Here’s How Much Bradley Cooper Got Paid for Guardians of the Galaxy

The upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie is getting closer to its release date, and the fans cannot wait for the ending of one of the most successful Marvel Cinematic Universe projects made. The quirky team of heroes will go on their final journey together before they (most of them) depart from the successful franchise. Unfortunately, there will be casualties in one way or another. One of them is Rocket, the fan-favorite raccoon who will have a huge role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and will mark the last “gig” of Bradley Cooper in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This article will try to pinpoint how much money Bradley Cooper earned portraying Rocket in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise.

According to Forbes, Bradley Cooper’s salary is relatively unknown, but we know he earned approximately $6 million portraying Rocket in the crossover movie, Avengers: Endgame. Since Rocket had a significant role in the movie, Bradley Cooper earned more than his co-star Chris Pratt. However, suppose we have to speculate his earnings in Guardians of the Galaxy movies. In that case, we have to guess that the salary increased with every movie, meaning Bradley Cooper earned around 2 to 5 million dollars in the first two Guardians movies and will earn much more with his final appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

We will discuss this topic more by mentioning a few details about Rocket’s character and his development behind the scenes and speculate how much Bradley Cooper earned playing the fan-favorite raccoon. If you are interested, stay with us until the end.

Rocket’s development behind the scenes

Guardians of the Galaxy is a cohesive group of misfits that found each other and stayed together to save the universe. Their characters are one of the funniest in the MCU, and the fans recognized that from the first movie. From goofy Peter Quill and strict Gamora to aloof but intense Rocket, the raccoon quickly became a fan-favorite.

Frankly, Rocket’s impact on the Guardians of the Galaxy movies was recognized from the beginning, but no one expected that to be achieved, especially after James Gunn hired Bradley Cooper.

This famous actor is really well known in Hollywood, and in 2014, he already had significant roles that propelled him to the top of every list of best actors during that era. Bradley Cooper became famous in a comedy trilogy, The Hangover.

After the first two Hangover movies that became instantly successful commercially and critically, Bradley Cooper starred alongside Jennifer Lawrence in a David O. Russel movie, Silver Linings Playbook. He received critical acclaim for his performance in the movie and even received an Academy Award nomination for best actor.

Bradley Cooper was “flying,” and Marvel Studios, with James Gunn, decided to hire a rising star to portray one of the characters of their upcoming project – Guardians of the Galaxy. Let’s just say that fans didn’t expect Gunn to hire a talented actor for a voice acting role and, for that, an animal-like being with a cool skillset.

Interestingly enough, Rocket is a creation of Bradley Cooper and Sean Gunn. Besides Cooper borrowing his voice from the character, most of the movement was created and based on Sean Gunn. Rocket the Raccoon was created, and it was glorious.

However, people wondered how much money Bradley Cooper made playing this voice-acting role, and we might have some answers.

Bradley Cooper’s earnings in MCU aren’t known, but we can base our speculation on earnings from the Endgame

Interestingly, you can barely find any information on how much Bradley Cooper earns as Rocket in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There is information about the original Avengers and other Guardians’ (mostly alleged) earnings, but Cooper’s is relatively unknown. However, when Avengers: Endgame got released in 2019, most of the actors’ alleged paychecks were resurfacing all over the Internet. 

Bradley Cooper’s name was included as well, especially with how lucrative 2019 was for the actor. Besides Endgame, Cooper starred in the successful movie A Star Is Born, from which he earned around $40 million, according to Forbes.

Allegedly, Cooper earned “only” ten percent of $57 million (his earnings that year) from Endgame, which makes it around $6 million. Of course, this doesn’t mean much regarding the Guardians’ salary, but we know that a relatively unknown actor, Chris Pratt earned around $1.5 million for the first movie. There was also a piece of information that Zoe Saldana only earned $100 thousand, which was really low, meaning that Bradley Cooper, who was more well-known than the rest of the cast, should have probably earned more. 

If you take in everything, Bradley Cooper probably earned more than Chris Pratt in the first Guardians movie, and those numbers probably went from $2 to $5 million. We must consider that the first Guardians movie earned over $700 million worldwide, while the second almost $900 million.

Naturally, the movie’s commercial success increases the actors’ paychecks, and $2 to $5 million seems reasonable for a voice-acting role. Of course, those numbers could be on par with someone like Vin Diesel, who earned much more, but his commercial potential was much bigger than Cooper’s, who has been mostly known for playing in dramatic movies besides The Hangover franchise. Cooper’s voice acting is incredible in Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and there will be a salary increase with the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 movie, which will mark the last adventure of Rocket in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.