Sticking around the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the long run always tends to yield healthy financial rewards, but the studio has been known to offer relatively low sums to talents headlining their first solo movie. Admittedly, this was a decade ago, but Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth didn’t net more than $500,000 for Iron Man, Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor respectively.
Now that the MCU has established itself as the biggest game in town, the pay packets have shot up as a result. Brie Larson was awarded a $5 million salary for headlining Captain Marvel, and we’re now hearing from our sources – the same ones who told us Ben Kingsley was returning as Trevor Slattery in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings long before it was confirmed – that Anthony Mackie could be pocketing as much as $10 million for Captain America 4.
While that may seem like a lot for a first-time feature film leading man, let’s not forget that Mackie has been part of the franchise’s furniture for the last seven years, and that’s without mentioning his status as one of the industry’s most in-demand talents. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier marked the 42 year-old’s seventh project for Kevin Feige’s outfit, so he’s more than entitled to a hefty bump in remuneration.
That might be part of the reason why his deal wasn’t closed until months after Captain America 4 was first announced to be in development, with Mackie confirmed for the lead role a long time after it was revealed The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s lead writer Malcolm Spellman was in the early stages of cracking the script.
