Pay the lady! Scarlett Johansson just earned a major payday for the Black Widow movie & the amount is equal to what some of her male co-stars earned for the latest Avengers film.
The actress, who has appeared in six movies as Black Widow, is finally landing a $15 million payday for an upcoming standalone film centered on the Marvel superheroine. That salary equals what Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth earned for playing Captain America and Thor, respectively, in this year’s Avengers: Infinity War. Evans and Hemsworth also nabbed that same $15 million payday for Captain America: Civil War and Thor: Ragnarok, respectively, as well as the upcoming fourth Avengers film.
Marvel typically doesn’t open up its wallet for first outings – Robert Downey Jr. included as he took home $500,000 for the first Iron Man. Johansson pulled down about a low-seven-figure salary for the first Avengers movie in 2012 (compared to Downey’s $50 million) after making her debut in 2010’s Iron Man 2. Chadwick Boseman nabbed a seven-figure paycheck to star in Black Panther ($2 million, according to sources, which well tops Downey’s first showing). Boseman’s salary is expected to go up significantly for a Black Panther sequel. And Brie Larson, whose Oscar win for 2015’s Room figures into her deals, will be paid some $5 million for next year’s Captain Marvel. Her deal also has her signed to multiple films within the MCU.
While these paydays would be stressful for most studios in regards to those totals being added to already astronomical budgets, they make sense when figuring in the appeal of Marvel movies, now 10 years into their cinematic universe. While talent deals add to more than $100 million of Infinity War‘s budget, it helps business affairs executives sleep easier at night knowing each Avengers movie easily crosses the $1 billion worldwide mark, with Infinity War grossing an astounding $2 billion. Marvel also typically allows its actors to share in the upside of a film, including bonuses of up to several million dollars based on the film’s performance.
