8 Actors Whose Careers Flopped After Leaving The MCU

Mickey Rourke will always be a legend, but it's amazing to think that just eight years ago, he was co-leading a sequel in one of the most promising franchises on the planet, and now... he barely makes the headlines.

Though Rourke was great in the few scenes he appeared in, most of his Iron Man 2 performance was reportedly left on the cutting room floor. Over the years, the actor has been very vocal about his disdain for Marvel Studios, and the way they chopped up what he believed to be a powerful, nuanced, layered performance.

Chatting to Mandatory (formerly Crave Online) in 2011, Rourke had this to say:

"It’s like when I did Ivan Vanko in Iron Man, I fought… you know, I explained to Justin Theroux, to the writer, and to [Jon] Favreau [the director] that I wanted to bring some other layers and colours, 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."

"If they want to make mindless comic book movies, then I don’t want to be a part of that."

Like with Howard, Rourke's very public comments bashing a major studio probably didn't help his future prospects (why would you want to hire someone who might turn against you?), but it also sounds like his decision to step away from big movies was partly his own, a choice he made that was rooted in artistic integrity.

Since Iron Man 2, Rourke's biggest movie was 2011's Immortals, but other than that, he's mostly stepped out of the limelight.