Marvel enthusiasts are flocking to social media to discuss Robert Downey Jr.’s purported pay deal for his return as Doctor Doom, especially in comparison to another actor’s earnings.
During last month’s San Diego Comic Con (SDCC), it was announced that Robert Downey Jr. would reprise his role, this time as Victor Von Doom, in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, under the direction of Joe and Anthony Russo.
Reports emerged suggesting that the Russo Brothers are set to earn about $80 million for their involvement, while Downey Jr.’s compensation was noted to be ‘significantly more’.
Being one of the highest-earning actors in the MCU, Fandomwire later reported that Downey Jr. could be receiving close to an astounding $100 million for his role as Dr. Doom.
A Marvel fan on Twitter highlighted: “Angela Bassett was only paid $350,000 for her Oscar-nominated performance in Wakanda Forever, of which most of us can agree she was snubbed.
“What exactly does RDJ bring to the table that requires over 200x that amount of money?”
The topic quickly garnered attention and responses online.
One Twitter user commented: “Rdj shouldn’t be getting anywhere near that amount of money and shouldn’t be anywhere near that character but ‘what does he bring to the table’ is crazy considering he was the main character for when the mcu really took off and has won an Oscar too if u wanna go there.”
Another user added: “Only 350k wtf?! I thought she would be paid millions by now.”
The original poster continued, expressing difficulty in grasping such vast amounts of money.
They clarified that they were not questioning Downey Jr.’s talent but believed many other actors missed the opportunity to revitalize the franchise instead of relying on Downey Jr.’s history with the MCU.
Another Twitter user countered: “The entire MCU became a thing because of his performance in 2008’s Iron Man.”
A fourth pointed out: “She was on screen 23 mins of a 2hr & 41 min movie. She got paid $15.2k per min. RDJ was on screen 53mins in the first iron man and made $500k.
“That’s about $9.43k per minute. She was higher paid (hrly rate) for this role than RDJ was originally paid as iron man. Just sayin.”
It’s possible Bassett earned more than $350,000 for her role in the Black Panther sequel.
While Cosmopolitan cites reports that Bassett ‘made $350,000 for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,’ Money Inc references sources suggesting that ‘most of the high-profile actors in the movie made between $1 million – $2 million’.
Regardless, even if Bassett earned $1 million, it’s still roughly 100 times less than Downey Jr.’s reported paycheck. If her earnings were $2 million, it remains a significant 50 times difference.
As one Marvel fan concluded: “There would be no MCU without him. He is literally the entire reason why Marvel movies make billions of dollars.
“Angela Bassett was great, but Marvel fans around the globe are not going to see comic book movies because she’s in it.”