MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios

by JoAnna Robinson

Rourke helped design Vanko’s many tattoos, collected over his years in a Russian prison. This caused a minor kerfuffle after the movie was cut together and Feige noticed a tattoo on Vanko’s neck that read “LOKI.” Favreau explained it wasn’t an allusion to the antagonist in the upcoming Thor movie, but a tribute to one of Rourke’s dogs, which had died just before filming started. Feige insisted that the tattoo couldn’t appear in the movie—it would be confusing to audiences—so the visual effects team had to erase the tattoo digitally in each of Vanko’s scenes (although eagle-eyed fans nevertheless spotted it in a few flickering appearances). Rourke also hired whip coaches, had his mouth fitted with gold teeth, and traveled the world to delve into Vanko’s past. The week before he began filming with Rourke, Favreau said that he had met with the actor only once, but that Rourke had been phoning him and texting him from Russia. “He took it upon himself to fly to Russia and go to prison, which I thought showed some commitment. He keeps faxing me lines that he wants to translate into Russian that he wants to say to his cockatoo, and I say, ‘That’s your prerogative.’ ”