Granted, many superheroes are either privately wealthy, have day jobs, or are just in it for the greater good. And many or most villains just take their pay from whatever they can manage to loot or steal.
But surely some of these guys in organized teams are actually taking home a paycheck—either for profit, or just so they won’t starve—right?
I seem to remember that the Legion of Superheroes gave members some kind of stipend, and an early New Avengers issue indicated that the Avengers used to get paid, in the past. But that’s about it.
The Justice League has, in the past. No mention of them doing so, currently, but none of them are heroing full time.
The pre- and post-Zero Hour Legions both gave stipends (I don’t think the current one does, at least it hasn’t been mentioned).
The Green Lantern Corps pays a salary, though I don’t know if that does the Earth-based Lanterns any good at home.
The permanent members of the Birds of Prey seem to get room and board out of it, if nothing else.
Obviously, government based teams get paid, though I’m blanking on any (other than the aforementioned incarnations of the JL), at the moment… Oh…the Suicide Squad, Great Ten, and Checkmate…the Squad might not pay anything beyond ‘room and board’ and the expunging of records, now that I think about it, and the Great Ten’s pay scale is never mentioned (but can be assumed to be at least on par with regular Chinese military pay), but Checkmate is definitely a group of professionals.
I’m pretty sure the Volume 3 version of the Doom Patrol were originally paid - until they broke away from their corporate sponsor. I haven’t read it in a while, though.
I remember an issue of Spiderman (?), years ago, where Spidey is stunned when he finds out that by declining an Avengers invite, he also turned down $5000 a month.
Does the GI Joe Special Missions Force count as superheroes? The military pays. At one point, the Joe Team was secretly paid out a fund earmarked for “Pentagon Pest Control”.
Obviously, COBRA pays, but Destro’s Iron Grenadier mercenaries get paid far, far better. The Dreadnoks get a cut of anything they steal/illegally sell.
Are they paid cash? What about taxes? Direct deposit requires an account. If a superhero wants to open an account, do they need ID? How do you get a picture ID wearing a mask? What about a mailing address? On payday, do you decide to respond to a particular emergency because it’s near your bank? Will the Batmobile fit in the drive through teller lane?
I remember a story where he’s talking to She-Hulk–years ago, original series, possibly a Roger Stern script–where she casually mentions a $2000/week stipend. Maybe that $5K was after taxes?
The New Avengers (prior to the Civil War) initially didn’t pay, but by the time Wolverine joined, they did again. Mighty Avengers get paid, New (Secret) Avengers likely do not, although Danny Rand covers their Avengers-related room and board. Ares mentioned a salary matching his prior gig at Fisk Construction, around $60/hr. (Stark’s reply: “For that kind of money, I’d better see some razzle dazzle!”)
The X-Men, according to Fantomex, have at least five billionaires on their rolls (Warren Worthington, Charles Xavier, Monet St. Croix, Forge and Ororo are the ones I can name, and Ororo joined this club more recently than the Fantomex storyline citing five, so there’s likely one more very wealthy X-man whose name I’m forgetting). I’m pretty sure the non-billionaires get some kind of stipend. When Kitty Pryde first joined, she destroyed a Blackbird and its hangar to kill an alien intruder. Wolverine and Nightcrawler joked that she’d have it taken out of her paycheck.
The Fantastic Four get paid out of a fund Reed set up from his patents. When Ben Grimm cashed out a few years ago, he was a billionaire a couple times over. When he briefly moved to France during the Civil War, the US government seized all his assets. Not sure he ever got them back.
The Illuminati are all quite wealthy on their own, so no stipend is necessary.
The Hood (New Avengers) pays his crew of C-list villains a share of heists they pull, with a bonus if they tip him off to a potential job. He also gives them need-based money, likely as an advance on later heists. The Hood, like other Bendis-scripted bad guys, talks like a hoodlum crossed with an MBA. Libra (from Final Crisis) is cut very much from the same cloth, although his operation has a grander scope.
That’s interesting. Did Phoenix’s successor to the post of Black Queen, Selene have that kind of cash either? She mentions to her flunky von Roehme that she needs access to wealth and power and he suggests the Hellfire Club. Maybe the rules are slightly different for the Lords Cardinal than for the mere rank and file or Inner Circle.
Considering that Jean was under Mastermind’s control at the time she was in the Hellfire Club, it seems as if there may be an exemption for “Pawns In Convoluted Villain Long-Range Plans”.
I’m actually being comic-continuity-discussion serious here. It’s obvious that Mastermind had plans for her and it’s likely that he manipulated things to get her in that position.
I remember that in the Avengers source book to the Marvel RPG back in the late 80’s, their bylaws called for a “stipend” of $1000 a week. So it seems the Avengers are a fair organization that benchmark their pay to inflation. I think they have to do this or Google will hire away their top talent (it is only a matter of time before Google has its own superhero team. You know it!)
That’s a pretty plum deal. 104k a year. That isn’t a huge amount of money for NYC, but with room and board and medical covered, you could live high on the hog if you don’t get killed during a big company wide crossover to show how badass this new super villain is.
Hell, even vacations CAN be covered if you play the game right (“Um…I hear that the Wrecking Crew just attacked Milan. During fashion week. Can you believe that shit? Jarvis, pack my best speedo! This looks like a job for Capt. Mooch!”)
Shifting gears, I don’t get how Joker keeps getting goons. My company lowered its 401k match and we had trouble keeping people. Joker routinely kills his goons. The Dark Knight suggested some his workers come from Arkham, so I guess that makes sense. But when you have the reputation of having the safe cracker kills the security guy, and having the trigger man kill the safe cracker, and then the driver kill the trigger man, word gets out. You better have one hell of a dental plan to offset that hit you take in PR. Joker could try to get a really good human resources manager, but she would inevitably be killed by Fred in accounting.
Veering back to television, there was an episode of The Man from UNCLE where a THRUSH agent mentions that they have a pension plan and insurance coverage.
When Alpha Flight was first formed, it was part of a government agency “Department H”. Not sure if it was Ministry of Defense or Ministry of Justice. After Pierre Trudeau shut it down, he assured Vindicator that they would retain their status as “RCMP auxilliaries”. Though I doubt if it carried a paycheck. Shaman had a medical practice, and Snowbird was an RCMP constable, so they all seemed to have day jobs.
I haven’t read the current version of Alpha Flight. I don’t know if it is government-sponsored or not.
