In the Marvel franchise, Don Cheadle was the first person to be recast as one of the characters, and after 12 years of being in the MCU, he has established himself as one of the key characters James Rhodes/War Machine.
In an interview with GQ magazine, Cheadle revealed that Marvel gave him only two hours to sign a six-movie contract and decide if he wanted to join Iron Man 2.
“I was at my kid’s laser tag birthday party,” Cheadle said. The actor said that they called him and said: “This is what’s happening and we’re giving you the offer. If you don’t say yes then we’re going to the next person ... Why don’t you take an hour and decide if you want to do it?”
Cheadle asked Marvel what the additional five movies would be or what the trajectory of his character would be, Marvel responded: “We don’t know any of that but this is what it is, so you’ve got an hour.”
When the actor explained that he was at his child’s birthday party, Marvel extended the deadline to two hours.
Cheadle added: “So we played laser tag for two hours and I was talking to my wife and we thought about it and talked to my agent and tried to get as much information as we could.”
In the end, Cheadle accepted the role, which threw him into the world of CGI and green-screen filmmaking.
After more than a decade as an MCU supporting actor, Cheadle is gearing up to make his next MCU appearance in Secret Invasion ahead of Armor Wars, where War Machine will play the lead.
“In every successive film, he’s coming more and more out of Tony’s shadow and becoming his own person,” Cheadle said regarding War Machine and him having his upcoming movie.
