A news that had been circulating for quite a while now was that Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman had made pennies with comparison to Henry Cavill’s pay for Man Of Steel. A now deleted tweet from 2017 had previously stated that Gal Gadot had made only $300,000 while Henry Cavill had made $14 million. The source was not as credible and hence had raised multiple questions instead.
This claim had not only brought to eye the gender pay gap between men and women in Hollywood but also the stance of Warner Bros. Discovery and Detective Comics on it.
The Reason For A Pay Gap Between Gal Gadot And Henry Cavill?
It is indeed true that Gal Gadot had been paid $300,000 for the role of Diana Prince, the lead, in Wonder Woman. However it was not true that Henry Cavill had been paid $14 million in Man Of Steel for Superman, although he had been paid more than Gal Gadot.
This was not due to the gender pay gap, but rather because of the comparison of the fame the two actors held at that time. Wonder Woman had been Gal Gadot’s big break, however for Henry Cavill, that had happened much earlier with The Tudors, making the actor more famous than Gadot.
This also brings the point of how Amy Adams had been paid more for the supporting role of Lois Lane in the same movie even though Henry Cavill was the lead, all because she had been more famous than him.
Debunking The Claims Made On Gal Gadot and Henry Cavill’s Salaries
Even though both Cavill and Gadot have come far into their career from their superhero debuts, Gal Gadot’s salary had been an average salary for an actor starting out in superhero movies. Although she had played a part in the big time Fast and the Furious franchise, the role had only been of a side character and the jump from that to the lead in another movie is not that big.
Taking in regard Chris Evans’ pay for Captain America: The First Avenger was the same as Gadot’s which was nothing compared to how much the movie had made. The same had been the case for Wonder Woman, the movie had managed to surpass $570 million worldwide. Although DC till date has not addressed the matter, it has since then been debunked and called out to be false.
However, they also don’t take into account things like a box office bonus, if an actor has contractual obligations to appear in subsequent films, and any agreements made for further income that is based on the success of the film.
With Gal Gadot’s rise in fame both as an actress and as the superhero played by her; the sequel to her movie, Wonder Woman 1984, the actress was paid a whopping $10 million for her role.
Source: Vox
