The Marvel Universe is unsurprisingly filled with some incredibly wealthy superheroes.
From the Avengers Tower in Manhattan and the Fantastic Four’s building, to Namor’s vast ocean, and Black Panther’s entire country, some of the franchise’s superheroes are as far from impoverished as you can get (well, except for Peter Parker, but let’s give the kid a break). The question is, just how wealthy are these heroes?
How wealthy are the villains, for that matter? How does one calculate the net worth of Galactus? The pecuniary resources of the conqueror known as Kang? Galactus has access to the entire universe’s riches and Kang is getting his own dynasty, for god’s sake. These characters are rich, okay? Crazy rich. But only one can be the wealthiest of all.
So how did we come up with these numbers? We conducted a very thorough audit of film, print and movies to come up with admittedly loose estimations of wealth. Think of these as written in sand rather than written in stone, so don’t come at us. Or do, we’ll be ready.
10. Wolverine — Estimated wealth: $2 million
Are there wealthier superheroes than Wolverine? Sure, but most of them are boring. Silver Sable? More like Silver Snooze. Doctor Doom? Yawn. Wolverine earned his money the hard way ⏤ by working for it. As a soldier for hire, he participated in countless missions around the globe and made a pretty penny in the process. When he finally made it to the X-Men, he didn’t have to pay any bills and was able to make his living as a teacher. I’m betting his students were some of the most well-behaved you’ve ever seen.
9. The Wasp — Estimated wealth: $1 billion
This is one of the more surprising additions to this list, but fortunately The Wasp is not the only female superhero on here. Wasp is a member of the famous Van Dyne family, but does that mean she just sat on the money? Girl. She started a fashion empire, a design studio, and even helped to create her own suit. Sure, her father Hank did a big chunk of the work, but he’s kind of a genius and we’ll allow it. While Wasp is not as rich as say, Mr. Fantastic, she still has a very storied and lucrative history in the Marvel Universe.
8. Angel — Estimated wealth: $5 billion
Angel ⏤ or Archangel, depending on where he is on the timeline ⏤ was a rich boy from the start. Even his name sounds wealthy: Warren Worthington III. Like so many others on this list, he inherited money from his parents and then became the chairman of his company – Worthington Industries. Despite being a rich kid, Warren isn’t stingy with his money. He gave Wolverine some cash to start the Jean Grey School of Higher Learning and financially backed his own superhero team called the Champions. Talk about answered prayers.
7. Mister Fantastic — Estimated wealth: $12.5 billion
Often touted as the smartest man alive, it would be weird if Reed Richards wasn’t one of the richest superheroes on the planet. He uses his intelligence to invent, invest, and innovate, and makes oodles of cash in the process. He started money making at a very young age, and when he was just 14, he was collecting doctorates like kids in the ’50s collected baseball cards. He got a job in the military and then, well, you know the rest. On top of that, he started out with $2 billion thanks to his father, Nathaniel Reed. He even got a huge amount of money from Namor at one point. Oh, and let’s not forget the Fantastic Four building in New York, which he has to pay to maintain. Boy’s got bucks.
6. The White Queen — Estimated wealth: $13 Billion
There’s a lot of royalty on this list, which makes sense given that leaders have the vast resources of their respective kingdoms to pull from. Emma Frost, aka The White Queen, earned her fortune the old fashioned way ⏤ by inheriting it. Being the head of the Hellfire Trading Corporation doesn’t hurt, either. She has so much money that she bought a whole island for mutants so they could live in peace, away from the prying eyes of nefarious humans, which barely made a dent in her fortune, by the way. Her savvy business sense allowed her to continuously grow her fortune, and let’s not forget that she can turn herself into an actual diamond. Money is fab, but diamond transformations? Priceless!
5. Iron Man — Estimated wealth: $80 billion
Iron Man is one of the more recognizable and all-around beloved superheroes in the Marvel Universe. He kicked off the entire MCU when Iron Man came out in 2008. Tony Stark, like many other superheroes, was born into a wealthy family and inherited Stark Industries from his father. Under Tony’s leadership, the the company reached new heights and dividends with scientific breakthroughs in aerospace, energy and weapon technology. Tony is also so brilliant that he invented the arc reactor in his chest, which runs on clean energy. He may be a genius billionaire playboy philanthropist, but he’s also a wise spender, as evidenced by his investment in the Avengers.
4. Professor X — Estimated wealth: $125 billion
Professor X is the leader of one of the most storied superhero teams of all time ⏤ the X-Men. While he was born rich, he used his intelligence, power, and influence to grow his wealth and help the mutant cause. When things got bad for the team, he could always bail them out with his checkbook. He’s also a smart investor, finding profitable pharmaceutical companies and secretly bankrolling them to make drugs using the Krakoan flower. Having a monopoly on that industry led to incredible earnings that eventually helped the professor start a new homeland for mutants on Krakoa. His resources are nearly inexhaustible. Think about how much it cost to build Cerebro, or the practice room. He can also pool the resources of other rich mutants as well. Any way you look at it, X is sitting pretty on his pile of cash.
3. Thor — Estimated wealth: $200 trillion
Do these numbers seem incalculable and unrealistic to you? Well, we’re dealing with comic books and fictional characters here, so relax, Bub. (If this bothers you, wait until you find out there can’t be spaceship explosions in space.) Thor is a god. He’s also the King of Asgard. It’s hard to calculate that kind of wealth, especially since the place is literally called the “Golden Realm.” Just the weapons from the armory are worth more than entire countries. Asgard is also packed with treasure and Thor has access to other dimensions’ wealth as well. So yeah. Take a seat, Tony Stark.
2. Black Panther — Estimated wealth: $250 trillion
It’s easy to see why Black Panther is one of the richest Marvel characters of all time. He’s the leader of his own country and benefits from all the spoils that go along with that title. Wakanda has also been blessed with being one of two places on earth that contains the incredibly valuable resource known as Vibranium. The comics put the cost of Vibranium at around $10,000 a gram, or .002 pounds. There are 454 grams in a pound, meaning one pound of Vibranium costs a casual $4,540,000. And Wakanda is brimming with it. I need to move.
1. Namor — Estimated wealth: $300 trillion
Wait, Namor is #1? How?! Listen ⏤ the earth is 71 percent water. Even the leader of a country is dwarfed by the sheer vastness of the ocean. Think about all the resources available under the sea, all that gold from sunken ships and the not-so-lost city of Atlantis. As we learned in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Wakanda isn’t the only place Vibranium dwells. After two Vibranium meteors slammed into the earth ⏤ one in Wakanda and the other in the Pacific Ocean ⏤ Namor has his own precious reserves as well. Vast, ocean-sized reserves. This low-key puts Namor on top in the wealth department. Who knows? Maybe he’ll use it to get another nose ring.
