Robert Downey Jr., Who Launched a $30 Billion Franchise, Was Paid Peanuts- 60,000X Less for Debut Movie
Robert Downey Jr., who recently played Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, starring Cillian Murphy, is best known for his role as playboy billionaire Tony Stark/Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Iron Man trilogy, which began in 2008. He subsequently became a founding member of the Avengers and is widely regarded as one of the most beloved characters in the Marvel universe.
It’s surprising to think that when Marvel Studios released Iron Man in 2008, they had no idea how big of a success the film would be and how much the audience would appreciate and love Downey Jr.’s character. However, the actor who established a $30 billion franchise was initially underpaid. Let us dig deep.
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Robert Downey Jr. credits Jon Favreau for casting him as Iron Man
One of the most beloved actors in the industry, Robert Downey Jr., 2008’s Iron Man, launched the franchise which later turned out to be a billion-dollar franchise. In a recent interview, the actor who was recently seen in Oppenheimer shared that it was actor-director Jon Favreau who pushed him to play Tony Stark and eventually become Iron Man.
He said, “I think we were both really hungry to try to reestablish ourselves as a formidable duo, albeit individually”. He also mentioned that Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige also trusted them and said that they should go ahead, noting that they liked the risk, which eventually turned out to be a life-changing experience for them.
Over the years, Downey Jr. became the undisputed face of the Marvel Universe, and even after he last appeared in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame and his character died towards the end, people a not stopped hoping that the character would appear on-screen once again, and now a with Marvel opening doors to a multiverse a; there are n number of possibilities.
How much was Robert Downey Jr. paid for Iron Man?
To a lot of people’s surprise, Iron Man was a risky investment for the actor, director, and the makers because they did not anticipate what the franchise would end up being and the audience was going to love it so much. Keeping that risky investment in mind, the actor who believed in the character accepted the role at the lowest pay of $500,000 with an unknown cut of back-end profits which some sources say were as high as 8%.
Following the success and popularity of the movie, Robert Downey Jr. raised his salary and, according to sources, earned about $10 M for the sequel; Iron Man 2, plus another sweet-back-end deal. When 2012’s Avengers was released, which featured Hulk, Thor, and Captain America, $10M was the base salary for Robert Downey Jr., and the success of that movie, back-end deals ended up bringing Downey’s Avengers salary to $50 million.
It has been reported that the final solo movie for Tony Stark, Iron Man 3 did not impress the audience as much as Marvel Studios expected, but it is the highest-grossing Iron Man movie with a $1.2B haul. Iron Man once again appeared in Captain America: Civil War alongside Chris Evans and it has been reported that he made approximately $50M for that movie.
Lastly, his iconic scene, which is instilled in everyone’s mind even today, from Avengers: Endgame, earned the actor around $75M with a rumored 8% back-end deal which earned him an extra $55 million for the movie alone. The 2019 movie ended up being one of the highest-grossing movies ever.
Source: Insider
