Summary

• Henry Cavill's low paycheck for his first Superman role reflects the industry's tendency to pay big dollars to established stars.
• Despite Cavill's low salary, his future earnings from the role may exceed Brando's due to the role's longevity and potential box office bonuses.
• The history of Superman actors' salaries show that higher pay typically came with more established actors and successful box office performances.

Despite launching an iconic career in the DCEU, Henry Cavill's paycheck for his first outing as Superman was just a fraction of the amount received by one of the 1978 film's most famous actors. Cavill's Superman career began in Man of Steel, the springboard for the DCEU movie timeline, and several subsequent years of Cavill's name being attached to Superman. 1978's Superman, meanwhile, was a huge step towards popularizing the superhero genre in cinema. While movies starring comic book heroes weren't unheard of at that point, the ambitious scale of Superman pioneered what has now become one of cinema's most lucrative genres.

Superman was made on a budget of around $135 million and would rake in $300 million worldwide. A significant portion of that budget was spent on the movie's A-list stars, according to the documentary Taking Flight: The Development of Superman (via YouTube) with Marlon Brando alone requiring $3.7 million for his role as Jor-El. Cavill's fee for Man of Steel, meanwhile, was a comparatively paltry $300,000. The gulf between them is especially notable considering Superman was a bold early attempt at the genre, whereas Man of Steel was released at the height of the genre's peak.

Why Henry Cavill Made So Much Less Than Marlon Brando In His First Man of Steel Paycheck

Coming off the back of 1972's The Godfather, Marlon Brando was one of the biggest names in Hollywood when he was approached for the role - which was kind of the point. To secure Superman's blockbuster status, Warner Bros wanted to attach big names to the project, landing on Brando for Jor-El and Gene Hackman for Lex Luthor. As Brando himself stated in the aforementioned documentary, an actor's fee is comparable to any product on the market - and his happened to be $3.7 million for two weeks' work.

The studio hunted for an unknown for the eponymous role in Superman partly to capture the mystery of Kal-El's alien origins and superpowers.

Henry Cavill, on the other hand, was not a proven movie star. In 2013 Cavill was mostly known for his role as Charles Brandon in Michael Hirst's The Tudors TV series and had yet to front a blockbuster movie of his own. This was a casting trope emulated by most superhero movies, with most Justice League actors (and MCU stars) entering the limelight off the back of supporting roles or TV appearances - such as Jason Momoa's previous stint as Game of Thrones' Kahl Drogo or Gal Gadot's role as Gisele Yashar in the Fast and Furious franchise.

In fact, Cavill's $300,000 is around the typical starting fee for most first-time superhero actors. The true value instead hinges on the longevity of the role. At the same time, many actors include clauses in their contracts to receive a portion of the movie's box office (something that Scarlet Johansson's legal battle with Disney brought to the fore). It is unknown whether Cavill included such a clause in his Man of Steel contract, but it is safe to say that Cavill's total take-home from his DCEU career probably dwarfs Brando's fee - even by today's standards.

How Much Marlon Brando's 1978 Superman Paycheck Would Be Today

Adjusted for inflation, Marlon Brando's $3.7 million would be worth $17,793,368 today. In 2013, when Man of Steel was released, this fee would have had the spending power of $13,219,952.45. With that in mind, Henry Cavill's comparative fee was just 2% of Brando's - quite a far cry from the 10% difference at face value. In contrast, Henry Cavill's $300,000 would have been worth $83,963.99 in 1978, a fraction still of what Christopher Reeve - who was far less known than Cavill - was paid then.

Adjusting for inflation, however, Superman becomes a billion-dollar movie - something that the DCEU would not achieve outside of Aquaman.

How much Russell Crowe was paid for portraying Jor-El in Man of Steel is uncertain, but it seems Warner Bros was making a habit of casting A-listers in the role to help make the movie more bankable. Man of Steel ended up banking $668 million at the worldwide Box Office which is more than double that of Superman's $300.5 million. Adjusting for inflation, however, Superman becomes a billion-dollar movie - something that the DCEU would not achieve outside of Aquaman. With that in mind, it is safe to say that Brando's star power was probably worth the cost.

How Much Previous Superman Actors Were Paid For Their DC Movies

Much like average jobs, the salaries of Superman movie actors are kept pretty close to the chest for the most part. It is safe to assume, however, that the big bucks did not start rolling in until Christopher Reeves made his mark on the character. Kirk Alyn was the first to portray Superman in two serials, though he reportedly stated (via an interview with superman.nu) that the pay was not much, and that he embodied the role out of passion more than financial gain.

George Reeves, meanwhile, portrayed Superman in a TV show that spanned 104 episodes between 1952 - 1958, with reports suggesting he was earning anywhere between $2,000 - $5,000 per episode. Today, that would equate to between $24,000 - $60,000 per episode. Given Superman and the Mole-Men was a Pilot Movie intended to launch this TV show, it might be safe to assume that Reeves was paid around that same ballpark for the movie at the time.

Adjusted for inflation, it is plain to see that Christopher Reeve got the best deal initially for his debut as the Man of Steel. Reports surrounding Cavill's salaries for his tenure are unclear following his debut in Man of Steel, though it is safe to assume that his salary skyrocketed in subsequent appearances. The widely misreported $14 million that he supposedly received for Man of Steel (which was cleared up by THR) may instead have been derived from his fee for Justice League, for instance, though there is no way to be certain.

Henry Cavill Was Paid Almost As Much For His Black Adam Cameo As Man Of Steel

By the time Black Adam was released in 2022, Cavill was a well-established name thanks in no small part to his Superman career. This meant that he could demand a cool $250,000 for simply appearing at the end of Black Adam with no lines, according to Umberto Gonzalez via Twitter/X. Such a fee is indicative of what the actor might have been raking in for his starring role in Justice League, but it also goes to show just how far the actor came since earning just $50,000 more for starring in an entire movie.

This cameo was supposed to precede a Man of Steel sequel, which Cavill began promoting soon after before the announcement of the DCU reboot would swiftly cut his tenure short. The fact that Cavill's starring roles land in the top 6 of the DCEU's highest-grossing movies shows just how popular the actor was in the role, and why his departure was met with such widespread disappointment. Now, with David Corenswet in the leading role, the DCU appears poised to repeat the decades-old tactic of casting lesser-known Superman actors; and hopefully, this one goes the distance.

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  Superman

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  Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Richard Donner's Superman brought DC's Man of Steel to the big screen, making millions believe that a man could fly. Christopher Reeves plays Clark Kent, the alter-ego of Kal-El, the famous alien orphan sent to Earth as his home planet is destoryed. Raised in Smallville, Kansas by Jonathan and Martha Kent, Clark grows up and must balance his life as a Daily Planet journalist with his superhero duties, as villainous mastermind Lex Luthor threatens both him and millions of US citizens.

  Runtime

  127 Mins

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  Man of Steel

  Where to Watch

  *Availability in US

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  • buy

  

  

  

  

  

  

  This new take on Superman's origin story, Man of Steel, centers on young journalist Clark Kent/Kal-El, a being who came to Earth as a child from Krypton. Though he has trouble fitting in with his secret superpowers and questions his purpose in life, Clark is forced into action when fellow Kryptonian General Zod arrives on Earth hellbent on conquest. Clark is built by the values set upon him by his parents, Martha and Jonathan Kent, who adopted him as an otherworldly orphan, inadvertently raising him to become the hero humanity needs.

  Runtime

  143 minutes