Richest Comic Book Characters

Calculating who the richest comic book characters are can be extremely difficult. The wealth of some of these characters would need to be adjusted for inflation. For others, their true worth has never actually been mentioned. Because of this, accounts of each character's wealth tend to differ. With this in mind, this list of the richest comic book characters appears in no particular order.

Black Panther

T'Challa is not only the Black Panther, he's also the ruler of the fictional African nation of Wakanda. As the leader of Wakanda, his wealth can be difficult to estimate. However, we know that Wakanda, despite its isolation, has some incredibly advanced technology. T'Challa has all of this at his disposal. More importantly though, Wakanda is home to the world's only supply of Vibranium. Vibranium is the most valuable metal in the Marvel universe, and there;s good reason for that. Captain America's shield is famously made of Vibranium. This material absorbs all vibrations and is virtually indestructible. It's not surprising then that T'Challa would be an absurdly wealthy person for sitting on the world's only known supply of it. While this list of the richest comic book characters is in no particular order, there's little question that the Black Panther is almost certainly the wealthiest person on this list.

Namor

Namor is the mutant prince of Atlantis. Basically, he has complete control and dominion over the oceans. Because of this, like T'Challa, he has access to some pretty incredible resources. While Namor's wealth couldn't really be calculated in dollars and cents, he must have a lot of pirate treasure, priceless relics from Atlantis, and basically anything that's fallen into the ocean. The comics have suggested as much since he once paid for breakfast with gold doubloons. He has also suggested that he can solve any problem with money. Given the severity of problems in the Marvel universe, we're probably talking about a lot of money. Namor is also famous for being the first comic book anti-hero. You see, while his heart is usually in the right place, he can be a bit of a dick. Don't expect him to share his wealth anytime soon.

Ozymandias

Ozymandias, or Adrian Veidt, is an ostensibly retired superhero from the universe of Watchmen. Adrian Veidt is hailed as "the smartest man on earth" and he has used his fame and intelligence to build an enormous business and criminal empire. He models himself after the pharaohs, especially Ramesses II, (Ozymandias), yet his empire surpasses even that of the pharaohs. Ultimately the true test of Veidt's wealth was his ability to bring the world to its knees, and end the threat of nuclear war, in the face of a threat to destroy all of humanity with an alien force. Veidt's resources and wealth surpass that of nearly anyone else on this list assuring him a spot on any list of the richest comic book characters.

Batman

Is anyone surprised that Bruce Wayne is on this list? No, of course not. Wayne is a superhero with no real powers, similar to Iron Man. Instead, he uses his ridiculous wealth as the owner of Wayne Enterprises to develop the technology that makes Batman such an effective superhero and even allows him to go toe to toe with Superman. As a billionaire orphan, Bruce Wayne has increased his wealth all while producing a small arsenal for himself. Batman's impressive wealth and his international corporation give him a reach and access to resources that few of the richest comic book characters can even compare to.

Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor, owner of Lexcorp, is insanely wealthy. Imagine that your hobby was basically spending your life trying to kill Superman. Now imagine you actually had the money to make that a realistic possibility, all while running a company, running for president, buying up absurd pieces of technology, and being bald. Yeah, that's Lex Luthor. Luthor is one of the richest comic book characters because he never seems to run out of money, no matter what kind of ridiculous plan he's come up with to kill Superman this time. I imagine Kryptonite isn't cheap, but Lex Luthor buys it up like it's on sale at K-Mart. Just like Batman, who manages to stand among other superheroes because of his wealth, Lex Luthor manages to actually pose a threat to Superman, one of the most powerful superheroes ever.

Magneto

Magneto is rich because he stole so much of Hydra's Nazi gold, but also because he can control all metal. Yeah, that includes all precious metals, even Vibranium. So, while Magneto is already very rich, if he wanted to really surpass the richest comic book characters he would only have to use his powers to bring all the precious metals he needed together. He might have a little trouble exchanging it all into cold hard cash but we imagine he would figure it out. This one is a bit of a cheat, similar to T'Challa, because Magneto doesn't actually currently have all these precious metals in his possession. Nonetheless, he could easily put them all at his disposal.

Iron Man

DC has Batman and Marvel has Iron Man, except Iron Man decided to toss all notions of subtlety out the window and make his suit absurdly powerful. That's a pretty good indication of just how rich he is. As the owner of Stark Industries, Tony Stark is invested in everything from weaponry to the energy sector. Tony Stark, like Bruce Wayne, is also an orphan who received billions by inheriting his parents' company. Tony used this money to turn himself into Iron Man and even then he has held back on releasing the technology to the public or selling it to the military. Tony Stark is so rich that he can afford to not sell his Iron Man technology. If he did sell some of his greatest inventions, Tony Stark might just be the richest comic book character.

Doctor Doom

Do you run your own country? Victor Von Doom does. Just like we saw with the Black Panther, running your own country has its benefits. Doctor Doom is the leader of the fictional European nation of Latveria. This gives him access to the countries natural resources, GDP, military, and political power. All of these things make Doctor Doom both incredibly powerful and also one of the richest comic book characters. Like Lex Luthor, Doctor Doom uses his impressive wealth and resources to fight many superheroes, though he has served most prominently as a villain for the Fantastic Four. Despite being as wealthy as he is, and being able to develop his own armor, he still hasn't bothered to pay for plastic surgery to fix his horribly disfigured face.

Professor X

Charles Xavier's wealth is a bit of a mystery. However, there's no question that he is one of the richest comic book characters. Xavier's father was a prominent and very wealthy nuclear scientist. Xavier obviously inherited a great deal from him because he has been able to bankroll virtually every aspect of the X-Men. Among the expenses this entails, the most notable would probably be the school that just keeps getting blown up. How many times have they rebuilt that school? Whether some student has an accident or they get attacked, it doesn't seem to matter, Professor X just rebuilds the school. His war chest really doesn't seem to run out. On top of that he pays for jets, helicopters, uniforms, and a lot of paramilitary operations. That's got to add up.

Green Arrow

Green Arrow, or Oliver Queen, is another billionaire, playboy, owner of an international corporation; Queen Industries. Queen spends his days in politics and business, and his nights protecting Star City as a self-styled Robin Hood. All this incredible wealth has allowed Oliver Queen the time to focus on training and developing his natural talent as an archer. Unlike some of the other richest comic book characters, Queen hasn't spent his money on space-aged technology like armor or advanced weaponry. He has, however, developed a number of very unique arrows for his bow. These include exploding arrows, grappling hook arrows, decoy arrows and even a boxing glove arrow.

Emma Frost

Emma Frost might be a surprising addition to this list but she's actually very wealthy. The White Queen became the CEO of Frost International at an early age and used her vast resources to fund Utopia, one of the last strongholds for mutants. However, her status as one of the richest comic book characters has not always been helpful to the heroes of the Marvel universe. She was for some time a villain opposed to the X-Men but over many story arcs she has now become a member of the X-Men and one of their most important leaders. Finally, if we're considering T'Challa's access to Vibranium and Magneto's access to precious metals, then we should probably mention that Emma Frost can turn to solid diamond. Can you imagine how much a diamond of that size would be worth? The White Queen might deserve her place on this list for that fact alone.

What did you think of our list of the richest comic book characters? How many of these were a surprise to you, and how many were you surprised didn't make the cut?