Marvel movies never fail to hit the box-office with a bang. In fact, the Avengers: Endgame became the world’s highest-grossing film of all time with $2.7902 billion, surpassing Avatar’s ten-year record of $2.789 billion. And because of that, many Hollywood stars who portrayed the roles of the Marvel superheroes, earned fat paychecks.
Superheroes: Super Rich!
Robert Downey Jr. who's well-known for his portrayal of Iron Man, has an estimated net worth of $300 million
Robert Downey Jr., for example, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most significant superhero, has a personal net worth of $300 million, making him the second-highest-grossing box-office actor both in the United States and across the globe. Although his earnings from Avengers: Endgame might be his last salary from Marvel since his character Iron Man sacrificed himself, for the sake of all mankind.
He reportedly received an upfront payment of $20 million for his role, Tony Stark/Iron Man, and collected an additional back-end salary of $55 million. That sounds a pretty nice farewell payday for the actor, unless, MCU plans to cook a twist for the actor’s character. With endless numbers of multi-verses, there’s also endless of possibilities, right?
Meanwhile, his fellow actors Chris Evans, who played the character of Captain America, Chris Hemsworth who played Thor, and Scarlett Johansson who portrayed Black Widow, got a fair deal as well, and still have a lot on their plates. As a matter of fact, MCU will release Black Widow’s first stand-alone film on May 1, 2020.
Can the Supervillains Say the Same?
Toby Kebbell portrayed the role of Doctor Doom in the Fantastic Four movies
However, unlike Marvel’s protagonists, the villains don’t seem to benefit from the films’ success. Even the newest Spider-Man, Tom Holland, who’s only 22 years old, seems happier with his paychecks than supervillains.
The most famous among the bad guys, for instance, Doctor Doom, personated by Toby Kebbell in the Fantastic Four movies, reportedly has an estimated net worth of $6 million. There are no reports revealing his salary from Marvel, but it’s safe to say that only a small percentage of his over-all fortune came from his supervillain role.
Michael Fassbender who played Magneto in the X-Men series could say the same. He’s currently worth $30 million although most of the cash came from his other projects such as Frank, Alien: Covenant, and Prometheus.
Robert Redford amassed a total of $170 million within his 60-year career
The richest villain in the Marvel Universe is Alexander Pierce, played by the veteran actor Robert Redford. Within his 60-year showbiz career, he accumulated a total of $170 million net worth, and most of it came from his directing gigs and house-flipping business deals. Even the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn’t compete against the superheroes’ paychecks.
On a lighter note, it’s still a great privilege to be part of the MCU’s remarkable project. They may not receive as much money as the superheroes do, but being part of the box-office hit films would add value to their acting careers.
