Mickey Rourke said 'Law & Order: SVU' is 'real acting,' unlike the 'crap' in Marvel movies

• Mickey Rourke spent lockdown binging "Law & Order: SVU" in his living-room gym.
• Rourke called the show "real acting," unlike "that crap" Marvel.
• Rourke previously played Whiplash in Marvel's "Iron Man 2," a project he famously hates.

Mickey Rourke spent his time in lockdown binging the entirety "Law & Order: SVU" in his living-room gym.

In a lengthy Instagram post, Rourke praised the show's cast members for their "terrific acting" and called the show "real acting" before sneaking in a dig at Marvel movies, which he was a part of after appearing in 2010's "Iron Man 2."

Rourke wrote that he found out the show had been on for "20 years" but never knew about it before lockdown. The actor explained that all of his gym equipment is in his living room, so he watched the show while working out in front of his TV.

"6 months ago while I've been doing all my training at home isolating I click on this show just by accident and curiosity and have to say I've never seen such terrific acting ever on television," Rourke wrote.

"Each show that I seen, and I probably seen a 1000 of them by now, the producing is terrific, the direction is top class, and most of all I am really impressed with this ensemble of highly talented actors," he contined.

Rourke then name-checked several members of the long running cast, which includes Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T, Christopher Meloni, Richard Belzer, and B.D. Wong.

In particular, Rourke said that Hargitay's "dedication and very meticulous work put her on another level."

"There's very few, if any, actresses in films these days that can hold her jock strap. I give her tremendous respect for her amazing ability."

Rourke also praised Meloni's physicality, which he thought came from Meloni's background as a football player (Meloni played quarterback on his school's team), and complimented Stephanie March, B.D. Wong, and Ice-T, too.

Rourke wrote that he's thankful for the show and hypothesized that if it weren't for the pandemic, he would never have even heard of it let alone watched every episode.

However, in the final line of his post, Rourke couldn't help but get in a jab at his old employers, Marvel: "Respect to all of you [on 'Law & Order: SVU'] the work that you all do is real acting, not like that crap that all on Marvel s--t."

Rourke starred in "Iron Man 2" as Ivan Vanko, aka Whiplash, one of the movie's villains. It has been well documented that Rourke is not a fan of the movie and hated working with Marvel Studios.

Rourke has voiced criticism of Marvel in the past

In an interview with Crave Online in 2011, a year after the release of "Iron Man 2," Rourke said that he didn't want to play "a complete murderous revenging bad guy" and that director Jon Favreau agreed, but executives at Marvel "just wanted a one-dimensional bad guy, so most of the performance ended up the floor."

Rourke researched the role by visiting prisons in Russia and learning Russian, and also paid for the character's gold teeth and pet bird out of his own pocket. However, Rourke felt this was all wasted.

"I didn't work for three months on the accent and all the adjustments and go to Russia just so I could end up on the floor," Rourke said.

"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," he added.

Rourke continued: "It is f---ing too bad, but it's their loss. If they want to make mindless comic book movies, then I don't want to be a part of that."