Is Mickey Rourke Still In Iron Man 2?

I'm not sure what to believe anymore. Last month the Hollywood trade papers broke the news that Mickey Rourke was in talks to play the villain Whiplash in Iron Man 2. Then earlier this week Rourke said that he's "not doing Iron Man 2". Could it be that Marvel didn't offer him enough money? In January it was reported that Marvel's starting offer to Rourke was $250,000, which is extremely low by any account.

But now Entertainment Weekly is reporting that it isn't over yet and that an "offer still stands, though nothing's yet being negotiated." And ReelTalk has a supposedly new interview with Rourke (although, I'm not sure when it was taped as there is no datestamp) where he now insists that he would "love to be in Iron Man 2", that "it's a possibility" and that Marvel "needs to do road work", although I'm not quite sure I know what that means.

Rourke is known for his uncensored comments. Last month he announced on the red carpet that he would be appearing at WrestleMania. His rep later did damage control insisting that it would not happen, but now it's being said that Rourke is still strongly considering the possibility. I think the bottom line is you never know with Rourke, which is one of the reasons Darren Aronofsky had such a hard time getting funding for a film with Mickey attached.