On July 28, 2024, Marvel Studios announced in Hall H at Comic Con that filmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo, who directed Films, such as “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Avengers: Endgame” and “Captain America: Civil War,” were announced to be directing two New Marvel movies, “Avengers: Secret Wars” and “Avengers: Doomsday” (“Avengers: Doomsday being a retitle of “Avengers: Kang Dynasty”).
Joe Russo then shared some important information while talking to Hall H at Comic Con.
“We’re gonna need the greatest actor of all time to play this role,” said Joe Russo.
Suddenly, figures cloaked in green robes and metal masks walked onto the stage as the Opera sang the words of “Doctor Doom.” The opera stopped and someone from the group of cloaked figures stepped forward onto the apron of the stage. The person on stage paused and then took off their metal mask. As soon as the mask came off, the crowd exploded in cheers and screams. Who were they screaming for? Well, none other than Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr, aka RDJ.
RDJ stepped up to the microphone and stated “New Mask, Same Task,” which implied that this version of Doctor Doom was going to have the same goals as Iron Man.
The Marvel Comic Con Panel at Hall H ended with a bang, and people were excited in the moment. As the announcement sat with us the following week, the discussion became more sour and unsure, especially after hearing that Robert Downey Jr. was supposedly going to be paid upwards of 90-100 million dollars.
Now if you thought what I was talking about from the “cloaked green figures” to the “opera on the stage” was fake, then you are probably also going to believe that this “$100M contract” is also fake, but unfortunately what I have just told you up until this point is completely true.
This whole situation makes me so angry on so many levels. Firstly, no actor should be given that amount of money and there is not a single actor who should be paid that much.
Sure, RDJ led a 10 year franchise of movies and has won an Oscar. The Oscar he was given was for his supporting role in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.” And I do hate to say this but RDJ is just NOT worth that amount, maybe a couple million, but $100M is really stretching it.
Besides, there are so many other actors and actresses that have been in more prolific roles and/or have gotten way more Oscar wins/nominations. Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cillian Murphy, Angela Bassett, Emma Stone, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Bob Odenkirk, Aaron Paul, Ana de Armas, Jonathan Banks and even Bradley Cooper are all examples of actors and actresses that earned or deserved Oscar wins. There’s also a lot of new eyes in the industry from people like Lily Gladstone, Ke Huy Quan, Brendan Fraiser, and Michelle Yeoh. But, we need to ask ourselves if any of these people deserve $100M? The answer would still be no.
You are still probably confused. How come I named all of these fantastic and prolific actors and actresses and I somehow don’t think they deserve the amount that Robert Downey Jr. is getting? Well it still comes down to the fact that $100M is a ludicrous amount of money to give a person. With $100M you can pretty much be set for life, if you play your cards right and to give that to any actor or actresses feels a bit uncanny. What’s more infuriating is that Robert Downey Jr’s regular net worth is way more than $100M, it’s actually $300M which is quite frankly the most rage-inducing number I could possibly think of.
Obviously actors, writers, and other people in the industry should be paid well and there is a small category of actors and actresses that should be paid a bit more, but that amount should never reach more than a couple million at best. Another thing that makes this amount of money way more frustrating is that the industry at this moment in time cannot keep affording this. To Quote Writer, Actor, and Producer Adam Conover: “There are just not enough Billionaires in the world to keep this industry sustainable.” Even though then he was talking about how streaming is destroying the industry (which it is) this quote can also apply to the current state of Hollywood.
As of recently, Hollywood movies have been getting more and more expensive, and their budgets for movies are so massive that the movies themselves in most cases can’t make back that money or make a profit.
It doesn’t help that Hollywood has been notoriously terrible, especially recently because they are refusing to pay the Actors, Writers, Animators, VFX Workers and so many more. It damages the films so that executives and CEOs can pocket that hard earned money for themselves, or atleast what little money they do make back. The fact that Robert Downey Jr. is getting this much sets a dangerous precedent going forward.
That precedent being that spending more money will solve all of your issues. Marvel’s “Doomsday” and “Secret Wars’’ movies are already, probably, going to have high budgets, and if these movies are coming out in 3 years, then the unfortunate truth is that the Writers and VFX Workers are gonna be overworked and underpaid which will severely damage the end results. And if the movie’s early reviews confirm that it’s all bad, then I am just not sure if the movie’s Box Offices are gonna fare much better.
Is Robert Downey Jr. the cause of Hollywood’s overpriced movie conundrum? No, of course not, he’s just one guy in a system that’s been breaking down for a long time. And besides, I don’t think he asked for $100M. I think what genuinely happened was that Marvel was unsure what to do after it was found out that Jonathan Majors (The Actor for Kang that was going to lead the saga in a villain role) had done some horrific actions. So they decided to bring in the beloved actor who led the franchise before and most likely threw that number at him so he would come back and he agreed.
I don’t think it’s a good idea to give movies huge budgets when it’s unneeded and, I would much rather listen to Cord Jefferson, who is the Oscar winning director of “American Fiction”. When he was accepting his Oscar in 2024, he gave a speech about the industry at this moment in time and what we should do instead of giving films $200M budgets. In his speech, he said:
“I understand that this is a risk-averse industry, I get it, But $200 million movies are also a risk. And it doesn’t always work out, but you take the risk anyway. Instead of making one $200 million movie, try making 20 $10 million movies. Or 50 $4 million movies.”
This speech rings too true and I hope Hollywood gets better and realizes this, but something tells me that they’re still gonna throw around $100M to actors who don’t need that much because to them money is a magical item that will solve every single problem, even the problems with the easiest solutions.
