With the new movie, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, in the theaters, these comic icons are in the news. Also in the news are the constant discovery of so-called “pay gaps,” where one group receives more pay than others doing the same job. But who would have thought that pay disparities exist between superheroes?
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Nick DiSantis, a writer for Forbes®, looked into this momentous topic to determine which actors get more compensation—those playing Batman or those playing Superman? In his article, he determined the winner is Batman, and he explained some factors that could be the cause of the disparity.
The first is that while Batman is usually played by a “marquee” movie star (think Ben Affleck, star of the current film; Christian Bale, and Val Kilmer), Superman is often cast with an “unknown” such as Christopher Reeve, who was a stage actor, or Henry Cavill, who plays the hero in the current flick. The Superman role also doesn’t require quite the same highly buff physique as Batman, especially since the actor must also play his super-nerd, alter ego Clark Kent.
As a result, says DiSantis, the compensation for those playing Batman has been higher than those playing Superman because more money is required to hire an actor who is a household name, such as George Clooney.
He says Christian Bale has earned the most money of anyone portraying one of these superheroes due to a $20 million bonus he received from Warner Brothers because The Dark Knight box office receipts were through the roof and well over the studio’s expectations.
Michael Keaton would also have been at the top, but he confirmed to CBS Sunday Morning in 2014 that he did, indeed, turn down $15 million to do Batman 3 because he wasn’t happy with the script.
However, the actor who made the most money in a Batman or Superman movie was not playing the lead. The compensation record goes to Marlon Brando, who played Superman’s biological father, Jor-El, in the first movie. While he received “only” $3.7 million in pay for that role, he convinced the producers to give him an 11.75 percent share of the movie’s profit, on top of that—resulting in him earning $19 million for only a few days’ work.