The MCU is the box office juggernaut that all franchises are looking up at, and now that it has expanded to the small screen on Disney+ with some huge characters, it appears as though it will only continue to get bigger. DC and Star Wars are massive in their own right, but the MCU is leading the charge these days.
Zoe Saldana is a talented performer who has a huge role in the MCU, but this does not mean that she is making Robert Downey Jr. type of money. In fact, looking back at her first MCU check, it is clear that the star was underpaid for the role.
Let’s look back at Zoe Saldana’s first MCU check and see how underpaid she was.
She Only Made $100,000 For The First Guardians Movie
In the world of superhero movies, most fans are aware that the biggest stars are pulling down the biggest checks. However, there are times when stars become severely underpaid for their work. In the case of Zoe Saldana and her appearance in the first Guardians of the Galaxy film, people would be shocked to learn that the star made a minuscule amount for a top talent.
According to Cheat Sheet, Zoe Saldana, despite all of the success that she had prior to landing in the franchise, was only able to pull down $100,000 for that first Guardians flick. This is a ridiculously low amount of money to pay a star of her caliber, and it shows that maybe Marvel had some hesitations about that film becoming a huge success.
Prior to coming to the big screen and becoming successful, the team of characters making up the Guardians of the Galaxy in the comics weren’t that popular with mainstream audiences. Sure, people were familiar with other Marvel characters like Thor and Captain America, but there was a risk involved with bringing the Guardians team to life.
Still, $100,000 for someone like Zoe Saldana is bad. Keep in mind that the star has already appeared in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Star Trek, and Avatar prior to landing the role of Gamora. This means that she had been exposed to mainstream audiences for over a decade prior to the release of Guardians of the Galaxy. Low and behold, that first movie became a huge hit and a sequel quickly got underway.
Her Guardians 2 Pay Is Unknown
Though no one could have predicted how huge it would eventually become, the first Guardians movie changed the game for the MCU and helped set a tone that has stayed with the franchise ever since. So, when the second movie came along, there was anticipation that it would conquer the box office once again.
Now, it would make sense that the film’s lead performers would get a sizable jump in pay, but at this time, Zoe Saldana’s salary for that second film is unknown. After making $100,000 for the first film, most people cannot imagine a scenario where she came back for that same amount. Gamora proved to be popular with the fans, and she needed to be a huge part of the second movie.
While her salary may not be known, one thing that is known is that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was a huge success, just like its predecessor. According to The-Numbers, the two Guardians films have combined to make over $1.6 billion at the box office. On top of that, Saldana would also appear in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, meaning that she has been in some of the most successful MCU films ever made.
Her MCU Future
Even though Gamora’s character has gone through it all during her time in the MCU, it does appear as though she will be coming back in the future. However, the extent of her participation is not known at this time.
At the end of Avengers: Endgame, it showed Star-Lord and the rest of the Guardians setting out to potentially find Gamora, who was a past version of herself. We do know that the Guardians will be appearing in Thor: Love and Thunder, but since that is a Thor movie, it has not been confirmed if the team will have already found Gamora by then.
However, James Gunn will be working on a third Guardians film, and this could be the gateway to bring Gamora back into the fold. She is simply too popular of a character to leave in the dust, and thanks to her being from the past, Gunn can add some interesting wrinkles to her character in the future.
Zoe Saldana was underpaid for her first Guardians film, so let’s hope that she is properly compensated moving forward.