Getting cast in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a decision that basically means your dance card is going to be full of movies for the next several years. If nothing else it brings a certain amount of job security. However, there have been a couple of high profile recastings within the MCU. But Don Cheadle, who took over the role of James Rhodes from Terrance Howard after the first Iron Man movie, denis it was an “Aunt Viv” situation.
Recasting an existing role are somewhat rare but they do happen both in movies and TV. One of the more famous recasting decisions was the replacement of Janet Hubert as Will Smith’s Aunt Viv on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Hubert has claimed she had no idea her role was being recast until it happened, but Cheadle recently told GQ that’s not what happened in his situation. He explained…
I ‘Aunt Viv-ed’ him? I did not move Terrence out of a role. He was not, they had decided that was not happening. And it was an open part. And I was at my kid’s laser tag birthday party and they called me and said ‘This is what’s happening. We’re giving you the offer. If you don’t say yes, we’re going to the next person. This is gonna happen very fast.’
Rather than replacing an actor who had no idea they were being replaced. Don Cheadle explains that the decision for Terrance Howard and Marvel Studios to part ways had already been made, and it was only then that he got a call offering the role to him. Cheadle says he was given an hour to decide if he wanted the job, which was a six-movie deal, despite the fact that nobody could tell him what the plans for the character were in those six movies, because nobody knew yet.
It doesn’t sound like the fact that Cheadle was going to be taking over an existing role was part of his decision making process. For him it was simply a question if he wanted to commit himself to six movies over the next several years. In the end he did decide to do that and he has certainly made the role of James Rhodes his ever since.
Don Cheadle’s six movie deal ended with Avengers: Endgame, but he’s far from done with the character. He’ll be appearing on Disney+ in the Marvel Secret Invasion series, and Cheadle’s own planned Disney+ series Armor Wars, has gone through some changes and will now be a feature film instead.
Certainly, the decision to take over the Marvel role and become War Machine has resulted in DOn Cheadle being kept quite busy, and the fact that he continues to do even more Marvel work would seem to show that he quite likes it. For him, the fact that Terrance Howard and Marvel parted company has paid off in a big way.
