Não há nenhuma palavra oficial sobre o motivo real para substituir Terrence Howard da segunda parcela do filme. No entanto, existem algumas razões especulativas, que estavam fazendo rondas na indústria sobre a sua partida ou melhor dizer despejo de Homem de Ferro 2 e a principal coisa que continuou chegando foi ..
Negociação de contratos
De acordo com o Entertainment Weekly , Howard foi o ator mais bem pago no primeiro filme, e a Marvel estava achando difícil renegociar o acordo com ele para o Iron Man 2.
“Howard was the first actor signed to the film and, on top of that, was the highest-paid. That’s right: more than Gwyneth Paltrow. More than Jeff Bridges. More than Robert Downey Jr. And once the project fully came together, it was too late to renegotiate his deal.”
Também foi relatado que o diretor Jon Favreau não estava feliz com o trabalho de Howard. Citando o mesmo artigo, mencionado acima
Favreau and his producers were ultimately unhappy with Howard's performance, and spent a lot of time cutting and reshooting his scenes
A infelicidade com o trabalho de Howard levou Favreau e seu roteirista a reduzir o papel do personagem de Howard na próxima edição.
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 agents, according to sources, were so taken aback by this new figure — estimated at somewhere between a 50 and 80 percent pay cut — that they questioned it
A Marvel nunca comentou oficialmente as especulações acima.