Between Jon Favreau Tweeting the making of and USA Today and Entertainment Weekly covering promotional bases in more-traditional ways, we may actually be sick of Iron Man 2 by the time it’s done shooting, let alone by the time it opens next summer. Okay, that’s not at all true, but isn’t it still a bit premature for EW to feature the Iron Man sequel on its magazine cover already? Even with Comic-Con around the corner?

Well, the mag and the production might at least be a little more careful about what is being let out of the figurative poly bag so early in the game. After all, on the day that Paramount releases the first official (and initially blurry) look at Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow the online discussions shouldn’t be focused on Mickey Rourke’s cockatoo. Never mind that not all the reactions to Rourke’s quote in EW aren’t negatively the sort of preemptive backlash studios fear, the distraction from the big sell alone should be cause for slight alarm.

Personally, I’m more excited about the bird than the chick, anyway, seeing as how awesome Rourke was with a little dog sidekick in Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Let’s see the rest of the blogosphere’s reactions to Rourke’s new pet after the jump:

• Mark Graham at Vulture is excited about the cockatoo, too:
  

  It seems as if he compensated for his seemingly homemade costume by adding some Rourkian flavor to his role as Whiplash. “I don’t want to just play him as a one-dimensional pussy,” he says. “[Favreau] let me have a cockatoo, who I talk to and get drunk with while I’m making my suit.” Consider us sold!

• Seth Abramovitch at Movieline is down with the idea of the additional villain:
  

  For a second we thought he meant a Cockapoo, which would have made for a lesser-threating sidekick, though could have elicited fond memories of his beloved red carpet companion, Loki. But a drunk cockatoo is cool, too — squawking menacing encouragement into his ear between greedy swigs of malt liquor from its feeder.

• Vince Mancini at FilmDrunk did pay first notice to the ScarJo photo in a separate (sleazy) post, but his interest in the Rourke quote is definitely stronger:
  

  I like to picture Mickey Rourke doing his lines, and then in the middle of a scene throwing down his script in disgust.  “Aw hell, this crap’s too one dimensional!  But I know how to fix it: Fetch me a fifth of bourbon, and a parrot!“ And they’ll do it.  Because it’s Mickey Rourke.  He can bring a tear to your eye, because you know you’ll be seeing not just a drunk Russian yelling at his parrot, but his humanity.

• Fark.com gives Rourke the “HERO” tag, and commenter “IMDWalrus” makes us hope the new Oscar rules end up paying off:
  

  The first Iron Man was a solid superhero movie. Add in Mickey Rourke and drunken banter with parrots, and you’ve got an instant candidate for Best Picture.

  Okay, maybe not. But it should be.

• Erik Davis at Cinematical, who deserves some credit for pointing out the quote to most of the otherwise drooling fanboys (including myself), is worried about the cockatoo:
  

  Folks, we’ve been together for a long time now — and I’d like to consider us veterans when it comes to analyzing upcoming superhero movies. Is there any possible way a drunken Russian-accented Mickey Rourke chatting up a cockatoo can work? Granted, we know nothing and we’ve seen practically nothing of this film yet … but am I the only one who cringes a little when I read that quote? Like, is this really the first info you want to tell us about the sequel?

• Mark at I Watch Stuff sarcastically notes his own reason for concern:
  

  Inside the issue, Rourke explains how he made sure his character wouldn’t be a flat, boring villain. By requesting he have a bird, obviously…Nothing adds depth to an antagonist like an avian sidekick. There’s a reason Jafar from Aladdin is probably our most complex and nuanced villain.

And just for good backlashy measure, let’s take a look at some negative points regarding the ScarJo pic:

• Marc Bernardin at Entertainment Weekly’s PopWatch notes a potentially damaging comparison:
  

  I wouldn’t have thought it, but we’ve got a battle of the comic-booky redheads brewing, with Rachel Nichols appearing as Scarlett in August’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. And ScarJo has come out swinging.

• Simon Dang at The Playlist sees a different G.I. Joe similarity and raises it a Spider-Man character:
  

  The fact she and Mickey Rourke are appearing together with Stark himself leads us to believe the two share more than just Russian ancestry. Looks like a cross between Mary Jane and Sienna Miller in “G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra.”

• Sean at Film Junk hurtfully brings up a past offense to fanboys:
  

  Who knew Scarlett Johansson would look good in black leather? Go figure. Let’s just hope she can make up for her terrible performance in The Spirit.

• Dustin Rowles at Pajiba criticizes ScarJo for being a mouth-breather:
  

  Scarlett Johansson, as the Black Widow, still can’t keep her goddamn pouty mouth shut. Seriously, lady: Close it. Not half-closed or three-quarters closed. Shut yer trap. Are you trying to catch flies? Or do you have no interest in keeping your saliva inside your mouth.

• And finally, Katey Rich at Cinema Blend spotlights another actor/character who isn’t helping the movie:
  

  Also Don Cheadle, playing Rhodey this time, admits his lack of Iron Man knowledge: “I always thought Iron Man was a robot.”