Robert Downey Jr. Made HOW Much Money for 'The Avengers?!'

Big paychecks for big movies stars are nothing new. But when you have a movie like "The Avengers," which features an ensemble cast of stars, you expect that none of them will be making a huge amount of money. But if you think that Robert Downey Jr. was going to walk away from "The Avengers" with just an average payday, you thought wrong.

RDJ is reportedly making the most off of "The Avengers" than any of his co-stars, and it's not even close. In fact, reports say that Downey's payday will be around $50 million when all is said and done. Compare that to the $2 million to $3 million that most of the rest of the superhero team (Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo) are making, and you have one actor making twice as much as the rest of the stars combined. Even Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson, who carry a bigger profile than the other stars and thus have bigger deals, can't nearly match Downey's haul.

So, why does Downey, who has just as much screen time as Chris Evans, get more than 10 times as much money? Answer: negotiations. Downey starred in two "Iron Man" movies before reprising the role in "The Avengers," and when the first movie was met with a successful box office haul, RDJ re-negotiated his contract for future roles, ensuring that he would get a sizable cut of the movie's box office revenue.

That turned out to be a pretty brilliant move on the part of Downey's reps, as "The Avengers" smashed records in its first two weeks in theaters, earning more than $200 million in its first few days in American theaters, and earning $1 billion globally in just 19 days. At this rate, "The Avengers" could easily be one of the top-grossing movies of all time, and Downey gets bonuses based on that success.

In other words, somebody owes his agent one heck of a gift basket.