A History of Comics In Barbados
COMICS APPRECIATION TEAM
Wealth Doesn't Work:
How super-rich superheroes can be part of the problem
Pop Boom Entertainment
26
Many characters such as Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark are known as philanthropists in their own right and have contributed to their individual societies. However, in their alter egos as heroes, they have been known to make questionable decisions, which although well-intended, ended in disaster. Brother Eye was to be a semi-autonomous artificial intelligence surveillance system to spy on all meta-humans after an incident in the Justice League ranks that raised questions about the level of trust in the team. However,this surveillance system turned out to be the problem rather than a countermeasure for metahumans and introduced a new threat. This was due to the fact that the database of information collected, concerning every known meta-human on Earth, was used by Ra's al Ghul to expose the weaknesses of the Justice League. In the case of Tony Stark, in his early years, the combination of strong liquor and the world’s most advanced environmental suit was extremely dangerous and destructive to his life.
As in real life, wealth may assist a person in achieving certain goals, whereas, the lack of wealth limits a person to finding the means to obtain their wants. If one had to look through the chronicles of the comic-verse it would be clear that various characters: heroes, anti-heroes, and in some cases villains are known to have benefited from the possession of expendable and unlimited income. An eager crime fighter must be equipped to surpass the hi-tech gadgets of the criminal element with technology that supersedes anything the other group, might have or might possibly obtain. As established earlier, wealth is accompanied in comicdom with the overwhelming desire to be a hero and save lives.
Wealth enables persons, both fictional and real to do amazing things. It is possible that wealth may be connected to heroes who lack superhuman abilities. There are many examples of characters who use their wealth to improve their own limited attributes. Rich superheroes have been known to squander their money in search of artificial power to combat crime. The purchasing power at the disposal of some of these individuals might possibly exceed the resources available to many small countries. Moreover, these individuals if they thought it was necessary could eradicate poverty and other societal problems. That is, if their primary focus was the betterment of those in need. The cure for cancer or even some STD’s might be found. If only those things were of importance to the fictional men of great wealth then the world would have fewer things to worry about.