Marvel movies have a history of turning their leads into stars, and the investment isn’t cheap. Over the years, several actors have gone from humble salaries in their first films for Marvel, to making record-breaking millions.
The bulk of the earning for most MCU actors, such as Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans, comes from a cut of the profits. For instance, Downey, according to Business Insider, had an 8% back-end deal on Avengers: Endgame, which translated to around $75 million.
But Downey was paid just $500000 for his starring role in the first Iron Man film in 2008. He made round $2.5 million including his cut of the profits. Downey later made $50 million for the first Avengers film, and around $80 million for Avengers: Age of Ultron.
By comparison, Chris Evans was paid $1 million for the first Captain America film, but since Captain America: Civil War, has been making $15 million per film. Chris Hemsworth was paid even less for the first Thor film -- $150000 -- but made $15 million for Thor: Ragnarok.
Also read: When Chris Hemsworth called Thor 2 ‘meh’, Idris Elba said working on it ‘ripped my heart out’
“We started saying that the character is the marquee name, and I think that’s still true, but I think we’ve been very lucky and thankful that the actors that imbibe these characters have now become them,” Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige told Forbes in 2017. “It’s expensive but well worth it.”
Meanwhile, Chadwick Boseman was paid $2 million for Black Panther; Brie Larson, according to the Hollywood Reporter was paid $5 million for Captain Marvel and Scarlett Johansson was paid $15 million for the upcoming Black Widow solo film.
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