For the past 10 years, Robert Downey Jr. has served as the beating heart of Marvel’s cinematic universe, appearing in no less than nine feature films – expect Avengers 4 to take that (final?) tally to 10 in exactly one year’s time.
That means he’s been on the ground level of one of the biggest movie franchises ever to grace Hollywood, and the fact that Avengers: Infinity War recently brought the MCU’s total gross north of $15 billion only drives the point home: RDJ has been instrumental in that meteoric success, and his involvement in the likes of The Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man: Homecoming undoubtedly helped amplify each film’s respective box office performance.
It hasn’t gone unnoticed, either, as Variety has crunched the numbers to reveal that Robert Downey Jr. was among the highest paid actors on the planet, despite his 15 minutes of screentime in Homecoming. Last year, RDJ notched $10 million for his mentor role in the Marvel standalone pic, drawing level with the likes of Kevin Hart (Jumanji) and Chris Pratt (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom).
Perched at the top of the rankings is Daniel Craig, who is expected to cash a $25M cheque for returning to headline Danny Boyle’s Bond 25.
Daniel Craig – Bond 25 (2019) $25M
Dwayne Johnson – Red Notice (2020) $22M
Vin Diesel – The Fate of the Furious (2017) $20M
Anne Hathaway – Barbie (2020) $15M
Jennifer Lawrence – Red Sparrow (2018) $15M
Seth Rogen – Flarsky (2019) $15M
Tom Cruise – The Mummy (2017) $11-$13M
Harisson Ford – Indiana Jones 5 (2020) $10-$12M
Sandra Bullock – Minions (2015) $10M
The breakdown continues:
Leonardo Dicaprio – Once Upon a Time In Hollywood (2019) $10M
Robert Downey Jr. – Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) $10M
Kevin Hart – Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) $10M
Chris Pratt – Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) $10M
Emily Blunt – Jungle Cruise (2019) $8-$10M
Bryce Dallas Howard – Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) $8M
Tom Hardy – Venom (2018) $7M
Now for the million-dollar question: will Robert Downey Jr. reprise his role as Tony Stark for Spider-Man: Homecoming 2? That largely hinges on whether Marvel Studios decides to extend the actor’s contract beyond 2019, which is something that can also be said about Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth…
