Being a superhero definitely gives you love, fame, and popularity. That’s all good, but it doesn’t always give you one of the most important things, and that is money. People say “Money Isn’t Important”, but I think that’s crap, say this phrase to a homeless guy and he’ll tell you the importance. Superheros get love and all, but you can’t buy food with love, you can’t put a roof over your family with love, and that’s the problem some of our heroes face. They know that they won’t get paid for helping people, but they do it anyway because they aren’t doing this for money. Sometimes they get too busy helping people that they lose their day job and end up homeless, but it still doesn’t stop them from helping people.
I know Tony Stark aka Ironman is rich, but his money doesn’t come from his superhero stuff, he has his own Stark Industries. Tony also provides all the funds required for the Avengers program, he pays for every Avengers income and all their expenses. But there are other Marvel characters that don’t get this luxury, they have to do their day jobs besides helping people. These jobs are also too underpaid, making these characters poorer every day. And today we will be talking about these poorest Marvel characters.
So here are the Top 10 Poorest Marvel Characters:
10. Squirrel Girl
The issue with Squirrel Girl is that her abilities are utterly ridiculous. Doreen Green’s squirrel-like powers first appeared in the form of her tail shortly after she was born. Doreen’s condition was determined to be the result of genetic changes after her parents sought medical advice, but she was not an X-Men mutant. By all rights, she should be terrible, but when you look at her record of beating super villains, you’ll notice that she’s accomplished more than anyone could have imagined, even defeating Doctor Doom early in her career.
You’d think that her credentials would get her a seat in the superhero team of her choice, but she appears to be pleased with her role as the fearless protector of Central Park in New York. Squirrel Girl’s other employment and sources of income are never mentioned, but we do know that she temporarily worked as a caretaker for Jessica Jones & Luke Cage, and given that the former hero is also on this list, it’s safe to conclude she’s working for free.
9. Jessica Jones
Jessica Jones hasn’t exactly led a life of luxury, as her new Netflix series shows. She is portrayed in the episode as a worn-out private detective who spends the majority of her limited cash on drinks to forget about her problems and cope with the post-traumatic distress she got from her time with Purple Man.
When Jessica hears that Killgrave is back in the spotlight in the first episode, she wants to book a flight to get out of town, but she doesn’t have enough cash and all of her credit cards are maxed out. She then phones her lawyer friend Jeri Hogarth to request a pay advance on the case she’s been working on, but she is flatly denied, forcing her to borrow more money from her foster sister & friend Trish Walker. Jessica repays Trish’s money soon, but she still can’t afford to fix her constantly broken front door.
8. Echo
Maya Lopez, who was born deaf, was originally placed in a special education curriculum. She was placed in a talented class after showing her abilities to replicate anything she saw, including advanced choreography and martial skills, and ultimately became the superhero Echo.
Maya is taken in by the Kingpin after her father’s death, who is quickly pleased by her abilities and sends her to the best public schools money can buy. As a result, she thrived in a variety of artistic areas. However, as any fine arts graduate will tell you, passion does not necessarily equate to money, and Echo earns about $20 per hour as a performance artist.
7. Firestar
Angelica Jones, a mutant, was 13 years old when her abilities began to develop and she found she could generate a lot of heat. She collaborated with the Avengers for a while after learning to manage her mutant talents, but after the Super-human Identification Act was brought into law, she decided to stop being a superhero and focus on her academic studies instead. Firestar makes little to no money as a college student. On top of that, she’s probably got a lot of debt from student loans that she needs to pay off.
6. Spider-Man
This goes without saying that Marvel’s most famous superhero is one of the poorest. Peter Parker’s annual salary as a freelance photographer might be over $40,000. Newspaper photographers are usually paid only $65 for each photo assignment. When you consider that most photographers are expected to deliver five to ten images for the company to choose from, each shot has a worth of around $10.
If Peter Parker was serious about making money off his photographs, he should have focused on becoming a paparazzi instead of selling them to the arrogant J. Jonah Jameson. One scandalous photo might easily earn him more than a year’s salary from the Daily Bugle. Also, every time he is fighting a criminal, he has to consistently make sure that he clicks some photos, others wise he won’t be able to pay his rent and that door won’t be fixed.
Also Read: 10 Reasons To Watch Marvel Movies: Why Marvel Movies Are So Awesome
5. Big Bertha
Ashley Crawford, also known as Big Bertha, is a mutant that has the ability to change her body weight at will. She has amazing strength and durability in her altered state, but when she isn’t using her mutant abilities, she is a pretty, thin girl working as a model in her town of Milwaukee. Though her supermodel profession would undoubtedly provide her with a comfortable income if she were only supporting herself, she finds herself regularly spending her savings account to fund the Great Lakes Champions.
4. Rage
Elvin Haliday gained superpowers as a child after diving into a chemical-filled river to avoid a band of racial attackers. Elvin once battled alongside Captain America and The Avengers under the name Rage but was quickly thrown off the squad after it was discovered that he was only a teen.
Rage rejoined the New Warriors after being rejected by the Avengers, and as part of his first assignment, he assisted them in stealing one of the Avengers’ Quinjets. After a while, however, the group grew apart and eventually separated, with Elvin returning to school to focus on his studies. Rage, like Firestar, is expected to have no other job, therefore his continued education will most likely only add to his debt.
3. Man-Thing
Ted Sallis was a brilliant biochemist before he was Man-Thing, and he was working on replicating the “Super-Soldier Serum” that made Captain America. Sallis destroys his notebooks and injects himself with a single sample of the serum when his research group is attacked by the terrorist group Accelerated Idea Mechanics (AIM).
Nevertheless, he crashes his van into a swamp, where he is transformed into Man-Thing by chemical and magical powers. Man-Thing doesn’t have a lot of work options because he’s a big, reclusive, slow-moving swamp monster. He can’t even operate in normal society, let alone maintain employment. But, at the very least, his swampy habitat meets all of his needs.
2. Doorman
No other superhero title in the Marvel world evokes memories of poverty like Doorman’s. DeMarr Davis, as a mutant, has the capacity to teleport to any area on the planet…as long as he’s already in a spot near the destination. Sure, it’s a fun party trick, but it’s not really effective in the fight against crime unless you want to avoid capture and break into the bad guys’ hiding place. DeMarr was a typical American teen before entering the Great Lakes Avengers, entering college, and completing 3 years of graduate studies.
Unfortunately, whatever degree he earned didn’t help him pay the rent, because all we know about him from his past is that he became a skilled card player—implying that he gambled a lot to earn a living. The Thing recently organized a charity superhero poker game, and Doorman with his GLA teammates took part. However, he failed to advance to the final round, and the Thing was defeated by Flatman. With little to no income sources and a tendency for gambling, Doorman is not only broke but also in serious debt.
1. The Morlocks
Almost all of the X-Men don’t have to stress about their living arrangement or making money through legal means because of their teaching jobs at the famous Xavier Institute. Many of them are actually quite wealthy, thanks to their academic expertise and affiliations. Unfortunately, the Morlocks are not in the same boat.
This scrappy clan of drainpipe mutant outcasts is constantly fighting for survival. They make a living by plundering the surface for food, furniture, clothing, and other necessities. Because many Morlocks are infertile or incapable of natural mating, they sometimes resort to kidnapping kids.
Also Read: Top 10 Weakest Marvel Villains: From Taskmaster To Baron Zemo
