One of the stranger things to happen in the aftermath of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premiering on Disney Plus last Friday was the cancel culture mob sharpening their pitchforks and pointing them in the direction of Tony Stark, after the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s second Disney Plus exclusive revealed that the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist didn’t pay the Avengers for their efforts.
Of course, it goes without saying that this one’s definitely up there with the most pointless and ridiculous of social media outrages seeing as we’re talking about a fictional character who also happens to be dead, but needless to say the internet had plenty of thoughts on the matter. In the broadest terms, Tony had no reason to pay the rest of the team seeing he wasn’t their employer, although he was at least benevolent enough to provide them with an entire facility and the majority of their wardrobe.
In a new interview, Anthony Mackie addressed the bizarre controversy surrounding the lack of financial compensation awarded to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and admitted that even he thought Stark was putting his hand into his incredibly deep pockets to keep the Avengers afloat.
“It’s interesting. I always ask the question, ‘When the Avengers show up, they destroy whole cities and crush people, and what do they do for a living? Where does their money come from?’ I always believed it was Tony Stark because, obviously, he owns an Audi dealership somewhere. I think they do it for the betterment of the world, for saving people’s lives. They have their ins and outs, their odd jobs to make sure that they’re taken care of; government sponsorship, funding, government housing.”
As you can see, Mackie says he’s not sure what they all do for a living, which is a good point. If you look at the Phase One Avengers, though, Hawkeye and Black Widow would have pocketed salaries as S.H.I.E.L.D. employees, Thor has no use for Earthly currency, Iron Man was rich as hell, Captain America’s bank balance would have gained 70 years of interest without being touched, and the Hulk had a lengthy scientific career before turning himself into a giant green rage monster. As for the newer members of the roster, let’s just imagine the hilarious sight of them meekly asking their bosses for some time off to go save the world.
