In a surprise move, Don Cheadle will replace Terrence Howard as Robert Downey Jr’s best friend in “Iron Man 2,” the sequel to the superhero saga.

In the Marvel Studios summer smash, Howard played Jim Rhodes, Tony Stark/Iron Man’s future armor-clad hero War Machine. One scene featured Howard looking at a silver suit of armor and saying “Next time,” a line that caused great delight for fans.

But there will be no next time for Howard.

Marvel had no comment, but sources close to the deal said negotiations with Howard fell through over financial differences, among other reasons. Marvel, which had wanted to work with Cheadle, then decided to take the role in another direction and approached the actor, who is shooting Antoine Fuqua’s “Brooklyn’s Finest” with Richard Gere and Ethan Hawke.

The Rhodes character is expected to play a larger part in the sequel, which is rumored to go beyond high-tech villains. Justin Theroux is writing the screenplay.

Jon Favreau is returning as director, and Downey is expected back as billionaire industrialist Stark/Iron Man. Gwyneth Paltrow also is expected to be back as Stark’s assistant, Pepper Potts. “Iron Man 2″ is scheduled for release on May 7, 2010;

Cheadle most recently starred in “Traitor,” a thriller on which he was also a producer. He will next be seen in DreamWorks’ “Hotel for Dogs.”

I really like Don Cheadle, but I thought Terrence Howard was an awesome Jim Rhodes. He just has that demeanor that would make him perfect to don the suit as War machine. Cheadle seems to… short? Maybe too much like Downey? I say bad move Marvel. Shoulda paid Howard what he deserves.

SNN is once again a staff favorite over on iTunes. That rocks.

Sure there are no BJs with it, but at least we don’t have to hear her talk. Or sing!

Based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s estimate of the current population of about 305 million people, each person would have to pay $2,300 to fund the $700,000,000,000. If each American (including children) paid a dollar a day, it would take more than six years to pay the money in full. One might argue, however, that this $700 billion would be a modest splash in the bucket of national debt, which already stands at well over $9 trillion (which means you already owe $31,642 each).

So why are we bailing out the same people that made these mistakes? President Bush gave all of us $600 bucks last year to “stimulate” the economy. Why not do that again? Why give the money to Wall Street fat cats that got greedy?

If I decided to expand ZipperFish.com, and hire 20 employees and open up a big office in L.A., that would be a risk. And it probably to pay off. I would need to borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars… and if I failed at this risky venture, I wouldn’t ask YOU to bail me out. Now what if the government FORCED you to bail me out? I don’t think you would feel to good about that.

I’m trying to understand why this bail-out needs to happen. If really smart people tell me it needs to happen, I don’t have much choice than to believe them. But it seems to me that if we need to inject more money into the marketplace, then why don’t we bail-out the American people intead of people that have annual salaries that range from $350,000-43 million dollars a year?

Here’s a simple plan that would bail-out banks, mortgage companies AND the American people, all while stimulating the economy and putting confidence back in Wall Street:

Every American gets $2,300. But there are RULES.

1. If you own a house, that $2,300 automatically goes to your mortgage. The banks must then work with home owners to get everyone a FIXED rate. If this means your mortgage goes from 20 years to 50, so be it.

2. If you have a student loan, that $2,300 goes to pay off your student loan.

3. If you have neither, you get the $2,300 dollars. You also get an extra $2,300 for every child you have under 18. Period.

Now you may be thinking to yourself… that means a lot of poor, uneducated people with no home & lots of kids get lots of money. You would be right. And why? Because these people would SPEND this money. Injecting that money directly back into the economy, thus stimulating it.

Congrats. We just saved millions of people from foreclosing, thus saving houses and the banks that loaned the money. We just rewarded those that pursue a higher education, and we just helped out those less fortunate all while stimulating the economy. Problem solved. Now was that so difficult?

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