How much would you charge if you were a superhero?

Question

OK. This is almost completely against my disposition but I once asked this question to a young group of students when I taught at the university. Thought it might make for a fun question here.

Suppose you were a superhero like Superman. Unlike Superman, however, you don't have a day job. You need to earn a living being a superhero. How much would you charge to save a single large city (say, New York) from destruction by a supervillain? If you don't thwart the supervillain's efforts, one million people will die. You will only prevent the event from occuring but will not actually capture the supervillain.

Just realized I should have said "if you had super powers" instead of "if you were a superhero"... Most people probably would expect a "superhero" to do this for free. :D

LOL Baron. OK, see if you can answer both with and without the spandex requirement.

One more specification: only people will die. (Animals too, maybe). No property will be destroyed except maybe through incidentals (like accidents when people croak while driving). You can think of this as the release of a biotoxin affecting one million people in total.

Answer 1

I would do it for free and never use my powers for personall gain. If I were a superhero, I would simply make money by being a publick speaker or working for the government of private corportations as intelligence or security but I would not charge to save lifes. A superheroes duty is to protect the weak and never fall into the hands of greed. If I did have superpowers the only think I would need is a beautiful wife and a family who cares about you.

Answer 2

I would not charge anything, even if I wasn't a superhero (and why would a superhero do it for free just because he/she is a superhero?).

I would contract out my power to corporations may who require my services, this would give me all the money that I need to live comfortably. And with a few wise investments who knows how comfortable that would get.

Although that could be considered a day job it is still what I would do. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

I would never charge to save a life, but I would charge 30 percent of the cities budget to save each city, superheroes gotta eat too.

Answer 4

Just enough...So that I could live in a modest house in the Superburbs, afford the tuition at whatever superuniverstiy the kids get accepted to,and have enough in my retirement to carry me through my super old age( me and my super hot wife).
You know ... The American dream... What does that cost these days?? ... A LOT.. Thats what I would charge... A Lot..Maybe even.. A Whole Lot.

Answer 5

100 dollars per person. So that's 100 million dollars but i'll split it with the supervillian and we'll go scam the next city. :D

Answer 6

if i was a superhero id make everything 1 dollar lmao yay:P

Answer 7

I guess the Superheroes Union fare... :-)

Answer 8

Depends on whether I have to wear spandex.