This Can't Be Good For 'The Avengers'

Considering the sources, let’s file this week’s big Marvel’s The Avengers news under “Alleged” and cross-reference it with “Yeah, but there’s probably more”. The New York Post reported Monday, based on a rumor that the Sun published, that Scarlett Johansson is about to become the highest-paid actress on the planet for her role as Black Widow in the Avengers sequel.

The curvy superstar is set to pocket a record-breaking $20 million to reprise her comic-book heroine role in an “Avengers” sequel, according to a published report yesterday.

Her Black Widow was such a hit, “Avengers” producers are willing to break the bank, Britain’s Sun reported.

The most ridiculous thing about all of the reports of this rumor is the reminder that Angelina Jolie got $19 million for The Tourist to become the highest paid actress in Hollywood. THE TOURIST! Good lord, that movie was a diaper left in a Florida car.

As for ScarJo, as the hip bloggers call her, and this reported windfall, I have a few thoughts on this…

1) “Her Black Widow was such a hit…” – Let’s relax on the embellishment there, friends. Before Marvel’s mega-blockbuster hit theaters, we were all a bit skeptical about what role a character whose only known resources were martial arts and a pretty face would play. So if by “a hit” you mean we were pleasantly surprised that the character had a purpose, then fine, she was a hit.

B) Is she going to get $20 million? Probably. But it’s not going to be off the top. It’s not like she’ll show up the first day of filming and they’ll throw her a duffle bag full of cash. Remember, she made something like $400,000 for Iron Man 2, and she only took home $5 million, give or take, for The Avengers. Robert Downey, Jr. received something like $50 million for The Avengers after all was said and done. I’m sure ScarJo’s people know how to negotiate as well.

III) If this is true – and her people are denying it like crazy – is this good for Avengers 3? All of the other Marvel character sequels? Can’t be. God help us all if they start replacing people when the studio realizes Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth want their cuts, too. That won’t be pretty.

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