When it comes to superpowers, few are as awesome as super wads of cash! Yes, Tony Stark may be a genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist, but it’s the money that gives him the Iron Man armors. And the genius, but mostly the money.
While a lot of superheroes are running around in spandex, struggling to hold down a low-paying job, some of these guys are rolling in cash. And we aren’t just talking a few bucks here, not even millions of dollars, but sometimes tens of billions. To put things in perspective, the richest man in the world, Bill Gates, has an estimated net worth of $60 Billion. While he may well be working on an Iron Man suit, he’d struggle to keep up with the net worth of some of the Marvel Comics universe’s biggest money makers.
Based on anecdotal evidence from the comics, real-world comparisons, and outright stated facts, here is our list of the 12 Richest Characters In Marvel Comics.
12. Peter Parker A.K.A. Spider-Man. Estimated Net worth - $2 Billion
Believe it or not, Peter Parker is now sitting on a fortune! After years of being famously broke, he’s now an international superhero with the resources of Parker Industries backing him up.
During the Superior Spider-Man storyline, Doctor Octopus swapped bodies with Spider-Man and set out to become a better Spider-Man than Peter Parker had ever been. His ambitions, both personal and professional, were far greater than Peter’s and he quickly outgrew the restrictions of Peter’s old life. Before long, he had completed Peter’s PhD in order to be referred to as “doctor” once more. His next move was to build a megacorporation to rival that of Alchemax or Stark. Despite a few early setbacks, Parker Industries grew quickly. Once Peter regained control of his body, he decided to soften the approach Octavius had taken, but continued to grow the business into an international tech conglomerate.
Since the “Secret Wars” storyline, Peter has now got corporate offices across the globe, including skyscrapers in New York, London, and Tokyo. Recent Iron Man comics state that Parker Industries are outselling Stark in several key sectors.
While Peter pays himself a modest salary, his ownership of the shares in the company put his current net worth at approximately $2 Billion! Not bad for a science geek from Queens!
11. Marc Spector A.K.A. Moon Knight. Estimated net worth - $2.3 Billion.
During the years that lead up to his becoming the avatar on of the Egyptian god Kontu on Earth, Marc Spector amassed a small fortune as a heavyweight boxer and world-class mercenary.
Investing his money wisely, he amassed a fortune worth over two billion dollars. As he has little interest in the trappings of wealth, his fortune has steadily grown over the years, with Spector only dipping into his cash reserves to develop the tech he needs to fight crime.
Given that his wealth is rarely the focus of his stories, with most writers choosing to focus on his mental instabilities, his wealth has been prone to fluctuation. And considering that he has limited business acumen and doesn’t have much to do with the day-to-day of managing of his fortune, it’s assumed that he has solid business people taking care of things.
He has enough cash on hand to build moon-themed weaponry, and at times, adamantium armor, so it’s safe to assume that his liquid assets are always in the high tens of millions at any given time.
10. Professor X. Estimated net worth - $3.5 Billion
Professor Charles Francis Xavier came into his money the old-fashioned way, he inherited it. Born as the sole heir to the Xavier fortune, Charles has only known the security of money. Which makes his choices as an adult all the more spectacular.
Far from using his wealth and influence to avoid the Korean War (later timelines have updated it to Vietnam, and later still, the Gulf and Afghanistan) Xavier became an exceptional soldier, serving in the Search and Rescue Division. After time spent in Israel, helping the victims of conflicts in that part of the world, Xavier returned home to his mansion in Westchester, New York. Choosing to turn his home into a school, he recruited some of the first of Earth’s Mutants.
Using his wealth to build several jets, underground facilities, and equipment for his X-Men, Xavier has dipped heavily into his inheritance. At times, after particularly costly adventures, he’s sought financial help from fellow Mutant and X-Man Angel, himself vastly wealthy. Much of Xavier’s fortune is tied up in various investments, but despite his spending over the years, he’s still got plenty of money.
9. Norman Osborn A.K.A. The Green Goblin. Estimated Net Worth - $10 Billion.
Another Marvel Billionaire that inherited much of his fortune, Norman Osborn is a wealthy industrialist for much of his history.
The son of industrialist Amberson Osborn, Norman was abused by his father and sought to exceed him in every respect. By the time he was a young man, Norman was already mentally unhinged and had homicidal tendencies. He formed an industrial partnership with fellow genius Mendell Stromm. Upon discovering Stromm was working on a super-soldier formula, which also increased intelligence, he framed Stromm for embezzlement to keep him out-of-the-way, and attempted to finish the serum alone. The formula exploded in his face, causing him to become stronger, more intelligent, and far more insane.
Over the coming years he developed the dual identity of the Green Goblin, all the while building his Empire, Oscorp. Oscorp grew in influence and wealth, becoming an economic force along the lines of Stark or Roxxon.
While Osborn would eventually die, be reborn, and finally fall from grace after the events of Siege, he has an enormous fortune stashed away around the globe. It’s only a matter of time before he fully resurfaces as a wealthy businessman once more.
8. Emma Frost A.K.A. The White Queen – Estimated net worth - $11 Billion
Superhumans that are also wealthy industrialists are something of a theme in the Marvel Universe. Emma Frost is unique, however, as she is literally worth billions. Since her secondary mutation appeared during the events of Grant Morrison’s run on X-Men, she has been able to turn into a living diamond of incalculable value.
Besides her diamond form, she is the heir to the Frost fortune. Her “Old Money” family has wealth invested in everything from real estate to blue chip fortune 500 companies. Even before coming out as a superhuman, she regularly rubbed shoulders with the elite such as Tony Stark, as a socialite.
Given her ability to read minds, she often took vital information from the minds of businessmen and people of influence to further her own ambitions. While she would reform and become a hero, she has retained a vast fortune from her days as a wealthy heiress and as the villainous White Queen of the notorious Hellfire Club.
7. Reed Richards A.K.A. Mister Fantastic - Estimated net worth - $12 Billion
Exploring the multiverse isn’t easy, or cheap. Fortunately, when you’ve got the greatest mind on earth, making money isn’t so hard.
Reed Richards considers making money to be pretty far down on his list of priorities. However, his wife Sue and even at times his brother-in-law, Johnny, have managed to monetize their adventures to fund their lifestyle. Between patenting Reed’s various inventions and merchandising rights, the Fantastic Four have amassed several fortunes.
After Reed’s unilateral decision to invade Latveria, the Fantastic Four had their assets seized and they were left broke. Reed quickly patented some new ideas to generate some petty cash, but it was siding with the government during the Civil War that freed up his seized funds. Since then, his wealth has grown and he is once again a wealthy man.
6. The Kingpin A.K.A. Wilson Fisk. Estimated net worth - $40 Billion
Wilson Fisk is utterly ruthless in everything he does. In his guise as a wealthy businessman he has amassed a legitimate fortune in industry, tech, biomedicine, and real estate. As the Kingpin of crime, he has made a fortune that dwarfs that. He has his fat fingers in everything from petty street crime, gambling, gun running, and extortion.
While amassing a fortune is a priority, it’s power that truly entices him. Seeing the various super-powered heroes as a threat, he has set about neutralizing them time and again. He has spent several fortunes taking on Daredevil, Punisher, and Spider-Man, to name but a few.
Despite being publicly disgraced his fortune is more or less intact. He has money in hidden accounts around the world and could live quietly on a private island for the rest of his life. Given his drive for more power, however, that remains a massive improbability.
5. Tony Stark A.K.A. Iron Man. Estimated net worth - $80 Billion
Like many others, Tony Stark inherited much of his fortune. His adoptive father, Howard Stark, was an industrialist and inventor making several fortunes in heavy engineering, aerospace, military contracts and various other fields. Tony, upon taking over the family business, increased the scope of the company very quickly. His genius, both in technology and business, took Stark to the very top of the business world.
While inspecting a facility on foreign soil, or Afghanistan in more contemporary stories, he was wounded and forced to develop a chest plate to keep him alive. Forced to build weapons, he instead built his first Iron Man armored suit. From there, he began to develop more and more sophisticated devices, often reverse engineering them to develop consumer technologies.
Despite losing his company several times, sometimes due to his alcoholism, and at other times due to his supposed death, he has also rebuilt it from the ground up many times. His name and reputation means he is rarely unable to find investors and escape financial ruin.
Currently an amalgam of Howard Hughes, Bill Gates and Elon Musk, Tony Stark finds himself able to develop new inventions to meet consumer needs before people even realize they need them. His only limit is his imagination, and so far his imagination is utterly without limits.
4. Victor Von Doom A.K.A. Doctor Doom. Estimated net worth - $100 Billion
The genius of Reed Richards, the ambition of Tony Stark, but without the ethics of either. Victor Von Doom believes himself to be vastly superior to the rest of mankind. Given that he has conquered the world on occasion, he may well be right.
Gifted with an incredible mind, Victor Von Doom is a genius matched only by Reed Richards. His wealth comes in part from this, but largely due to his ownership of all the assets of a small country.
As ruler of Latveria, Victor Von Doom is sitting on a fortune in art, real estate, and other assorted assets. He has also dabbled in finance and has a vast personal fortune. His status as a foreign dignitary grants him diplomatic immunity and his assets are untouchable by foreign powers.
While not having the resources of a vast corporate empire, Victor Von Doom has the total GDP of a country the size of Serbia at his disposal. Given that his own people fear him greatly, it’s unlikely that they will rebel should he raise taxes any time soon.
3. Black Bolt (and Medusa) Estimated net worth - $250 Billion
Black Bolt, and by extension the entire Inhuman Royal family, are sitting on a huge fortune! Both in terms of real estate, the hidden city in the Himalayas, the freaking Moon, and now an island off Manhattan, and in other assets.
Not only are they technologically advanced, using Kree-derived tech, but they also have the Terrigen crystals. The crystals have the potential to transform anyone carrying the Inhuman gene into a super human, between that and their status as the rarest substance on earth, they are worth hundreds of billions.
Should they choose to share their advanced technologies, they would revolutionize most industries overnight. Given that they are slowly integrating with human society, it’s possible that they will need to use human currency quite soon. Once they do, they could quickly turn their potential into cold hard cash.
2. Namor Estimated net worth - $260 Billion
Not only does Namor rule the world’s oceans, thereby claiming two-thirds of the planet’s resources, he has also dabbled in corporate America as the owner of Oracle Inc.
While Namor isn’t keen to exploit the various fossil fuels he technically owns, the oceans still grant him a vast fortune. Thousands of years of shipwrecks mean he has billions in gold and other treasures to hand. he also has the resources of Atlantis itself. Atlantis is, like Atillian, a technologically advanced society. Should he need to, he could convert that into money in a short amount of time.
Given his vast power and influence, he would in any other world be the richest man on the planet. Assuming of course that there wasn’t a man who owned 100% of the most valuable substance on the planet like…
1. T’Challa A.K.A. The Black Panther - Estimated net worth - $500 Billion
If Tony stark is a “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist,” T’Challa is all that and more. Besides being a legendary warrior, equal to Captain America, he is the King of Wakanda; an African nation of incredible wealth.
The secret of Wakanda’s wealth lies in their vast Vibranium reserves. The giant mountain of Vibranium is worth countless trillions as it is the most versatile and expensive substance on earth. Its uses are countless, but it’s as a weapon that it is most sought after. Given that it is unbreakable and absorbs energy, Vibranium defies the laws of physics. For generations Wakanda has sold trace amounts to the outside world in order to finance their evolution as a nation. They are the most advanced country on earth, having had a space programme before either America or Russia. They also successfully fought off the Skrull invasion without the need for outside help, no other nation managed this.
Besides being the King of the nation, T’Challa is one of the smartest men on the planet, should he wish to, he could probably conquer the whole world. It’s a very good thing that he’s on the side of earth’s heroes.
Conclusion
While being bitten by a radioactive spider or being given a super-soldier serum may result in super powers, in the Marvel Universe, much like this one – money talks!
If you want to fly around in a custom helicopter or jet wearing indestructible suits having high-flying adventures, it helps to be filthy stinking rich. Given that there’s over 300 billionaires in our world, it’s just such a disappointment that not a single one of them has become Iron Man. It makes you wonder what they do with their money.
