Marvel Studios
Scarlett Johansson in 'The Avengers: Age of Ultron.'
Scarlett Johansson earned roughly the same compensation for her role as Black Widow in the Marvel "Avengers" movies as co-stars Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth," Variety has learned from sources familiar with the actors' contracts.
It should be noted however, that this is actually much less than the pay she was previously reported to have earned. Robert Downey Jr. still gets paid the most of all the "Avengers" stars, with estimated earnings of $80 million a year from all his movie projects.
But it means Johansson is getting a better deal than other women in Hollywood. Jennifer Lawrence wrote a brutally honest essay called "Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co-Stars?" about her discovery that she had made less than her male peers in "American Hustle." "I'm over trying to find the 'adorable' way to state my opinion and still be likable! F- that," Lawrence said.
For its part, Disney, which owns Marvel Studios, claims that that it's making active efforts to correct the gender power imbalance in its slate of films.
"Audiences have proven that there's an appetite and a market for dynamic female leads and female-driven stories, and as an industry, we have a responsibility to create those roles for women and compensate them accordingly," Alan Horn, the chairman of Walt Disney Studios, told Variety.
That assessment has some evidence to support it. One of Disney's biggest hits of the last five years, 2013's "Frozen," which made $1.27 billion worldwide, revolved around the story of two sisters.