The trickle of quality casting on Jon Favreau’s Iron Man adaptation has become a stream with confirmation that Terrence Howard will be joining the film.
It’s been in the air for ages that Howard – last seen as the best thing in Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ and Four Brothers not to mention his Oscar nominated turn in **Hustle and Flow **– would sign on as Jim Rhodes, the military best mate of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) who helps get work started on the Iron Man suit that lets him live.
Though Rhodes starts out as a friend, in the Marvel comic storylines he eventually grows into the menacing character called War Machine, building his own armoured suit and causing no end of trouble for Stark. But that’s for sequels.
"The richness of the role and complexity of the character seemed to mesh perfectly with the type of passion, energy and emotion that Howard brings to all of his projects," Marvel's production president Kevin Feige told The Hollywood Reporter. May 2008 just seems so very, very far away.