Scarlett Johansson leaps to top of Forbes' highest-paid actresses

This year’s top three highest-paid actresses are Johansson (at $40.5 million), Angelina Jolie (at $28 million) and Jennifer Aniston (at $19.5 million).

Scarlett Johansson’s role as Marvel superhero Black Widow catapulted her to the top of Forbes’ annual list of the world’s highest-paid actresses on Thursday, landing her ahead of Angelina Jolie.

Johansson’s victory may come as a surprise. Although her role as Black Widow in the endlessly lucrative Marvel Cinematic Universe (Avengers: Infinity War topped $2 billion at the worldwide box office) keeps her in the multiplex, her other recent films haven’t fared as well. 

Last year’s Rough Night ($47 million) and Ghost in the Shell ($169 million) both underperformed. The latter generated controversy for whitewashing the Asian main character from the popular Japanese manga on which it was based. Johansson then drew ire when she made some unpopular comments in response to the backlash of her being cast as a trans man in Rub & Tug, which she later exited. None of that seems to have slowed her down.

Johansson will next appear in 2019’s Avengers 4.