# Who are the upper-class heroes in modern (fiction) film and print? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 26, 2015, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580 "2015-09-26T16:39:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/41 "2015-09-27T18:42:06Z")
If he’s modern, who or when is ancient? ---
**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:** [September 27, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/42 "2015-09-27T20:11:14Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > It’s kind of a weird question. Modern Pop culture worships the Rich. It would be harder to find a protagonist who is poor and not a child (usually an orphan). Daredevil, Bruce Banner, any of the heroes in Silverado, Jim Kirk (doesn’t carry cash!). ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/43 "2015-09-27T20:17:04Z")
I _said_ depending. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/44 "2015-09-27T20:25:03Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > As an aside, MCU backgrounds: > > 1. Tony Stark; Son of a billionaire. > 2. Thor: Asgardian royalty. > 3. Steve Rogers: Working class Brooklyn > 4. Natasha Romanoff: Not stated. > 5. Clint Barton: Middle Class > 6. Hank Pym: Billionaire, not stated if from old money. > 7. Scott Lang: Professional background., computers. To add a few. Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes: working class Brooklyn kid like Steve Rogers Daredevil: orphan from Hell’s Kitchen(which is vastly poorer than IRL Hell’s Kitchen). Nick Fury: Probably came from a poor background based on the story he told Cap about his dad. Agent 13/Sharon Carter: Based on being Peggy Carter’s niece I’d guess Middle Class to Upper Middle Class. I believe the accent adopted by Peggy Carter is a posh accent but our British dopers would be better to judge. Wasp/Janet Van Dyne: Daughter of wealthy scientist. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/45 "2015-09-27T20:26:06Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Daredevil, Bruce Banner, any of the heroes in Silverado, Jim Kirk (doesn’t carry cash!). Spider-Man has always come from a struggling family. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/46 "2015-09-27T20:28:57Z")
Depending on how you define “upper class,” I would argue that the Merlin in Harry Dresden’s world fits the bill. There’s probably a few others on the White Council, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/47 "2015-09-27T20:31:11Z")
> [@Reloy3](#): > > IIRC, FBI Agent Pendergast from the successful Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs collaboration is strongly implied to be eccentric and very wealthy. Went to Harvard and Oxford, has multiple Rolls Royces, lives and works in New Orleans, but has both an apartment and a mansion in New York. He is also very much the hero of the stories. Um. . . How exactly is his wealth “strongly implied”? That’s like saying that a nuke is “strongly implied” to be destructive. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/48 "2015-09-27T21:00:56Z")
> [@Randolph](#): > > Also Siddhārtha Gautama, depending on your definition of modern. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > If he’s modern, who or when is ancient? > [@Randolph](#): > > I _said_ depending. He’s also considered to be an historical figure, not a fictional one. At the very least we can say that we’re unsure if he’s fictional or not, so that’s another disqualifier. I think you’d have to consider the heroes in _Atlas Shrugged_– Francisco D’Anconia Hank Reardon, and Dagny Taggart. Book is pretty modern and film is more so. John Galt never had much money, although he could amass some considerable resources. Still, not rich. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/49 "2015-09-27T21:11:06Z")
Miles Vorkosigan and his father, Aral. Both are counts. Simon Templar (The Saint) Sara Crewe. Sophia the First. (Yes, she was born a poor shoemaker’s daughter, but when her mother married the king, she became “a princess overnight”.) ---
**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:** [September 27, 2015, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/50 "2015-09-27T21:43:23Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > It’s kind of a weird question. Modern Pop culture worships the Rich. It would be harder to find a protagonist who is poor and not a child (usually an orphan). Well, there’s DJANGO UNCHAINED. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/51 "2015-09-27T21:53:31Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Are there any? Set in the more-or-less real modern world, that is. Not fantasy worlds. The past decade or two it seems that its the in thing to portray the upper class as villains or terminally stupid. Or both. There’s the teen stuff like\* The Princess Diaries\* and _The Prince and Me_. Can’t get more upper class than royalty. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/52 "2015-09-27T22:02:10Z")
Richie Rich ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/53 "2015-09-27T22:07:26Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > As an aside, MCU backgrounds: > > 1. Tony Stark; Son of a billionaire. > 2. Thor: Asgardian royalty. > 3. Steve Rogers: Working class Brooklyn > 4. Natasha Romanoff: Not stated. > 5. Clint Barton: Middle Class > 6. Hank Pym: Billionaire, not stated if from old money. > 7. Scott Lang: Professional background., computers. Is this comics or cinema? Hank Pym married into money; in his first appearance, he was scrounging for grant money. Natasha Romanoff is much younger in the movies than the comics (In the movies, she was born after the Soviet Union fell), but in the comics it has been strongly implied that she’s descended from Russian (and therefore German) royalty. Clint Barton may be middle class in the movies, but in the comics he was a runaway and a carny. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/54 "2015-09-27T22:10:57Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > There’s the teen stuff like\* The Princess Diaries\* and _The Prince and Me_. Can’t get more upper class than royalty. Both of those have protagonists that are middle class who end up getting unexpectedly turned into royalty, so I’m not sure they count, For the middle-class pre-teens girls those movies are aimed at, the presumably relatable backgrounds of the main characters are sort of the point. IIRC, **Penelope** , from 2006 has an upper class protagonist. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/55 "2015-09-27T22:13:36Z")
There’s a difference between European old money (which goes back to the Middle Ages and stays focused on a single heir at a time) and American old money (which typically lasts about three generations, since we have no law of primogeniture). Most American old money only dates back to various gold rushes or oil booms. European old money dates back to land grants from Charlemagne or William the Conqueror. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/56 "2015-09-27T22:16:46Z")
Was gonna mention Nick and Nora Charles but **silenus** beat me to it. So instead I’ll add Jonathan and Jennifer Hart. Maybe not old money upper class but upper class anyway in wealth and lifestyle. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/57 "2015-09-27T22:26:08Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Are there any? Set in the more-or-less real modern world, that is. Not fantasy worlds. The past decade or two it seems that its the in thing to portray the upper class as villains or terminally stupid. Or both. > [@Quimby](#): > > It’s kind of a weird question. Modern Pop culture worships the Rich. It would be harder to find a protagonist who is poor and not a child (usually an orphan). The accusation I have heard is that, in modern pop culture (the films and TV and novels of the past couple of decades, at least), it’s businessmen—especially large corporations and their leaders or representatives—that are invariably portrayed as villains. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/58 "2015-09-27T22:59:22Z")
Tris in the **Divergent** series by Veronica Roth (I haven’t seen the movies, but in the book, her father is a leader of their society, which is upper class even though Abnegation rejects personal wealth.) The Baudelaire children in Lemony Snicket’s **A Series of Unfortunate Events**. Lady Georgiana Rannoch in Rhys Bowen’s **Royal Spyness** novels. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/59 "2015-09-27T23:06:46Z")
Not really surprising. You generally want an underdog for a protagonist, which is harder to do for someone that starts as head of a powerful corporation or heir to a small kingdom. Hence we have a plethora of orphans, working stiffs and down and out types as heroes, while the already wealthy and powerful provide the villains. A movie where the billionaire with a heart of gold uses his vast fortune to destroy the evil street urchin would be kind of hard to make suspenseful. Superheroes are kind of an interesting exception. But then its sort of the nature of a superhero that they aren’t the underdog, the whole point is that they have powers beyond the ordinary. So humble beginnings are less important there. But hey, I thought of another (actually) recent one. The lead character in the ironically briefly lived TV series **Forever** is the son of a wealthy slave merchant. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/60 "2015-09-28T01:38:34Z")
A lot of fictional detectives are either aristocrats or very well off. Lord Peter Wimsey is upper crust and Nero Wolfe has his own live-in chef and orchid expert. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580.md?page=4)