Cite evidence from comics if possible. Interpretations, quotes, or whatever that will prove that one of them is richer than the others.
2006-09-20 23:20:30 · 18 answers · asked by =_= 5 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Comics & Animation
In the 1970's or 80's, Bruce Wayne was assessed at a personal fortune of something on the order of 27 million, which doesn't sound like much, but that was 1970's dollars. (IIRC, it was the Penguin who got a court order to freeze Wayne's assets.) In Dark Knight Returns, Wayne is called a billionaire, an increase of (at minimum, approximately ) 3000%. Of course, the earlier figure could have been exclusive of the Wayne Foundation funds.
(BTW, I don't see why you're comparing Stark to Wayne and Luthor. You ought to compare Stark to Wilson Fisk.)
I recall that Stark has had several reversals of fortune; for example when Obadiah Stane took over Stark Industries and Stark formed Circuits Maximus and Stark Enterprises.
Luthor once "willed" his fortune to a (previously unknown) "son" who was Luthor himself in a cloned body, after he was riddled with cancer due to having worn the Kryptonite ring for so long.
I would guess that Luthor's (successful) Presidential campaign probably represented a greater drain on his finances than anything that Wayne or Stark have done in their personal lives. Granted that they throw away money on crime fighting with no financial return, but recall that Luthor may not have gotten many campaign contributions. It would not surprise me to learn, however, if Luthor had sustained ostensible 'business losses' while actually laundering the money and giving it to himself through various 'campaign contributors'.
I'd have to say that it is probably impossible to determine how much money Luthor or Fisk actually has, due to such illegal activities; whereas on the other hand it should be possible to determine how much money Stark and Wayne have. It would be necessary to ask the IRS or the firm that audits their books in preparation of their corporate taxes.
It must also be remembered that Wayne and Stark did not start from scratch. They came from wealthy families, in contrast to Fisk and Luthor, who appear to have come from relatively humble backgrounds. This is not to say that Fisk and Luthor are the better businessmen, or the wiser investors. It simply means that they have used more unscrupuous methods of acquiring and conserving their funds.
I hope this gives you at least some of the information that you need.
2006-09-21 03:52:28 · answer #1 · answered by cdf-rom 7 · 4⤊ 1⤋
Well it certainly wouldn't be Tony Stark. His glory days are long gone... And yes, paying for damage done by the Avengers and relying on S.H.I.E.L.D contracts isn't gonna be enough to pull ahead of the other two.
My vote would go to Luthor, because he's a crook. While Bruce Wayne and Lucious Fox are brilliant men, they are honest men. Luthor will embezzle, blackmail, falsify whatever patents and steal whatever prototype he needs to crush his competition. I haven't kept up with his presidential follies so if he lost ground in the financial world during that time, I missed it.
That said, I think the person who posted the Forbes list wins :)
2006-09-21 04:53:09 · answer #2 · answered by C-Man 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Lex Luthor
2006-09-21 03:27:30 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Lex Luthor owns the world
2006-09-21 05:55:39 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
At the end of "Public Enemies" it is revealed that Luthor has had an embezzler employed in his company who robbed him blind while he was president, and obsessed w/ Superman. In the end, he's broke and Wayne Industries buys the rest of Luthor Corp.
Stark is rich, but gone are the days of Howard Hughes. You won't get top of the world rich from government contracts. Especially when you spend a bunch of money repairing damage done by the Avengers saving the world.
2006-09-21 02:04:54 · answer #5 · answered by Iridium190 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Back in the day when I used to buy comic books, if you were talking of rich, Lex was head and shoulders above everyone else including Wayne.
2006-09-21 03:12:40 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Fun question. I can't cite any evidence, but I would go for Wayne. And judging by some of the responses I have read so far, that sounds like the best bet. Do you have any ideas on the subject?
2006-09-21 05:30:59 · answer #7 · answered by haiku_katie 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Forbes has Wayne ahead of Luthor by 1.6 billion. Here's the complete Forbes list :
http://www.forbes.com/2002/09/13/400fictional.html
2006-09-21 04:19:09 · answer #8 · answered by dragonfuror 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Bruce Wayne...never at work, smooozing the ladies and fighting crime. The Richest of them All!!! Hell in the animated series luthor was always at lexcorp. As for Bruce, he was everywhere except at work.
2006-09-20 23:30:45 · answer #9 · answered by DarkHardwoood 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I remember this one list that Forbes.com made about the 25 richest fictional charaters. At No. 1 was Santa Claus, with infinity dollars. Number two was Richie Rich, with like some billion dollars. And third was Bruce Wayne. Trust me on this, I can't find that page anymore.
2006-09-20 23:38:29 · answer #10 · answered by Redeemer 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋