this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2026
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No Stupid Questions

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I saw a thread on Twitter and Reddit asking whether characters like Batman, Iron Man, and Iron Fist actually need to be wealthy for their stories to work. Some people were saying that, in the DCU, Batman doesn’t have to be rich—he could just be middle class and the story would still work. Similarly, if the MCU gets rebooted, Tony Stark wouldn’t necessarily need to be wealthy and could be working class instead.

A lot of people argued that this would make these characters more relatable and easier to root for. Personally, I’d say no. Elseworlds stories are fine, but if you’re adapting these characters into movies or TV shows, you should stay at least somewhat comic-accurate. Their wealth is a key part of who they are.

Stark Industries, Wayne Enterprises, and Rand Industries are characters in the story too, and they play important roles in shaping these heroes and their worlds.

It’s similar to how Clark Kent being a reporter or Peter Parker struggling financially are essential to their characters. Those traits help define their stories.

What do you think?

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[–] Grail@multiverse.soulism.net 1 points 23 minutes ago* (last edited 21 minutes ago)

You should watch Ironheart. Riri Williams is a black girl from inner city chicago, and she built a suit of power armour in her garage. She has a lot of money problems.

Also, in the comics Moon Knight is rich, but in the MCU he works at the London Museum gift shop.

[–] GreenBeard@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 hour ago

Iron Man and Batman can only do what they do because they have the time and access to resources to do it. Guardian from Alpha Flight, for example would be something like "Working Class Ironman." Common engineer who found out the mining suit he was building was going to be sold off to the military so he stole the prototype and became a superhero. He's kind of an "Iron Man's brain, Captain America's heart" kind of character, so if you wanted the non-rich Iron Man, it exists, it's just not Tony Stark. Tony needs to be rich or he's not Tony Stark.

Same with Batman. The Shadow is a former soldier who uses stealth, martial arts and magic tricks to fight crime. But he's not Bruce Wayne because being a billionaire playboy is what makes Batman possible.

Why recharacterize heroes with totally new backstories when the not-rich version is already a different superhero.

[–] FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 5 points 2 hours ago

Stark and Wayne need to have the financial means to do their thing at that scale because they're not magic. A mid level manager of a domino's would be far less convincing in those roles. If you add magic to the mix, income becomes less relevant. The royal nepo god baby Thor could be dead poor as long as he had the hammer.

I'm not sure if the Equalizer franchise is based on a comic. That would be an argument for a more relatable living situation for a former super soldier who isn't magic. He just enjoys working at a Lowe's.

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I say that for Batman and Tony Stark, their super power is their brain. They design these gadgets that turn their brain power into brawn power. It only makes sense that someone as smart and innovative as that could easily start up a successful tech company.

And I'm pretty sure the first iron Man suit was built without any access to money.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

The first Ironman suit was built by taking components from (probably) multi-million dollar missiles, and many other comments provided by an overly rich asshole benefactor.

And that’s ignoring the ongoing costs of maintaining the suit, or R and D on new suits, nor the costs of liability and litigation when you fuck up and accidentally murder an innocent.

So no. It’s not even close to a possibility in any context where reality can’t just be dealt with through handwaivium.

[–] Grail@multiverse.soulism.net 1 points 22 minutes ago

Ironheart did it.

[–] sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 hours ago

You could create different backgrounds, other than rich, and still make the stories pretty similar. It'd still be different though. I don't know that you could change any major factor of a character and argue that they aren't different.