Don Cheadle Only Had an Hour to Decide If He Wanted His Marvel Role

Don Cheadle in "Iron Man 3." Photo by Marvel/Paramount/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock (5885986ax)

Don Cheadle obviously knows how to work well under pressure.

The 54-year-old has been a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe since taking over the role of War Machine in Iron Man 2.

The lucky break came as a result of Terrence Howard — who Cheadle had previously worked alongside on Crash — not being able to return as James Rhodes following the original Iron Man.

Cheadle has certainly made the character his own in the six Marvel films that followed, but he did not have a lot of time to decided if he wanted the role at all.

Producer Kevin Feige and star Robert Downey Jr. had called him during his daughter’s birthday party and requested his answer in an hour.

“‘You just gotta take a leap of faith,’” Cheadle remembered them saying. “But that’s, like, ten years. That could be twelve years that we’re talking about,” said Cheadle. “I said, ‘Well, I’m at my daughter’s birthday party.’ They said, ‘Oh, take two hours.’”

And the rest, as they say, is history.