Famous for playing billionaire playboy superhero Tony Stark on screen, Robert Downey Jr is one step closer to similar status – Well maybe not billionaire, but he has earned a huge amount for his role of Iron Man.
He’s certainly worked his way to the top though, and it’s not always been an easy ride for the actor. Prior to joining the Marvel franchise, Downey had battled with substance addiction, and even served 180 days in jail for failing to attend a court-ordered drugs test.
After Marvel hired Downey Jr back in 2008 to play Tony Stark in Iron Man, its first entry to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, his fortune spiralled from there.
Initially, he was paid just $2.5 million for the movie, as it wasn’t expected to do very well.
However, it did quite the opposite, and just four years later Robert Downey Jr took part in the first Avengers film, earning himself a generous $50 million – quite a jump from his first 2008 earnings.
He would also take home a percentage of the film’s $1.5 billion box office profits. This made him the highest paid actor in Hollywood (2013), and he was making $75 million annually after the success of Iron Man 3 and Avengers: Age of Ultra.
He then spent another two years in the top position, before being overtaken by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
Don’t feel too bad though, as Downey still took home an estimated $33 million (£27.4m) in 2016 as the face of the MCU.
In 2018, as Spider-Man: Homecoming and Avengers: Infinity War sold cinema tickets around the world, Downey would earn a staggering $81 million. He even took home a percentage of the 2018 film’s $2 billion box office profits.
His most recent Avengers movie, Avengers: Endgame, the actor’s base salary increased to over $20 million.
And, alongside another $55 million in ticket sales, and the actor continues to cash in huge cheques from the franchise.
To date, Robert Downey Jr has now reportedly earned over $435 million (£360m) thanks to the MCU alone.
His journey through the MCU is one of the greatest actor success stories in Hollywood history.
