Perhaps the helmet should have stayed on?   WTF?

 I can only assume he meant in order to showcase the armor, not the actor. At least, I HOPE that's what he meant, someone could take real offence to that comment otherwise. Poor choice of words. 

That is one sweet poster.  Seriously, the graphic artists that did the design are boss.  This movie is going to own.  I am betting Howard wishes he did not push so hard for extra cash now.

The sad thing is that I like the Iron Patriot armor more than the new Iron Man armor.  All that gold is just tacky looking to me.

I think the meaning of showing Cheadlle's face is to let the "casual" fan know that this is not Tony Stark in some more of his new armor.

Exactly. If they didn't show his face people would think it's just Tony.

 Has the question, "How come War Machine wasn't in the Avengers helping them fight aliens?" ever been brought up yet?

@ VIOLATER14  I believe that question is answered in a comic book series that leads into Iron Man 3.  I have not read it, so I don't know the actual answer.

Was it still functional after part 2? Plus - being in the Air Force he might have been doing other things and it wasn't feasible to be in NY that quickly. I mean The Avengers pretty much took care of that in a short span of time. Which now that I think about it makes it seem like a pretty weak conflict.

violator stop ruining a wet dream ;) Like in the comics these things happen quick and it isn't like there ain't other shit happening, maybe he was deployed in Afghanistan or Iraq or he was taking a deuce. Maybe he was guarding the President as a last line of defense

Umm, kinda resembles Jango Fett there. Disney is sending subliminal messages!!