We’re sure the heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe don’t save the world just for the money. But when you’re making hundreds of millions of dollars, the money sure doesn’t hurt. And according to a new Forbes list, the actors who play the various heroes in “Avengers: Endgame” are earning a ton of money over the last year.
The report says that 6 MCU stars have landed on the Top 100 Celebrity money-earners for the last year. And those 6 stars, which includes Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey, Jr, Chris Evans, Bradley Cooper, Paul Rudd, and Scarlett Johansson, have earned a combined total of $340 million. Yes, you read that right. Three-hundred-and-forty-million dollars.
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Leading the way is Hemsworth, who earned an astonishing $76.4 million over the last 365 days. Of course, not all of his bank comes from the ‘Avengers’ films, as he also starred in various other high-profile gigs like “Men in Black: International.” Right behind him is RDJ, obviously, with $66 million (but his back-end earnings from ‘Endgame’ will likely put him back on this list next year).
Then you have Bradley Cooper (thanks to some of that “A Star is Born” money) earning a respectable $57 million. Johansson is right behind him with $56 million. And bringing it up the rear are Cap and Ant-Man, with Evans earning $43.5 million and Rudd landing $41 million of his own. All told, that’s a lot of cash. And those are just the top-earning MCU folks.
Don’t feel bad for the likes of Brie Larson and Tom Holland, who also had large ‘Avengers’ paydays and solo films of their own. It’s just that the aforementioned folks get checks between $8 million and $20 million just to show up. Larson and Holland just aren’t there yet, but their time will come.
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The big money obviously comes from those aforementioned back-end deals. Forbes is reporting that the high-end names like RDJ get about 8% of the profit earned from ‘Endgame,’ while some of the second-tier folks like Cooper only get 1%. But when you’re talking about profit that is already reportedly topping $700 million for the latest ‘Avengers’ film, 1% isn’t anything to cry about.
So yeah, we’re not saying that the fan love and quality scripts aren’t the reasons for these actors to keep returning to the MCU. The money ain’t too bad either.