IF you've been following the casting for this year's Iron Man 2, you'll know that Don Cheadle controversially replaced Terrence Howard in the role of Lt James 'Rhodey' Rhodes, who is Tony Stark's best friend and military adviser.
Rhodey ends up donning one of Stark's other armoured suits and becoming the supporting character War Machine. In the comics, War Machine stands in for Iron Man when Stark descends into alcoholism.
Posters and footage have shown War Machine alongside the title character in Iron Man 2 and speculation soon started that there would be a War Machine spin-off.
But Cheadle has put that rumour to rest. In an interview in Wizard magazine, the 45-year-old actor said: "People have asked but no one [in authority] has mentioned it as something that's happening.
"Hopefully, if this one does well, there'll be another [Iron Man film] with the same people. But there won't be a [War Machine] spin-off."
Cheadle says fans can expect to see a lot of his character in Iron Man 2 where, this time, the War Machine suit is government issue, put together by Rhodey and a team of government designers with weapons provided by Stark's rival Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell). "I looked on the schedule and I think the CGI version of Rhodey worked as many days as I did", says Cheadle.
And what about his feelings on
replacing Terrence Howard last October? Cheadle says he wouldn't take the role until he knew for sure Howard was okay with the idea: "My first and only hesitation was about Terrence, because he is a friend. I wasn't going to do it until after he said he wasn't taking it. But, y'know, it's a short list. If you're on it, and you say no, they're on to the next guy."
