Over the airwaves of NPR, Terrence Howard was asked the tricky question of how he was faring after the news of his replacement by Don Cheadle in the Iron Man franchise. He says “It was the surprise of a lifetime.” For you and me both, Terrence, for you and me both.

With the media-wide speculation that the move from Howard to Cheadle was based on finances, who knows what the truth is? Howard says “There was no explanation… I read something in the trades that implicated it was about money or something.” Yes, Howard did actually find out about his re-cast through a media outlet. That’s just cold, Marvel. Be a real comic-book company and fire your actors to their faces!

Howard reveals how fundamentally flawed the nature of Hollywood is: “Apparently, the contracts that we write and sign aren’t worth the paper that they are printed on. And promises aren’t kept. Good faith and negotiations aren’t always held up.” This should make me feel angry, but it just makes me feel sad. Marvel hs already messed up so many things. Why would they go and tinker with the perfect machine that was Iron Man?