Gal Gadot Wonder Woman Pay is Miniscule

UPDATE: It turns out that Gal Gadot's DCEU paycheck is really about the same as Henry Cavill's. Click the link for more.

A report about Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman paycheck surfaces to reveal that the salary for her first three DCEU films is surprisingly low. Wonder Woman is without question one of the biggest hits of the summer movie season so far, having earned more than $100 million domestically and $223 million globally in its first weekend alone. It's also setting all sorts of records, including the best opening weekend of all-time for a female director for helmer Patty Jenkins.

Following its third weekend in release, Wonder Woman's global tally stands at $573 million. However, a report has surfaced from a Hollywood trade publication that the pay for Gadot in the superhero movie is anything but super. Citing 2014 report from Variety, The Daily Dot says Gadot's pay for her work in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman and the upcoming Justice League was locked in at $300,000 per film. In retrospect, given how Gadot was such a driving force in Batman V Superman and dominated the landscape in Wonder Woman, the pay seems on the low end of what people might guess she was making.

True, $300,000 is a lot of money for the average individual, but in comparison to at least one of her DCEU co-stars, not so much. Citing Forbes, The Daily Dot says Henry Cavill made $14 million to play Clark Kent/Superman in Man of Steel. Given that Cavill's film credits were few in Hollywood when he signed onto Man of Steel (his biggest role was the lead in director Tarsem Singh's 2011 action fantasy Immortals), the disparity between Cavill's and Gadot's pay seems egregious, given that Gadot was coming from her memorable supporting turns in the Fast and Furious series.

Of course, bean counters may argue that Cavill was playing the lead role in Man of Steel, while Gadot's debut came as a supporting player in Batman V Superman. Whatever the case may be, she's not alone when it comes to making a low salary in big budget films. Chris Evans reportedly received $300,000 for playing the titular character in Marvel Studios' Captain America: The First Avenger in 2011 (although his pay has no doubt escalated considerably since then), while, according to Deadline, many of the stars of The Avengers earned $200,000 as Robert Downey Jr. earned $50 million for playing Tony Stark/Iron Man in the film.

While Wonder Woman has been a huge step forward in terms of superhero movies featuring female leads and women directors successfully taking the helm of big-budgeted films, Variety's report on Gadot's salary shows Hollywood has a long way to go when it comes to the pay gap between its male and female actors.

The great thing for Gadot is, like Downey and The Avengers, the actress has arguably become the face of a franchise and any future films featuring the character simply won't fly without her. Sure, she was unproven to a certain extent when she signed her three-picture deal to play Wonder Woman – which partially explains the huge disparity in pay – but when it comes to negotiations for Wonder Woman 2, you can bet your bottom dollar she's going to cash in big, and rightfully so.