Let’s take a closer look at the richest MCU stars and how they make their money, as calculated by the bean counters over at Celebrity Net Worth.

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Paul Rudd: US$70 million

More than half of Paul Rudd’s bucks – US$41 million – come from the Ant-Man franchise and Avengers: Endgame, according to TheThings.

Because Ant-Man is not as popular as the instantly recognisable Iron Man or Captain America, Rudd was offered a modest US$300,000 for his first time playing the role. However, after Ant-Man brought in over US$500 million at the box office, he ended up getting a US$1.5 million dollar pay cheque instead, TheRichest reports. And with Forbes estimating his earnings for Endgame at US$8 million, that means US$31.5 million came from his other Ant-Man films. We can only expect his fortune to increase as he continues in the role.

Rudd is also known for his comedic roles in Clueless, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Besides his endorsements with Samsung, Hyundai and Nintendo, he and Jeffrey Dean Morgan – his co-star in romcom They Came Together – also co-own Samuel’s Sweet Shop in New York.

Jeremy Renner: US$80 million

The Mission: Impossible star debuted with Marvel as Hawkeye in 2011’s Thor, later becoming one of the most important Avengers. Thanks to playing the key role for a decade, Renner has earned some US$50 million, according to TheThings. In Endgame alone, Renner made a whopping US$15 million – reportedly the largest amount of money for any role he has played to date.

Besides his acting, Renner is also a successful businessman. According to Robb Report, he and his business partner Kristoffer Winters have bought, remodelled and sold over two dozen homes in California. Those sales, along with the production company The Combine, that he runs with Don Handfield, have earned him around US$1 million, reports Celebrity Net Worth.

Chris Evans: US$80 million

But thanks to the encouragement from family and friends, Evans finally joined the Avengers team with an initial salary of US$300,000 for Captain America in 2011, which ballooned into US$15 million for Endgame in 2019, according to Forbes.

He also served as the face of the fragrance Gucci Guilty, before being succeeded by Jared Leto.

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Bradley Cooper: US$100 million

You wouldn’t recognise Bradley Cooper’s face from any Marvel film, but rather his voice. And it’s earned him millions. He plays Rocket, the fast-talking raccoon weapons expert who first appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), followed by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Endgame. The latter alone brought in US$6 million, according to TheThings. Director James Gunn praised Cooper in a tweet, which might explain why he was paid such a large sum: “If he doesn’t even sound like Bradley Cooper … That’s the point! He’s creating a character!”

That pay cheque was even higher than another of Cooper’s hit moneymakers, The Hangover, for which he was paid US$5 million playing the character Phil, reports Insider.

Chris Hemsworth: US$130 million

Besides his roles in hits like Star Trek, Extraction and Men in Black: International, his lucrative deals with Audi, Lexus and Hugo Boss also earn him a pretty penny, as per Man of Many.

Sir Anthony Hopkins: US$160 million

Like father, like son. Sir Anthony Hopkins, who plays Thor’s father Odin, is also a big millionaire. The veteran Welsh actor, producer and director has been acting since the 1960s, starring in legendary films like The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, The Mask of Zorro and Transformers. He’s had plenty of time to build his sizeable fortune.

TheThings gives just a few examples of Hopkins’ big pay cheques: US$175,000 per episode for Westworld, US$15 million for Hannibal, US$15 million for The Wolfman and US$20 million for Red Dragon. He asked for US$10 million for each Thor film.

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Scarlett Johansson: US$165 million

The Lost in Translation star has a variety of endorsements with top brands like L’Oreal, Louis Vuitton, Calvin Klein, Mango, Dolce & Gabbana and Moët & Chandon, according to Yahoo! News. She also invests in real estate with properties in New York and Los Angeles that are worth some US$20 million, reports Celebrity Net Worth.

Vin Diesel: US$225 million

If you think repeating the same two lines – “I am Groot” and “We are Groot” – would result in a paltry pay cheque for Vin Diesel, think again.

Samuel L. Jackson: US$250 million

Samuel L. Jackson has over 120 films under his belt and US$13 billion in box office earnings, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He is the highest-grossing actor of all time in the US and Canada in 2021, making a grand total of US$5.65 billion at the US box office, putting him slightly ahead of his Marvel co-star Robert Downey Jr.’s US$5.47 billion and Tom Hanks’ US$5 billion, according to Statista.

Appearing in blockbusters and franchises such as Pulp Fiction, Jurassic Park, Star Wars and Die Hard, Jackson’s salary for a single starring role in a major production is usually between US$10-20 million. He earns US$4-6 million playing Marvel’s Nick Fury, even if he just appears on screen for a few minutes or to say one or two lines, reports Celebrity Net Worth.

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Edward Norton: US$300 million

Only part of the MCU for a short time with a one-off Hulk role, Edward Norton made most of his fortune from other outstanding films such as the Oscar-winning Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel, as well as Fight Club, The Bourne Legacy, Red Dragon, Moonrise Kingdom and Sausage Party.

Apart from acting, he is also a smart technology investor. He was an early investor in Uber and the largest individual equity owner in Kensho when it was sold to S&P Global for US$550 million in 2018, according to Celebrity Net Worth. He also co-founded the crowd fundraising platform CrowdRise, which was acquired by GoFundMe in 2017 for US$600 million, according to Forbes.

Robert Downey Jr.: US$300 million

Robert Downey Jr. kicked off the MCU as Tony Stark in the eponymous Iron Man in 2008, earning US$500,000. As the franchise grew, with dozens of films being released, so did Downey’s salary – thanks in part to his smart negotiations with Marvel, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He declined the massive guaranteed pay that his co-stars agreed to for Infinity War and Endgame, instead negotiating a lower salary alongside back-end deals.

Michael Douglas: US$350 million

Two-time Oscar-winner Michael Douglas clearly inherited the acting talent of his father, legendary actor and Hollywood icon Kirk Douglas. He has grossed hundreds of millions in base film salaries as an actor and a producer. Celebrity Net Worth names some of his most notable acting pay cheques: US$15 million for Basic Instinct, US$15 million for The American President, US$20 million for The Game, US$20 million for A Perfect Murder, US$5 million for Wonder Boys and US$10 million for Traffic. He also produced One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, which won an Academy Award for best picture.

However, his pay cheque for his role as Dr Hank Pym, the scientist behind Ant-Man, is still a secret. He only shared with D23 that he gained huge kudos with the role … according to his children.

“Before Ant-Man, I had no career in my kids’ eyes. I’ve never done a picture as far as they were concerned,” he said. “Two Academy Awards meant nothing. Now I’m cool. I am cool to my son and to his friends, too. This is the first time I’ve ever heard my kids say, ‘Can we go to the premiere?’”

He also began investing in real estate early, at age 21, according to Top Ten Real Estate Deals. With the first salary he ever made from one of his father’s films in 1966, he bought 28 hectares (70 acres) of land in Vermont, which he still owns. Unlike many celebrity house flippers, he tends to keep his properties for decades, including houses in New York, Bermuda and the Spanish island of Majorca, the latter of which is listed at US$32.7 million.