I don’t normally give a shit about actor salaries, but in this case it means a little bit more than just a dumb list of highest-paid stars. After ten years and seven Marvel appearances, Scarlett Johansson’s reported $15M (Marvel disputes this number, btw) payday for the upcoming but still unannounced Black Widow film will put her on par with Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth for their Marvel roles.
Of course, NONE of them are making bank like Robert Downey Jr., who was scoring $50M for the first Avengers movie. We’re about to have the fourth one so that number has probably gone up. Just a little.
This is a big deal because how Marvel goes the rest of Hollywood follows. Over the years we’ve seen repeated examples of the pay disparity between men and women. Actresses who are objectively bigger stars than their male counterparts routinely find themselves paid millions less. An example would be Michelle Williams, who saw supporting player Mark Wahlberg earn $1.5M just for reshoots on All the Money in the World while she practically made scale.
Marvel has clearly seen the writing on the wall and heard the voices of those advocating for equal pay. They would’ve had a Hell of a time explaining how ScarJo could possibly make less than others for their first solo movie. And she isn’t some special case, either, as Brie Larson is making $5M for Captain Marvel and that is bound to increase if the character becomes a centerpiece as most expect she will. It’s going to take time before the rest of Hollywood follows suit, but if Marvel keeps leading the way theywill eventually fall in line. [THR]
