"Definitely an Iron Man 2 reference"- Internet reacts as camera pans to Don Cheadle during Obama's 'worse sequel' speech

Former President Barack Obama recently gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention, which eventually made netizens comment about Don Cheadle. The convention, which began on August 19, is expected to continue till August 22. About 50,000 attendees, along with several celebrities, are supposed to be part of the four-day event in Chicago.

What garnered netizens' attention, was Obama's key speech at the convention. While criticizing Donald Trump's government, Obama said,

"We do not need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos. We have seen that movie before, and we all know that the sequel is usually worse."

He further endorsed Kamala Harris and added:

"America is ready for a new chapter. America is ready for a better story. We are ready for a President Kamala Harris."

Shortly after this, audience noticed that the camera panned to actor Don Cheadle who was present. Netizens immediately took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to express their views. Cheadle had previously made headlines when he replaced Terrence Howard in Iron Man 2. Many of the reactions on the internet were related to that switch. Here are some of the online responses:

A user reacted to Obama's speech, (Photo via @PirateSkogen/X)

A netizen tweeted:

"THEY PUT ON DON CHEADLE WHEN OBAMA MADE A JOKE ABOUT MOVIE SEQUELS SUCKING LMAOOOOO."

"Did him dirty," wrote another one.

"I thought it was a nod to iron man," added a tweet.

Several other tweets surfaced on the internet about the matter. One netizen wrote,

"The fact that it could be the sequels to Space Jam, Ocean's 11, Iron Man, or The Golden Girls. He's got a crap sequel rap sheet!"

"Was that a veiled cheap shot at the Iron Man sequels? And the Avengers films??" read a tweet.

"I'd like to think it was because he was in the golden girls spin off," commented another user.

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Explaining why Don Cheadle replaced Terrence Howard in Iron Man 2

CBR had reported that Terrence Howard was initially expected to play the role of James Rhodes in the 2010 movie Iron Man 2. He was, however, replaced by Cheadle in the film. According to the outlet, Howard stepped out of the film reportedly, due to low payment which also led to issues with Robert Downey Jr.

It was further reported that Don Cheadle was given only two hours to decide if he wanted to be in the movie. Cheadle had previously told GQ,

"They called me and said: 'This is what's happening. We're giving you the offer. If you don't say yes, we're going to the next person. This has to be—this is going to happen very fast.'"

Cheadle further added that he was at his child's laser-tag birthday party, when he was asked to make the final decision.

Coming back to the Democratic National Convention, several celebrities attended the event. As per The Hill, stars including Anthony Anderson and Jesse Tyler Ferguson were expected to be there. Actors like Reese Witherspoon, Connie Britton, and Don Cheadle were also supposed to be present, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.