Terrence Howard Blames Robert Downey Jr. for His Removal From Iron Man Franchise

Terrence Howard played Col. Rhodes, Tony Stark's best friend, in Iron Man. But Don Cheadle took over the role in Iron Man 2 and Iron Man 3, in which Rhodes became Iron Man's sidekick War Machine and, in the third film, Iron Patriot. In a recent television appearance, Howard all but named franchise star Robert Downey Jr. as the reason for his removal from the film series.

Howard appeared on "Watch What Happens Live" with Andy Cohen on Bravo last week to promote his new movie The Best Man Holiday and a fan asked about his departure from the franchise after the first movie.

"It turns out, in order for...this is gonna get me in a lot of trouble, but who gives a..." Howard said. "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 did not give a name, but that's an obvious reference to Robert Downey Jr. He then elaborated on what happened:

"We did a three picture deal. So that means that you did the deal ahead of time. It was gonna be a certain amount for the first one, a certain amount for the second, a certain amount for the third. They came to me with the second and said, 'Look, 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 that I helped get the first job and he didn't call me back for three months."

Cohen then asked Howard about the status of his relationship with Robert Downey Jr. today, and Howard icily replied, "Oh, I love him. God's gonna bless him."