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For a long time, Robert Downey Jr. has been sitting on the chair of the highest-paid MCU actor. During his reign as Iron Man, the actor proved to be the primary contributor to the MCU’s success. While his Iron Man fame helped him to earn such high paychecks in the Infinity Saga, his reported salary for playing Doctor Doom has raised several eyebrows.
Latest reports claim that Robert Downey Jr. will reportedly receive a monstrous $100 million paycheck forAvengers: DoomsdayandAvengers: Secret Wars. The rumors have made Marvel fans go crazy. Earlier, Tom Cruise also received $100 million after hisTop Gun: Mavericksaved the cinema after the pandemic. However, the additional box office incentives can even help Robert Downey Jr. earn $200 million and beat Cruise’s record.
Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom salary raises chaos
Robert Downey Jr.‘s comeback to the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been one of the craziest news in the pop culture world this year. He holds a special place among the fans as the universe started with his 2008’sIron Man. At that time, theOppenheimerstar only received $500,000 along with an unknown cut of post-release profits. As perCBR, he did not get more than $2 million for the film.
Going forward, the situation slowly changed as with his performance and charisma, Robert Downey Jr. took no time to make a place among the fans and establish himself as the highest-paid Avenger in the MCU. For his last MCU flick as Iron Man,Avengers: Endgame, the actor took home $75 million with a rumored 8% backend profit (see CBR).
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Unfortunately, soon afterEndgameand Robert Downey Jr.’s departure, Marvel lost its box office pull. Besides disappointing films, their plans also suffered as Jonathan Majors had to befireddue to his legal troubles. The MCU ultimately decided to go back to pivot from Kang and introduce Doctor Doom but with Robert Downey Jr. The Comic Con 2024 raised massive headlines as the MCU’s Starboy came back.
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However, the latest reports by trusted scooperJeff Sneider(viaCulture Crave) state that the Oscar-winner will receive $100 million for playing Doom inAvengers: DoomsdayandAvengers: Secret Wars. It must be noted that his paycheck is almost set to reach $200 million after the post-release profits. Most fans already opined that this was a desperate move for the MCU. But with this new update, they are more concerned about the upcoming version of Doctor Doom.
Fans are not sure what to think about Robert Downey Jr.’s insane salary
It can be concluded that after the repeated box office failures and the Jonathan Majors’ trouble, the MCU could not think of a better plan than bringing back their money-printing machine. Robert Downey Jr. shared in theAwards Chatterpodcast that he went“wow”when Feige approached him with the role last year.
Nevertheless, most fans are still of the notion that theTropic Thunderactor is imprinted in our minds as Tony Stark and Doom deserved somebody else. Now after the salary is revealed, the fans are more worried as they question why did the studio not invest the money to cast an authentic actor and improve the quality of the films.
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As some hardcore Downey Jr. fans argued thatTom Cruisealso got $100 million forTop Gun: Maverick, others pointed out that Cruise’s original salary was $12.5 million. According toForbes(viaScreen Rant), he only received $100 million after adding the backend profits. Moreover, some fans also claimed that Cruise was crucial to the plot ofTop Gun: Maverickwhereas Doom could have been played by anybody. Let’s take a look at some tweets:
Maverick couldn’t exist without Cruise. Literally anybody could have played Doctor Doom.
— Muad’Eeb (@TheRealestEazy)August 22, 2025
tom cruises value add to maverick is much more obvious that rdj to this movie
— sleepy claude shannon (@catpoopburglar)July 13, 2025
Tom Cruise was main cast, producer, helped with writing the movie, at great peril to his life he did all the stunts,the marketing was hugely based on him, created and led a training program for the rest of the cast; I mean…
— emo (@emistar)June 10, 2025
This is taking “The budget went all to his performance” into a whole new level 💀https://t.co/ZRWWJTlLL0
— Marcus 🇵🇭 🍉 (Commissions: 0/5) (@MarcusTheBruh)June 07, 2025
That is absolutely insane. That’s how much it costs to make some movies 🤣🤣
— Anthony Day (@AnthonyDaytv)July 18, 2025
This has been one of the boldest moves by the MCU, considering Robert Downey Jr.’s return can ruin both Iron Man and Doctor Doom’s legacy for us. But on the other side, it cannot be denied that with a shift in his script choices and a recent Oscar win, the actor worth $300 million (viaCelebrity Net Worth) was bound to not return without a gargantuan figure.
Varietyreports that besides the heavy figure, theAvengers: Endgamestar would also get other perks like private jet travel, personal security, and a trailer encampment. It will be interesting to see if this decision can do wonders for the $30 billion grossing film franchise.
Avengers: Doomsdayis expected to release on June 04, 2025, andAvengers: Secret Warson August 02, 2025.
Subham Mandal
Senior Writer
Articles Published :1461
Subham Mandal is currently working as a content writer for FandomWire with an ardent interest in the world of pop culture. He has written more than 1000 articles on different spheres of modern pop culture and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. He’s also an experienced student journalist having demonstrated work experience with the Times of India. He aspires to be a column writer in the future.
