# Superheroes who are actually good at their day jobs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 8, 2013, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134 "2013-04-08T03:55:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134/41 "2013-04-10T01:19:55Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > Queen inherited a company about the size of Wayne International and ran it into the ground. Last I saw, he worked in Black Canary’s flower store, barely. I don’t think he’s ever worked a real job, with regular hours reporting to someone else. Now that you remind me I do remember it being mentioned that he was working in Dinah’s shop. I never did follow Green Arrow in his own title, though. Just as a member of the JLA. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134/42 "2013-04-10T01:33:01Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > Queen inherited a company about the size of Wayne International and ran it into the ground. Not really. He ignored it until it was stolen out from under him. It was still going strong even after he’d been forced out. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134/43 "2013-04-10T02:11:15Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > Queen inherited a company about the size of Wayne International and ran it into the ground. Last I saw, he worked in Black Canary’s flower store, barely. I don’t think he’s ever worked a real job, with regular hours reporting to someone else. I don’t know about regular hours and reporting to someone else, but wasn’t he a mayor for a while? ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134/44 "2013-04-10T02:22:48Z")
David/Bruce Banner, except that he’s on the run. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134/45 "2013-04-10T02:29:58Z")
Underdog could shine the hell out of a shoe in his alter ego job! ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134/46 "2013-04-10T02:36:40Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Aquaman and Namor were/are competent Atlantean monarchs, but, y’know, keeping the plot interesting required frequent dethroning. I think that throws a little suspicion on their competency, really… ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134/47 "2013-04-10T09:48:04Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > Peter Parker, especially, wouldn’t have a job at all if not for his frequent photos of Spiderman. That depends on the writer; a lot of Marvel Crossovers started with him being sent to take pics of something happening outside NYC. Sometimes he’s taking pics of normal information when his Spidey-sense starts tingling - those times it doesn’t don’t get shown “on screen”, as it were. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134/48 "2013-04-10T13:05:37Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > That depends on the writer; a lot of Marvel Crossovers started with him being sent to take pics of something happening outside NYC. Sometimes he’s taking pics of normal information when his Spidey-sense starts tingling - those times it doesn’t don’t get shown “on screen”, as it were. Let’s bring in the corollary to this trope…that J. Johan Jameson is too stupid to realize that Spider-Man only appears in cities other than New York when he’s sent Parker to that city to cover a story… ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134/49 "2013-04-10T14:17:29Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) was also (at the very least) a multi-millionaire. I don’t even remember how he got it…whether it was inherited or if he earned it somehow. He was like a trust-fund baby or something. And he lost it in some scam that was less sophisticated than “I’ll give you 5 magic beans for your entire fortune”. (Brave and Bold 85, IIRC). Green Arrow was never the sharpest arrow in the quiver. > [@](#): > > Wasn’t the Atom a physics professor? He had tenure, I think, so he must have been at least competent. There were a number of stories in the 2000s, by Waid, Morrison and a few others talking about how Atom was considered by students to be the single coolest teacher at Ivy U. (One thing he did was have (something like) a block of lucite on his desk, and inside was microscopic desk with an even more microscopic copy of the answer key to this term’s final. Figure out how to read it and get an automatic “A”. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134/50 "2013-04-10T15:08:23Z")
Thinking about it, most Superheroes seem to be able to balance their Super heroics and their occupations. It is their personal lives that always get the short end of the stick. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134/51 "2013-04-10T15:11:13Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Aquaman and Namor were/are competent Atlantean monarchs, but, y’know, keeping the plot interesting required frequent dethroning. Actually, there was a pretty good **Sub-Mariner** mini-series from the mid-late 80s period based around the idea that Namor was in fact _not_ a good monarch, and that he basically ignored important administerial duties to go off on adventures with (sometimes against) the FF, the Defenders and such, to the extreme detriment of the people of Atlantis. The series concludes with Namor’s own royal advisors asking him to abdicate his crown, and he is forced to leave Atlantis in disgrace because he has failed his subjects. (At least he had his stock portfolio to fall back on!) This was shortly before he joined the Avengers in their own series. The series is worth reading if you ever happen to find back issues of it. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134/52 "2013-04-10T15:28:39Z")
> [@DarkFire](#): > > I read mostly Marvel but here goes: > > Matt Murdock (DareDevil) is a good lawyer. One twist: There was a storyline in which the Kingpin learned Daredevil’s secret identity and used it specifically to destroy Murdock’s personal life. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134/53 "2013-04-10T16:24:05Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > There were a number of stories in the 2000s, by Waid, Morrison and a few others talking about how Atom was considered by students to be the single coolest teacher at Ivy U. _‘I like it here. Four of my students have crushes on me. Three of them are girls.’_ Incidentally, how about the classic Stage-Magician-Using-Genuine-Powers day job, as worked by Zatanna and Sargon and et cetera back to Mandrake? ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134/54 "2013-04-10T17:00:37Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I think that throws a little suspicion on their competency, really… They could go for a whole decade until a writer needed a hook. A number of times the dethroning came from political intrique inside Atlantis. IMHO, most of the better stories for either of them came while they were in absentia from their realms. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134/55 "2013-04-10T17:12:23Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > Apparently Namor was TERRIFIC at picking stocks. Sure, but he’s a terrible real-estate investor – all his properties are _completely_ under water. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134/56 "2013-04-10T18:50:50Z")
> [@moriah](#): > > In Batman Beyond, Bruce loses control over most of his company. Company?? Batman’s changed since I was a kid: back in the 1960s, Bruce Wayne was simply a “millionaire playboy.” He couldn’t have been a very good playboy, though, at least not in the Hugh Hefner sense of the term. Can you imagine his being in the sack with some babe when the Bat-Signal shines? ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134/57 "2013-04-10T19:37:15Z")
I always assumed the public perception of Bruce Wayne was that he was a just an empty, spoiled rich kid, basically a male Paris Hilton. That was what made his identity so secret. It was unfathomable to people that he could do anything right, let alone be Batman. Would you believe it if someone told you Paris Hilton was really a super competent secret agent? ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134/58 "2013-04-10T20:52:09Z")
Prof. Pepperwinkle: > [@](#): > > The Martian Manhunter (as John Jones) was a more-thancompetent police detective. It helps when you can read minds. Not to mention turn invisible, walk through walls, and adopt any disguise he could imagine. Amongst those not mentioned: Doctor Mid-Nite (both Charles McNider and Pieter Cross) was an excellent physician. Wildcat was a champion boxer. Green Lantern Alan Scott was good at running a radio station. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134/59 "2013-04-10T21:50:55Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Company?? Batman’s changed since I was a kid: back in the 1960s, Bruce Wayne was simply a “millionaire playboy.” First mention of the Wayne Foundation was in 1966. It was established two years earlier, in '64, but was originally called The Pennyworth Foundation, in memory of Batman’s beloved butler Alfred, who was dead at the time. He got better a few years later, prompting the name change. By '69, Bruce had abandoned Wayne Manor and moved into the penthouse on top of the Wayne Foundation skyscraper in downtown Gotham. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2013, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134/60 "2013-04-11T10:04:26Z")
Bill Katt’s Greatest American Hero had one promotion as a high school teacher. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superheroes-who-are-actually-good-at-their-day-jobs/655134.md?page=4)