The Sad Truth: Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman Paid Thanos’ Creator More Than Marvel Ever Did

Superhero movies rake in oceans of cash, but the people who actually dreamed up these characters are often left counting pennies by comparison. Case in point: Jim Starlin, the guy who created Thanos (plus Gamora and Drax), laid out a wild pay story that still stings years later.

The 2017 post that lit the fuse

Back in 2017, Starlin said DC cut him a check for using a tiny character of his in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice that was bigger than everything he had gotten from Marvel for Thanos, Gamora, and Drax across multiple films combined. Read that again. A minor DC henchman earned him more than the face of Marvel's entire Infinity Saga.

'Just received a very big check from DC Entertainment for my participation in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ... much bigger than anything I've gotten for Thanos, Gamora and Drax showing up in any of the various Marvel movies they appeared in, combined. Guess I'll finally have to sit down and watch the movie.'

Fans were floored, and the conversation immediately turned to how studios value (or don’t value) the people who create the IP they profit from.

So who is Anatoli Knyazev and why is this so ironic?

The check Starlin mentioned was for Anatoli Knyazev, who pops up in Zack Snyder's Batman v Superman as a Russian fixer working with Lex Luthor. He basically shows up to kidnap Lois Lane in the desert and later kidnaps Martha. Blink and you might miss him. In the comics though, Knyazev is better known as KGBeast, a brutal assassin trained by the Soviet military, introduced in the 1980s. In other words: minor presence on screen, major roots on the page.

Meanwhile, Thanos was the engine of Marvel's biggest run. The numbers tell you how wild this is: Batman v Superman (2016), directed by Zack Snyder, sits at 28% on Rotten Tomatoes and made roughly $874 million worldwide. Avengers: Infinity War (2018), from the Russo Brothers, landed at 85% and cleared about $2 billion. And yet Starlin says the BvS check topped everything he got for Thanos, Gamora, and Drax across the various Marvel movies.

What Starlin actually got from Marvel

Starlin did renegotiate with Marvel before The Avengers hit theaters in 2012. He told THR that the new deal got him a small cut for Thanos appearances going forward. Helpful, but not life-changing.

'I'd like to have had a bigger piece of Thanos than I do, but when the first Avengers movie came out, Marvel and I - we renegotiated some things, so I get a taste out of this thing. I'm not becoming the next Bill Gates, but I'm getting a little something out of it.'

To underline the scale here: Thanos shows up as a tease in The Avengers (2012), gets a proper intro in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), pops in during a midcredits scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), and then takes over in Avengers: Infinity War (2018). Even with that runway, Starlin says the money stayed modest.

The reaction: creators and fans were not quiet

When this resurfaced online, the takes came fast, including from big-name comics folks, on December 15, 2025. Highlights:

• Rob Liefeld called the situation 'sad.'
• Some fans said this is exactly why they won’t support Marvel, with one calling the treatment 'slave labor.'
• Others pointed out Starlin wrote the Infinity Gauntlet storyline that heavily fed the MCU, and suggested Marvel could at least greenlight a Dreadstar series as a nod.
• Plenty were outraged that Starlin reportedly earned more for a KGBeast cameo that only hardcore viewers clocked than for Thanos, Drax, and Gamora combined, calling it embarrassing for Marvel.

Big picture

It’s a messy, very Hollywood contrast: DC cutting a bigger check for a footnote character, Marvel building a multibillion-dollar arc on Thanos while the creator says he only got a 'taste.' You can love the movies and still say the math doesn’t add up for the people who built the toy box.