8 Supporting Actors Who Were Paid SIGNIFICANTLY More Than The Main Star

3. Robert Downey Jr Made More Than Tom Holland (Spider-Man: Homecoming)

Spider-Man Homecoming Tony Stark Angry
Marvel Studios

Robert Downey Jr got one of the most mind-blowing rates ever for his brief amount of screen time in Spider-Man: Homecoming, according to Variety: the actor earned $10 million overall, roughly $1 million per minute of screen time.

After the Amazing Spider-Man movies ran out of juice and didn't really hit that sweet spot with fans, putting Iron Man in Homecoming was a signal to audiences that this reboot was something different, and that it also carried that Marvel Cinematic Universe seal of quality. Considering the wider picture, simply getting Downey to be in the movie was a great move, regardless of his salary.

But the pay gap between him and Tom Holland - the movie's lead - is pretty insane all the same. Holland reportedly earned $500,000 for his starring role, only 5% of the amount Downey was able to pull. Iron Man was undoubtedly the more valuable character at the time, but it would be interesting to see how big the pay gap is today.

Downey hasn't always been able to beat his co-stars to the big bucks, however...

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!