Rourke Backs Out of Iron Man 2

Mickey Rourke’s flip flopping casting rumours on Iron Man 2 will now come to an end as Rourke himself admits he is backing out of the deal.

“Right now, we’re not doing Iron Man 2,” Rourke told the site. It was widely reported that Marvel Studios came in with a lowball offer of $250,000 for a role in the film and apparently negotiations have broken down.

I am all for Mickey Rourke returning to the lime light. He has certainly proved himself with the unsuspecting performance in The Wrestler. I quite expected to see him littered about in a dozen projects after that as studios try to get the returning star in their films, but I didn’t for one second believe that this would suddenly catapult him into the multi-million dollar club.

So yeah, his price tag offer for Iron Man 2 might have been a little low, but maybe his part was low too? They never did reveal which villain he was supposed to play, and perhaps like Cillian Murphy’s minor role as the Scarecrow. In the second movie it was barely a cameo, so I doubt he was paid much more. We don’t know that the role set for Rourke wasn’t a few scenes to plug the role of a villain in Iron Man 3?

Likely this came down to a choice between two paycheques and what it might do for his career and with Expendables now on his plate, there may not have been much room for Iron Man 2.

I am disappointed he is no longer involved, but not enough to call a curse on the production either. I wonder if we will ever find out which role he was going to play?

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15 thoughts on “Rourke Backs Out of Iron Man 2

  1. Mickeys stock went up because of The Wrestler. His agent would be taking calls from producers that have more to offer than a role in a Superhero film.
    250.000 is laughable right now. Rourke’s getting higher offers with all the awards he’s winning. If he wins the Oscar it will be like winning the Superbowl for him. He gets another ring and a big raise in his stock. Remember, Its all about the gig….

    Sure it would be cool for him to be in Iron Man, but he doesn’t care. He could stand to loose multi-millions by taking the time to work on Iron Man for the thrill of it.
    He’s older now and really doubt that a superhero film villain would be a challenge for him, or worth his time for 250.000.

    How much do you think RDJ is getting for Iron Man 2???
    A few million? Ha! He’s getting over 15 mil+ back end points. Hell make over 30+ mil on Iron Man2.
    ^
    How retarded would Marvel have to be to with another cameo character at the end credits. Yeah that worked out for great for Jackson, echm’eh’ another actor that wasn’t happy with the chump change…

    My advice to Marvel, not all your characters have to be A-List stars…

  2. An actor’s salary does not completely go to him. Part of that goes to the agent. After the agent takes his cut, $250,000 disappears fairly quickly. I’m all for salary caps on actors because some paydays are just ridiculous, but $250,000 IS a lowball.

    1. It’s hard to say that it was a lowball offer when we don’t know the size of the role. As mentioned before, the role might have been little more than a walk on, with potential for a larger part in IM3. It would be hard to consider $250,000 for 2 or 3 days work lowball.

  3. I’ve never been a big Rourke fan to start with. I really don’t understand this love fest that so many seem to be having with the guy. Thruthfully, he kind of creeps me out and he also seem like a jerk.

    1. ya i agree….plus like i said b4 wtf $250,000…..really thats chump change….and u say 2 weeks of filming…do u know for sure are u the director..or are u like all the other fanboys, just making speculations….IM2 will be good but i rather see him in the expendables IMO

  4. What a jerk…. That’s 250,000 dollars for most likely around two weeks of work. I’d kill to get paid a quarter mil in that much time. He better not have dropped out because of money, because that guy has been a washout for a while now and Hollywood is finally giving him another chance. Not the best idea to suddenly get a big head about all of this.

  5. I was hoping Rourke would do IM2, but if that shooting schedule conflicted with Expendables, one or the other had to give. Perhaps there will be another day for something.

    It wasn’t an easy choice.

    Since there was lots of q’s regarding Rourke’s potential bad guy- and Sam Jackson not returning as Fury, and the frenzy to find the actress for Black Widow, I wonder if IM2’s script is being “adjusted” and that may have been a factor as well.

    Maybe Rourke said “Put me in The Avengers instead”?

  6. “Rourke backs out of Iron Man 2”
    NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! This is truly a schoker, this hit me like a truck. I was really looking forward to seeing him in the next Iron Man

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