be Howard who gets to enjoy the expanded role.  According to The Reporter “sources close to the deal said negotiations with Howard fell through over financial differences, among other reasons.”  Cheadle, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his work in Hotel Rwanda and played memorable roles in Traffic, Out of Sight, and Crash, is one of the most highly regarded actors in Hollywood and certainly represents a continuation of the use of “A-list” actors in Marvel Studios’ films, something that was especially apparent in Iron Man (see “Heavy Metal Rules the DVD Charts”).  

Robert Downey Jr. is expected to reprise his role as Tony Stark in Iron Man 2 and Gwyneth Paltrow will also be back as Pepper Potts.  Director Jon Favreau is already signed for the sequel, which Justin Theroux is writing.  The problem with sequels to extremely successful movies is that the folks involved on both sides of the camera quite naturally want a bigger share of the pie, which drives up production costs and makes the sort of financial success enjoyed by the original film a very difficult feat to duplicate.