The real reason why Terrence Howard is not part of Iron Man 2?

Bits and pieces of perhaps the real story of why Terrence Howard is not part of Iron Man 2 are starting to emerge. With the blockbuster Marvel film grossing more than $300 million, and Terrence Howard’s supporting character Col. Jim Rhodes looking poised for a big role as War Machine in the follow-up after he muttered ”Next time, baby” to Iron Man’s steel suit, it was a shocker to see him suddenly dropped from the sequel.

Then reports emerged that Don Cheadle will replace Howard because of his alleged difficult behavior on the set of Iron Man. But those with intimate knowledge of the situation suggest a far more complicated situation. Howard was the first actor signed to the film and, on top of that, was the highest-paid, more than Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges and Robert Downey Jr. And once the project fully came together, it was too late to renegotiate his deal. 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.

Supposedly because of those difficulties 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 deemphasizing the role, the studio went to the actor’s agents with a new and drastically reduced offer, estimated at somewhere between a 50 and 80 percent pay cut a number that’s similar to what supporting cast members were paid for the first movie. Howard’s agent, according to sources, was quite taken back by this new figure. Multiple EW sources say that Marvel execs never told Howard’s reps that they had issues with the star’s on-set conduct. (Marvel would not comment for this story.)

It’s unclear whether Howard’s team walked away first, or if Marvel ended the discussion at that point. Either way, the studio moved quickly to secure Cheadle (who probably is now wondering how he got in the middle of all this) and the story leaked out the next morning, Oct. 14. And alas for Howard, there will be no next time.