Robert Downey Jr. Forgotten Co-Star Called $620M Tom Cruise Irrelevant Despite Top Gun 2 Saving Hollywood from Netflix
An aviation film like Top Gun: Maverick made quite a place in fans’ hearts and paved a way for bringing such more blockbusters. Hollywood consists of a lot of big franchises which are well-established and releases timely big films. The most popular ones in the superhero genre like Marvel Studios never failed to impress their audiences with unique blockbusters. But in 2022 tables turned, as the Top Gun: Maverick-like movie took the lead by beating big franchises in box office records.
The Tom Cruise-led film broke several Marvel movies record with its earnings. It even surpassed Avengers: Infinity War at the North American box office. According to Variety outlet, the movie scored $679M which was more than the Marvel film earned ($678M).
Iron Man Actor Has Nothing Good To Say About Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
It’s undeniable that Tom Cruise is one of the most popular and versatile actors in Hollywood. His acting in films remains unmatched and he is a fan-favorite actor. But Mickey Rourke doesn’t think so as he thinks the actor has been doing the same thing in his career span.
For those of you who don’t know, Rourke played the villainous role of Ivan Vanko/Whiplash in Iron Man 2. Once, the Immortals actor was invited on Talk Tv, where he gave out his opinion on Tom Cruise to Tv Personality Piers Morgan.
“That doesn’t mean s*** to me,” […] “That guy’s been doing the same effing part for 35 years.I got no respect for that. I don’t care about money or power. I care about…when I watch Al Pacino or Christopher Walken working, or De Niro’s early work and Richard Harris’ work and Ray Winstone’s work, that’s the kind of actor I want to be like,” […] “A lot of guys that tried to stretch as actors.”
Rourke admires some of the great actors in the Hollywood industry, but he doesn’t consider Tom Cruise on that list. According to him, the Mission Impossible actor is “irrelevant in his world”.
Mickey Rourke Slams Marvel
Mickey Rourke
Well, Tom Cruise isn’t the only one who got severely criticized by the one-time Marvel actor. As The Wrestler actor didn’t leave an opportunity to take shots at Marvel actors as well. He compared the superhero genre to the Law & Order series and called superhero acting to be unrealistic.
“Respect to all of you, the work that you all do is real acting, not like that crap that all on Marvel sh*t.”
It’s not the first time, Mickey Rourke has criticized the studios, as previously he had complaints about his Whiplash character. In a past interview, he mentioned that he told Iron Man 2 director Jon Favreau about having some layers to his character and didn’t want to be just a bad guy.
Mickey Rourke as Whiplash in Iron Man 2 (2010).
“I wanted to bring some other layers and colors, not just make this Russian a complete murderous revenging bad guy. And they allowed me to do that. Unfortunately, the [people] at Marvel just wanted a one-dimensional bad guy, so most of the performance ended up [on] the floor. At the end of the day, you’ve got some nerd with a pocketful of money calling the shots. You know, Favreau didn’t call the shots. I wish he would have.”
The 2008 film scored a box office record of over $623.9M and also received a nomination for the Academy Award for best visual effects.
Iron Man 2 is now streaming on Disney+.
