Everyone should know by now that actor Don Cheadle will be replacing Terrance Howard in Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2 flick to hit theaters next year.

Apparently, there is no animosity between the two actors about the role swap. Regarding his landing of the role of Jim Rhodes/War Machine from Howard, Cheadle states:

“Terrence is a friend of mine…But the actual playing [of Rhodey], I just felt like it was my role. I wasn’t made to feel like I had to sort of take care of what was done before. I really feel like I could make it my own.”

Now that that is out of the way, we can get to some more interesting news. First comes another quote from Cheadle discussing his role as Rhodey/War Machine.

“I think the character that I play, my CGI character worked as much as I worked… The stuntman worked as much as I worked. It’s a huge undertaking. It was great. It was a really different experience than I have worked on before.”

Cool, cool–but that’s not exactly the type of news to swoon over, am I right? So next we have a quote from Sam Rockwell, who plays Justin Hammer, from a recent video interview. More information on this Justin Hammer character after the quote.

“Don’s character, Rhodey, needs to work with me. He has no choice… So we team up and we build this fabulous War Machine.”

In case you don’t know, Justin Hammer is a frequent adversary of Iron Man and a Stark Industries rival. Therefore, him joining forces with War Machine will obviously cause some tension between Stark and Rhodes, right?

Well, let’s look at that. From earlier reports, it seems that part of the plot of Iron Man 2 revolves around Tony Stark keeping the Iron Man technology out of the wrong hands, including the government. Meanwhile, he must also deal with all that comes with being a newly-outed superhero. Additionally, in the teaser trailer, Nick Fury tries to tell Stark that he has now become part of a bigger universe and that he will likely need the help of others to deal with his enemies.

If that wasn’t enough for Stark to handle, in an interview at Comic-Con, Cheadle hints at the growing tension between Rhodey and Stark, giving us reason to believe that this tension could lead to a battle between the two.

Lastly (and most exciting), MTV’s Splash Page has revealed through their latest interview with Cheadle that he has struck a deal to have a starring role in the Marvel mash-up known as The Avengers!

So courtesy of MTV, that’s all we have for you on War Machine and Iron Man 2 right now, but that’s a lot to digest. We’ll keep you updated with news as it develops.

MTV has released a new video featuring Brian Bendis, who relaunched the New Avengers back in 2004, talking about his opinion on how Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America could mix into the highly anticipated The Avengers movie.

You can watch the video below:

I’m pretty excited about the Marvel mash-up and think it will turn out well… not because it is incapable of turning out badly, because it very well could. I just think that with the success of Iron Man, the hype behind Iron Man 2, and how they have chosen to tie all the movies/superheroes together that it will be hard to screw up.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

USA Today has released several new photos from Iron Man 2, featuring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, and Jon Favreau.

You can see those below.

We also have another picture (not from USA Today) inside a courtroom. Check it out:

And lastly is the photo of Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow.

Thanks to Shockya, we know that Variety Magazine has reported that TV host Olivia Munn, from G4’s daily “Attack of the Show”, has been given a role in the upcoming super hero flick, Iron Man 2, from Marvel Studios.

At this time, it is unknown what Munn’s role in the film will be.

Munn is also attached to Date Night, with Tina Fey and Steve Carrell, Freeloaders, and the upcoming Broken Lizard comedy The Slammin Salmon.

ron Man 2 is in theaters May 7th, 2010 and already features a great cast of stars that include Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark aka Iron Man, Don Cheadle as Jim Rhodes, Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, , Mickey Rourke as Whiplash, Samel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer, and Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow.

Visit MuveePRO often to keep up with any more information on Iron Man 2.

Empire Magazine recently caught up with Iron Man 2 bad guy, Mickey Rourke and he dished out some details about the suit he must wear to portray Whiplash. It seems to me like he is describing a suit similar to the one in the small picture on this post.

I’m having the time of my life!” he enthused about joining the Iron Man franchise. “It’s been really brutal, because my Iron Man suit weighs 23lb. It’s sort of a half-suit, with half my skin showing, with lots of Russian tattoos, because [Whiplash is just] out of a Russian-zone prison.

Rumor has it that his ties to the Russian prison may be used so that a connection to Black Widow (who is also Russian) can be made.

Iron Man 2, starring Robert Downey Jr. and directed by Jon Favreau, will hit theaters on May 7th 2010.

Could Megan Fox portray a new, younger Lara Croft in a Tomb Raider reboot? Maybe.

Back in January, it was reported that a new Tomb Raider series reboot was underway and in the early stages of development. About.com recently spoke with producer Dan Lin at the Terminator Salvation premiere, who uncovered a few details about the film.

Apparently, Lin says that the film will feature a “very character oriented,” more realistic origin story (which kind of reminds me of X-Men Origins: Wolverine for some reason).

Lin also emphasized that the story would focus on a younger Lara Croft, which places Megan Fox as a logical choice, especially since she favors Angelina Jolie, who played Lara Croft in the previous Tomb Raider franchise.

I think she could do it, but only time will tell if Megan Fox will take over the Lara Croft role.

In any case, check out the embedded interview below in which Dan Lin also discusses two other projects of his, Terminator Salvation and Sherlock Holmes, both starring actors from last year’s big summer superhero movies, The Dark Knight and Iron Man, respectively.

According to MTV, casting for the upcoming Thor movie is in its final stages.

In case you have been living under a rock, Marvel hopes that the upcoming Thor flick, Captain America, Hulk, and Iron Man films will get fans excited for a culminating Avengers film some time in 2011.

Director Kenneth Branagh, who is set to helm the project, told MTV News,

We’re down to the final stages of it. The reason one has to be properly diplomatic is simply that some talented people have been patient, kind, creative and really committed to working with us in the process. My reluctance to say anything about it is simply out of respect for people who have been extremely respectful of us. That said, I think we are extremely close and I hope to announce a decision sooner rather than later.

As of now, Marvel Studios is currently working on Iron Man 2 and hopes for a Thor film by May 2011!

MuveePRO.com will continue to keep fans updated with the latest movie news concerning the Marvel Universe.

On Location News has posted many more photos from the set of Iron Man 2. Unfortunately, they have watermarked the large copies, so you will have to visit their site to see the full size photos.

In case you weren’t aware, yesterday we posted two photos from the same set were Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Downey Jr. were shooting their first scenes together as their characters Nick Fury and Tony Stark/Iron Man, respectively. The scene involves a large donut at Randy’s Donuts that has Tony Stark/Iron Man sitting in the middle. Director Jon Favreau posted a set photo via his Twitter account yesterday, but there are several more located here.

We also learned that yesterday, Scarlett Johansson put on the Black Widow outfit for the first time and began shooting scenes.

You can view a few thumbnails here, but I suggest heading over to On Location News for the full views.