Mickey Rourke's manager denies reports that he asked for a 'Samurai bun,' bird on his shoulder, and Russian accent in 'Iron Man 2'

• A source for Vulture said Mickey Rourke made three demands before agreeing to "Iron Man 2."
• The demands were that his character would have a Russian accent, a "samurai bun," and a bird on his shoulder.

Mickey Rourke's manager told Insider that the "Iron Man 2" star did not make the demands that he wanted a "samurai bun," a Russian accent, and a bird of his shoulder for the movie.

For a deep dive behind-the-scenes story released by Vulture on Thursday, an unnamed source spoke to the publication about how Rourke got involved to play the villain Whiplash in the 2010 movie. The source said that Rourke showed up at a meeting with Kevin Feige, the primary producer of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Jon Favreau, the director of the movie, at Beverly Hills Four Seasons Hotel to lay out his demands before reading the script.

"I'll do it," the source recalled Rourke saying. "But I have to have my hair in a samurai bun. I have to speak in a Russian accent. And I have to have a bird on my shoulder."

Those who have seen "Iron Man 2" know that these three alleged "demands" were met and Rourke's character has since been remembered for his obsession with his bird. However, Rourke's manager Kimberly Hines denied that these demands came from Rourke in an email to Insider.

"Simply not true," she said.

Vulture's unnamed source also said that Ike Perlmutter, the former CEO of Marvel Entertainment, declined Rourke's salary demands, which meant "Iron Man 2" lead Robert Downey Jr. shared a portion of his $10 million salary to help meet Rourke's ask. The manager also denied that this happened.

While "Iron Man 2" received mixed reviews, it still did well at the box office with, grossing over $623 million worldwide to date. Rourke has previously been critical of Marvel Studios after the movie came out.

In 2021, he ended an Instagram post praising "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" saying: "Respect to all of you, the work that you all do is real acting, not like that crap that all on Marvel shit."

During an interview with Crave Online (via Screen Rant) in 2011, Rourke said that he fought to bring layers to his villain so that he wasn't a "one-dimensional bad guy" but Marvel didn't want that and cut most of his performance.

"If they want to make mindless comic book movies, then I don't want to be a part of that," he said. "You know, 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."