When it came to expanding the standalone superhero blockbusters into the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) mega-franchise after the massive success of “Iron Man” (2008), those in charge of the studio were have made it clear from the start that they will not hesitate to throw out actors if necessary, if they set too high (salary) demands.
The resulting arguments were especially heated in the lead-up to the film adaptation of “Avengers 2: Age Of Ultron”. It even went so far that Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johansson were on the verge of being fired if Iron Man himself had not intervened. With a clear announcement to Marvel about the overall compensation situation Robert Downey Jr. just prevent the worst.
One earns 250 times more than the other
One reason for the brewing conflict was that Marvel wasn’t paying its actors particularly well at the start of the MCU — with the exception of Robert Downey Jr., who was still signed for “Iron Man.” The real stars then were mainly the Marvel characters and not the actors who embodied them. Even Some Stars Only Received a Measly $200,000 for the First ‘Avengers’ Movie (with worldwide box office revenues of $1.5 billion).
Robert Downey Jr., who had already negotiated a share of the profits long before the great success of the MCU could be expected, received an incredible amount of around 50 million dollars for ‘Avengers’. That means, he earned 250 times more than some of his co-stars – and even if you say that Iron Man was by far the most popular Avenger, that’s a very big difference in salary for more or less the same job. It’s no wonder Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johansson have asked for at least some adjustment to their salaries.
Robert Downey Jr. didn’t always stand up for his co-stars
It is not a given that Robert Downey Jr. ultimately sided with his co-stars in this salary dispute. Two years earlier, a similar situation occurred with ‘Iron Man 2’: Terrence Howard had to hand over his role as War Machine to Don Cheadle after he asked for too much money for the sequel. Afterwards, Howard even explicitly complained about the Iron Man actor because, in his opinion, his salary only needed to be saved to cover Robert Downey Jr.’s exorbitant salary. to be able to pay.
But apparently Robert Downey Jr. changed its tune in the past two years: when Marvel threatened to fire Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johansson if they didn’t sign a new contract under the studio’s terms, the MCU figurehead sided with him. stars.
But they probably weren’t willing to just give in to Marvel like this: Hemsworth had already received $5 million for “Snow White And The Huntsman” – and now threatened Marvel to just continue working with Universal instead. And Johansson also made it clear that she definitely wouldn’t return to the MCU for the mini amount of money.
Last minute rescue
After the pleas of Robert Downey Jr. a solution was finally found that was acceptable to everyone. A Marvel insider commented on the situation to the industry magazine as follows: “He is the only one who has real power in this situation. And he also has balls of steel. He sent the message that he wouldn’t work at a place where his coworkers are treated like shit.“
A whole host of roles have already been recast in the MCU – the most famous of course being the character of Bruce Banner, aka Hulk, who was previously played by Edward Norton in “The Incredible Hulk” Mark Ruffalo of creative differences between the “Glass Onion: Knives Out 2” star and Marvel executives.
But the MCU with different actors for Thor and Black Widow – that would have really disrupted the immersion, and the newcomers would probably have seemed like oddballs among the established Avengers for a long time…