Why Iron Man's 1st Rhodey didn't seek revenge after Marvel canned him



Terrence Howard played Colonel James Rhodes in Iron Man, but was replaced by Don Cheadle. That doesn't mean he's out for blood, though.
It's hard to imagine what it must have been like to enter into one of Marvel's (and Disney's) franchises only to get kicked to the curb when the sequel came around. We know money was a factor, we've heard that director Jon Favreau wasn't a fan, but, in the end, all that matters is that Howard was out and Cheadle was in.

Despite having made it very public knowledge that he was angry with Marvel, Howard never held a grudge against his replacement, Cheadle. Now, looking back on the whole affair, Howard seems all but totally at peace with things. When talking about his latest film, Dead Man Down, Howard went into detail about his feelings.
It's similar to what happens with my character in this movie: He had lost a lot. Thought he was maintaining and holding his ground. All the things he was building his future on was not going to sustain him. Unfortunately he went after and tried to seek his own revenge. 
I had a decision to make. I could have sought revenge against Marvel and all. But I learned something in life. You know? That everything is controlled by this wave particle theory. Often times when we are moving up in this wave field we are looking up. But the moment that we are reaching the descent we are still looking up. Guess what: we are falling. But if you turn and orient yourself in the direction that you are going in, you will gain momentum and a great deal of inertia so you reflect off the valley and you miss the next two or three downward falls. 
I love the fact that Iron Man put me on a world stage and tested my strength of character. Because I chose not to fight back, not to deal with the allegations, but to continue forward and do what I had to do. I had to start all over: went from making $6 million a movie, back to $60 thousand a movie. But as long as you don't give up you are able... I'll make $20 million soon. Because I have learned the lessons of yesterday.
While the whole wave-particle analogy is a little out there, the bottom line seems simple -- you can't go backward. Not an easy pill to swallow when you've had a taste of something as big as Iron Man, but the logic is sound and we certainly hope Howard finds success well beyond War Machine.