Downey Jr to earn at least $50 million from The Avengers

WHO is the smartest of all superheroes?

In the box-office movie sensation The Avengers it is without doubt Robert Downey Jr, who played Tony Stark (Iron Man)

Marvel managed to get six hot stars together, but the 47-year-old Downey Jr negotiated by far the best deal, The Hollywood Reporter stated.

Avengers assemble $1b, smash box office records

Downey Jr, according to multiple sources, will be paid at least $US50 million once box-office bonuses and backend compensation are factored in

The figure blows away his superhero co-stars Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L Jackson, Mark Ruffalo and Chris Hemsworth. They will get a small fraction of Downey’s total, even as The Avengers has a shot at topping the final Harry Potter film’s $1.32 billion global haul.

The reason for the difference is that when Marvel’s Iron Man film grossed a surprising $585 million worldwide in 2008, Downey’s management renegotiated a deal to include what multiple sources say is a slice of Marvel’s revenue from future movies in which he plays Iron Man (one source puts it in the 5 percent to 7 percent range; another source disputes the percentage. Marvel and Downey’s reps declined comment).

Marvel struck hard bargains with other hero movies. Two sources told The Hollywood Reporter that Hemsworth, Evans, Renner and Ruffalo agreed small upfront fees and will make about $2 million to $3 million on The Avengers with bonuses. Jackson and Johansson, who signed deals to appear in several Marvel movies, are said to be making about twice that much.

The Avengers has become a global goliath, passing the $1 billion milestone in just 19 days. If it passes the $1.32 billion of 2011's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, The Avengers would become the third-highest-grossing film of all time, behind only James Cameron's Avatar ($2.8 billion) and Titanic ($2.2 billion, including grosses from the recent re-release). The Marvel film is distributed by Disney, which purchased the independent studio in 2009 for $4.3 billion.

While Downey’s pay might seem high, it's not unheard of for stars with backend deals to collect super-rich paydays when their films become a global sensation. Johnny Depp is said to have made at least $250 million from the four Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and Forbes reported that director Michael Bay took home $80 million from the first Transformers. (He likely made more than that for the sequels.)