As one of the longest-running scripted series on the air right now, Law & Order: SVU has surpassed the footsteps of its 20-season predecessor Law & Order, but just because the Mariska Hargitay-starring spinoff has been around for the better part of two decades doesn't mean everyone has watched it. For instance, there's Iron Man 2 and The Wrestler vet Mickey Rourke, who apparently spent half of the pandemic binge-watching the bejesus out of SVU's 22 seasons. And in true Rourke form, he couldn't get through his entire social media post about the crime drama without taking a big swipe at Marvel films.
To say that Mickey Rourke's Instagram post about Law & Order: SVU is a wild rave is to say that the oceans are mildly wet. The notorious Masked Singer Season 4 contestant clocked around 330 words in his praise-oozing post, with those final 20 words taking aim at the Marvel Cinematic Universe. (More on those below.) He explained that he'd never watched SVU in the 20+ years it was on the air. but once he had his gym equipment set up in his living room during the pandemic, Rourke found himself going from episode to episode until he'd seen "about 1000 of them." (There are currently just over 500 produced episodes.) The majority of his praise went to the talented ensemble cast, as he claimed he'd never seen such "terrific acting on TV." Here are his thoughts on the OG dynamic duo of Benson and Stabler, presented in unedited form:
Mariska Hargitay,is a very concentrated actress,she is absolutely great in every episode. Her 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.On the other hand Christopher Meloni the man brings a lot to the table with his physicality,his short fuse knowing that he had a high level football background explaining it all. Those of us who played football growing up sometimes blessed to play for coaches that give us a lot of character that becomes part of our DNA that we carry through the rest of our life it’s an in a strength you can’t buy.
By all means, those are quite kind words from Mickey Rourke, who isn't exactly known as a compliment vending machine around Hollywood. He holds Mariska Hargitay's work as Olivia Benson on par with much of what one would see from theatrical performances, and Christopher Meloni clearly taps into a similar energy for Rourke, who famously has it in for Robert De Niro. As well as for millions of viewers around the world whose fandom played a big part in convincing franchise creator and expander Dick Wolf to bring Meloni back in for the spinoff Law & Order: Organized Crime. We can only assume Rourke is a fan of that show, too, assuming he's one of the many tuning in.
After showering praise on Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni, Mickey Rourke also had kind words for SVU's other stars, saying Ice-T's sincerity and swag was "tremendously" impressive, and also noting the talented efforts of Stephanie March and BD Wong. And when all the good vibes were through, that's when Rourke slapped on his Whiplash suit and awkwardly bodyslammed Marvel on his way out.
Respect to all of you,the work that you all do is real acting,not like that crap that all on Marvel shit.
I don't know that I ever pictured the Law & Order franchise's fandom being on the opposing end of the battlefield from the Marvel fandom, in part because it would be fairly easy to picture many stars from the crime drama taking on roles within any number of big-budget superhero tales. Perhaps someone in the comic book world could bring an SVU vs. MCU storyline to life, since Mickey Rourke probably can't rail on the acting skills of an illustrated character. Okay, yeah, he probably would anyway.
Check out Mickey Rourke's entire post below!
Law & Order: SVU still has quite a bit left to deliver for fans and Mickey Rourke, with Season 22 airing Thursday nights on NBC at 9:00 p.m. ET, following by Christopher Meloni's standalone spinoff Law & Order: Organized Crime.
