Scarlett Johansson earning equal pay for 'Avengers'

By Margaret Menge
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Actress Scarlett Johansson arrives at the MTV Movie Awards on April 12, 2015. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI
Actress Scarlett Johansson arrives at the MTV Movie Awards on April 12, 2015. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Scarlett Johansson is breaking the gender barrier in Hollywood.

Without revealing how much she's making per movie, Variety writes that Johannson, who plays the Black Widow and Natasha Romanoff in The Avengers series, makes about the same as Chris Evans, who plays Captain America, and Chris Hemsworth, who plays Thor.

Only Robert Downey, Jr., who first played the title role in 2008's Iron Man and negotiated hard after the success of that movie, makes more, reported Variety.

The revelation of Johannson's equal pay follows a flurry of news stories following publication of an essay by actress Jennifer Lawrence in October entitled "Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co-Stars?" in which she asked why she hadn't made near as much as her male co-stars for the 2013 movie American Hustle.

Disney, which owns Marvel Studios and produces The Avengers, claims it is taking steps to correct the "gender power imbalance" in Hollywood.

Johansson has acted in five movies in the Avengers series, playing Natasha Romanoff and the Black Widow in Iron Man 2, The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War, due out in 2016.

It's unclear how much Johannson was paid for any one movie, but Forbes magazine, in an August 2015 article, listed Johannson as the second-highest-paid female actress in Hollywood, having earned $35 million in a 12-month period.

Johansson is also starring in the upcoming movie Sing, an animated musical about a koala bear who works as the owner of a once-grand theater. It's set to be released in December of 2016.

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