Legendary On-Screen Woman of Color Scarlett Johansson Gets $15 Million for Black Widow

That Black Widow movie in the works is making moves towards its existence, and the biggest news is that actress Scarlett Johansson, according to The Hollywood Reporter, is getting a $15 million payday for this upcoming stand-alone film.

This amount, which is not being officially confirmed by Marvel because “as a matter of policy, we never publicly disclose salaries or deal terms,” has been confirmed by multiple knowledgeable sources to THR, equals what Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth earned each time playing Captain America and Thor in Infinity War, Civil War, and Ragnarok. 

Considering that Johansson has been Black Widow longer than Evans or Hemsworth have played their heroic counterparts, it is disappointing that they have waited this long to give her the same amount of money compared to her male co-stars. An argument can be made that they carried stand alone movies and she was a supporting character, but a counter-argument is simply that they should have given her a stand-alone film ages ago.

THR breaks down that Marvel tends to hold the purse strings tight during a first outing, having given Robert Downey Jr. only $500,000 for the first Iron Man. Chadwick Boseman allegedly received $2 Million for Black Panther, and Brie Larson ended up with $5 million and is locked in for a seven-picture deal. Signing in with Marvel is a commitment, but one that bleeds dividends if you stick around, and while Chris Evans is leaving us (sob), Johansson is sticking it out and is once again, solidifying herself as Hollywood’s highest-paid film actress.

Which means she needs to start being more responsible with the roles she goes out for, because the excuse she made in Ghost in the Shell about wanting to be apart of a female-led series now holds zero weight. She is the major female character in what is now Hollywood’s biggest moneymaker, and that means she shouldn’t be trying out for roles that are meant for marginalized people.

Of the Forbes highest paid actress list the top 10 are all white women, and the gap between ScarJo at $40.5 million and Angelina Jolie at #2 with $28 million tells you all you need to know, especially when you look at the highest paid male actors list and half of them are men of color and Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth and RDJ get to be in the top 10.

Women are still getting heavily screwed over when the highest paid male actor is making over 200 million and the highest for women is just over 40 million. Yet, it isn’t helping that women get aged out and women of color don’t even get to make it on that level in comparison to the small screen.

So yes, it is great that Scarlett Johansson is finally getting paid what she is owed for her work, but I also hope she realizes how that means that she has privileges leaps and bounds over other actresses and uses her power to help, not harm.

(via THR, image: Marvel Entertainment)

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