TERRENCE HOWARD - HOWARD: 'DOWNEY JR. IS A BETTER IRON MAN THAN ME'

TERRENCE HOWARD has saluted filmmaker JON FAVREAU for not casting him as IRON MAN - because ROBERT DOWNEY JR. was a much better fit for the comic book hero's heavy metal suit.
Howard admits he was an early frontrunner to play Tony Stark/Iron Man and had meetings with director Favreau about the role.
Eventually the Hustle + Flow star landed the role of Stark's sidekick and weapons expert Jim Rhodes in the blockbuster - and now he's glad he's not the film's lead.
He tells WENN, "For a little while people thought I was going to be Iron Man and it didn't hurt my career at all.
"I could have done it, but Iron Man's sensibilities would have been a lot different. I don't know if he would have been as free thinking and free form as Robert's Iron Man.
"Robert has a comparative nature - he's been a child of privilege, like Stark's character. He knows what that life is like.
"Me, I've had to fight so much that it makes me a little more suited to become War MAChine - someone that's always bulldozing right through something, strategising but bulldozing through it. I think they made a really good choice."