Soooo Mickey Rourke, what’s the deal? “Iron Man 2” villain, yes or no already, wtf? According to Nikki Finke, yes, he just made the deal.
“I just heard that ICM has scored its second casting deal for Marvel’s Iron Man 2. After at first being low-balled by the studio to the tune of $250K, Rourke has signed on for the role of the Russian villain in the sequel after his agent David Unger got the quote up to a ‘significant’ level despite this punishing economic climate where the studios are taking advantage of talent.”
However, Finke says you’ll have to wait for an official announcement.
“Don’t expect Marvel to confirm any of this: they won’t until all the i’s are dotted and t’s crossed on the contracts. I can also tell you that Sony was considering hiring Mickey to play the villain in Spider-Man 4. Rourke happens to be in Russia this week promoting Fox Searchlight’s The Wrestler, and I hear he’ll start researching his new role immediately there.”
A Russian villain would make him Crimson Dynamo, no? Update: Actually Variety said the character is Whiplash and that it “includes elements from that comicbook villain and Crimson Dynamo.” So Robert Downey Jr. was lying. Or just throwing up smoke it seems. The Hollywood Reporter also confirms this report is true and that Rourke and his reps closed the deal. Finke might be batshit crazy, but she has good sources.