Scarlett Johansson has had a year full of major highs and lows. Some highs: she’s finally getting that Black Widow solo movie off the ground, and she really got under Ivanka Trump’s skin with that smirking “Complicit” sketch on Saturday Night Live. Some lows: she came under fire for agreeing to play a trans man in the movie Rub & Tug, then dropped out after massive backlash (but not before releasing a cringe-worthy statement about cisgender stars playing trans characters); she also got dinner with old pal Woody Allen. But the good-press, bad-press pendulum is on the upswing again, now that Forbes has announced that Johansson was the highest-paid actress in Hollywood for the year between June 1, 2017 and June 1, 2018.
She earned the top spot thanks to her turn in blockbuster Marvel movies like Captain America: Civil War and The Avengers series. Johansson’s reported earnings were a cool $40.5 million, per Forbes, in part thanks to the ridiculous success of Avengers: Infinity War (it’s already made over $2 billion at the worldwide box office, though half of that will disappear if Thanos snaps his godforsaken fingers again). It’s an especially nice payday because Johansson is in Infinity War for all of about 10 minutes, give or take, with the movie focusing its lens on characters like Iron Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy squad. Screenwriter Christopher Markus did promise in an interview, however, that Black Widow would make a stronger showing in Avengers 4, which comes out May 2019.
The highest-paid actress list has, for the last few years, been dominated by Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone (Stone has been bumped off entirely this year, but Lawrence made a showing in the fourth spot with $18 million). Johansson’s top spot speaks to the power of having a franchise under your belt, even when you’re far from the main character in it. Though Lawrence has also got plenty of franchises in her past, from X-Men to The Hunger Games, her position on the Forbes list is due to the massive upfront fees she’s been able to command for films like Passengers, a dwindling power that few stars can wield these days.
Angelina Jolie is one of those few stars, by the way. The actress, who is largely more focused on directing and humanitarian work than taking on starring roles, landed the No. 2 spot on the Forbes list based off the strength of her upfront payday for the upcoming Disney sequel Maleficent 2. Taking the third spot was Jennifer Aniston with $19.5 million, largely thanks to lucrative brand sponsorships with Emirates airlines, Smartwater, and Aveeno.
The top three represent a perfect microcosm of how actresses earn whopping paydays in this era. You’re either in a superhero smash, or you’re an old-school star with staggering upfront fees, or you’re ladling endorsement deals by the dozen. The latter is one of the more direct ways actresses make up for the abysmal wage gap in Hollywood. The Forbes list, as it were, is the most glaring example of that gap (and a serious lack of inclusion, as the top 10 list is solely comprised of white women). Last year, Emma Stone was considered the highest-paid actress in Hollywood thanks to the $26 million she earned. Mark Wahlberg, who was named the highest-paid actor that same year, earned $68 million. It’s not an easy gap to close, but if anyone is primed to take a crack at it, it’s Johansson and the massive Black Widow payday lingering on her horizon.
