Robert Downey Jr. Earned $10 Million for Spider-Man: Homecoming Role

Far and away the best-paid actor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Robert Downey Jr. walked away with a hefty check for his 15 minutes of screen time in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

According to Variety, the Iron Man actor was paid $10 million for the 2017 film, or roughly $1.5 million for each minute that he was seen on the screen.

For comparison, fellow MCU star Chris Pratt will earn about $10 million for his role next month is Universal Pictures' Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, while Tom Hardy is being paid $7 million as the lead in Sony's Venom. Downey's Spider-Man payday effectively makes him the highest paid actor in Spider-Man: Homecoming, over star Tom Holland.

The hefty check seems to be worth the investment, as Homecoming went on to become the second highest-grossing Spider-Man film, earning more than $880 million worldwide. Downey's appearance as Tony Stark played a pivotal role in firmly establishing Spider-Man in the MCU while developing the strong father-son dynamic between him and Peter Parker. This dynamic continued in a big way in this year's Avengers: Infinity War, to heartbreaking effect for both characters.

Downey famously negotiated a deal with Marvel Studios that guarantees him a share of the box office for each film in which he appears, which amounted to $50 million for 2012's The Avengers, and a reported $75 million for 2013's Iron Man 3. "I can’t believe it," the actor said in 2013. "I’m what’s known as ‘a strategic cost.’” He reportedly made another $80 million from his roles in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War.

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