Avengers: Endgame, as you likely know by now, came out of the opening weekend gate with an astounding $1.2 billion worldwide take, absolutely obliterating the existing record – which happened to be held by its immediate predecessor, last year’s Avengers: Infinity War, which took $640.5 million. While just about anyone connected to the mega-movie sequel is hearing the sound, “ca-ching!,” there’s one person in particular who broke big from the success: Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr.!
While no main roster cast member of the film’s titular team left without an exorbitant payday, Avengers: Endgame will end up providing an obscenely opulent stipend to Downey, whose compensation will be at least $75 million! The figure comes from a report from THR, which, according to sources, reveals that Downey has negotiated well during his long tenure in the film series, going back to his starring role in 2008’s Iron Man, the proverbial Big Bang to the thriving Marvel Cinematic Universe. According to the report, Downey receives a backend payout from the Avengers ensemble movies, and sources estimate that he walked away from the last film, Infinity War, with $75 million. Thus, it’s not exactly going out on a limb to claim that Downey will, in the very least, match what he earned from that film. However, when we say that Downey will earn “at least $75 million,” that’s the understated safe estimate.
Indeed, as mentioned earlier, Endgame’s initial $1.2 billion weekend nearly doubled the opening weekend take of Infinity War’s – impressive in its own right – $640.5 million opening, which ultimately went on to gross $2.05 billion. While, just coming off Endgame’s opening weekend, we’d need the Time Stone itself to gauge Downey’s backend-supplemented final pay for the film, it is safe to say that the sequel is on a solid track to dwarf its predecessor; meaning that, in all likelihood, Downey could end up walking away with something in the $100 million range.
Yet, Downey’s Endgame co-stars won’t be going broke anytime soon. In a set of figures that clearly exposes where each actor resides on the stardom totem pole, Thor actor Chris Hemsworth – who previously headlined three solo films – is reportedly in $15-20 million range, having renegotiated his contract with Marvel in 2017, going into Infinity War and subsequently Endgame. The same goes for Captain America actor Chris Evans who, having also headlined three solo films, ended up in the same $15-20 million category. Then there’s Black Widow actress Scarlett Johansson, who’s been with the MCU since 2010’s Iron Man 2. While her Infinity War/Endgame numbers were not provided, she is set to star in a Black Widow solo film, for which she will reportedly bank $20 million, serving as star and producer.
Shocking pay numbers aside, Robert Downey Jr. was/is the foundation on which the Marvel Cinematic Universe – currently 22 films deep – resides; a working relationship that started on shaky ground, with Marvel making the risky venture of producing its own films, taking a chance on a headliner in Downey, an Oscar-nominated actor who’s personal struggles became tabloid fodder as his stardom diminished. Indeed, no one could have predicted the overwhelming pop-culture-proliferating gestalt of a fruit that 2008’s Iron Man would bear. At least in terms of Hollywood logic, Downey’s inevitably-astounding Endgame paycheck will be well-earned.
