Why Marvel characters don't have jobs?

[The Ray]

Marvel characters can be separated into four groups:

1 - Those who live off Tony Stark's money
2 - Those who live off Reed Richard's money
3 - Those who live off Charles Xavier's money
4 - Spider-Man, Daredevil, and She-Hulk (the three characters that actually have a job)

Why is it so uncommon to see a Marvel character actually working? Isn't it supposed to be "the world outside your window"? Aren't the characters supposed to be "relatable" and "grounded"? How can that be true when the majority of them simply relies on a billionaire friend to give money to them? In the world outside my window, there are way more people working and way fewer billionaires giving money to everyone around.

What does Scarlet Witch do for a living? Quicksilver? Falcon? We don't even know if they have any marketable skills.

[Mantis Dad]

Marvel characters can be separated into four groups:

1 - Those who live off Tony Stark's money
2 - Those who live off Reed Richard's money
3 - Those who live off Charles Xavier's money
4 - Spider-Man, Daredevil, and She-Hulk (the three characters that actually have a job)

Why is it so uncommon to see a Marvel character actually working? Isn't it supposed to be "the world outside your window"? Aren't the characters supposed to be "relatable" and "grounded"? How can that be true when the majority of them simply relies on a billionaire friend to give money to them? In the world outside my window, there are way more people working and way fewer billionaires giving money to everyone around.

What does Scarlet Witch do for a living? Quicksilver? Falcon? We don't even know if they have any marketable skills.

Hello Ray,

I think you can add T'Challa to number 4. Being a king is a job even I would not want.

[CaptCleghorn]

Hello Ray,

I think you can add T'Challa to number 4. Being a king is a job even I would not want.

I think we can all come up with more examples, but The Ray's original premise is valid. A LOT of Marvel heroes don't have jobs.

As a note, the Avengers were drawing a paycheck at one point. I have no idea if that's still a thing, though.

[Crimz]

I agree. Like I've been saying Sue Storm should have a career for a while now, she is one of many who don't.

[responsarbre]

I think the divide comes actually from the way characters were introduced and what niches they fill in the line. I would say that the vast majority of characters who debuted in a solo book or got a strong solo push early on either have a job or had a job at some point. It was part of the Marvel formula for their solo characters. They had their superhero persona and their secret identity. Even Captain America originally had a secret identity and a job in the army, separate from his duty as Captain America, and I think he tried out a few other jobs over the years. Black Panther is a king, which I would argue counts a legitimately separate job considering how often he's facing down criminals on the streets of New York. Ms. Marvel worked at a magazine, back in the day. The Dr. Donald Blake thing was an innate part of Thor stories for years. Bruce Banner has been able to maintain a job at various points in his career. Even Black Widow searched for jobs as a fashion designer of all things in her San Francisco years. I think you would be surprised at how many solo titles give characters new jobs; Hellcat, for instance, ran a temp agency in her last book.

Characters who were introduced in teams and grew to fame in teams, on the other hand, don't get to have stories about their secret identities, nor are those type of stories what propels interest in them. When they're only interacting with other costumed types, there's no narrative need to find a job for them. So, most of the classic Avengers (besides the original ones who had solo titles) are never working. Most every mutant never has a job. And they don't need to for the stories to work.

[Pav]

For what it's worth, I've always preferred that X-Men books that have some sort of grounding principle, like the characters having jobs. I'm thinking of things like District X, the Madrox stuff, and Morrison's NXM in which they were actually shown being teachers in the school.

-Pav, who doesn't think all characters need this but...

[Frontier]

Jessica Jones and Kate Bishop are currently private investigators though I hesitate to say whether they really make a "living" off of that work.

Does Iron Fist still run a company?

I think the divide comes actually from the way characters were introduced and what niches they fill in the line. I would say that the vast majority of characters who debuted in a solo book or got a strong solo push early on either have a job or had a job at some point. It was part of the Marvel formula for their solo characters. They had their superhero persona and their secret identity. Even Captain America originally had a secret identity and a job in the army, separate from his duty as Captain America, and I think he tried out a few other jobs over the years. Black Panther is a king, which I would argue counts a legitimately separate job considering how often he's facing down criminals on the streets of New York. Ms. Marvel worked at a magazine, back in the day. The Dr. Donald Blake thing was an innate part of Thor stories for years. Bruce Banner has been able to maintain a job at various points in his career. Even Black Widow searched for jobs as a fashion designer of all things in her San Francisco years. I think you would be surprised at how many solo titles give characters new jobs; Hellcat, for instance, ran a temp agency in her last book.

I remember reading some classic Cap comics and seeing Steve trying to make a living as a freelance artist .

[WebLurker]

I guess it depends what makes for more interesting storytelling. In the case of someone like Spider-Man, his juggling a job is a key part of his character. Conversely, a character like X-23's primary story fodder is on the field or in her own head, so taking time to explain and show her having a job doesn't add anything (even if it does raise the question how she supports herself and a younger sister and pet.

[Digifiend]

I think we can all come up with more examples, but The Ray's original premise is valid. A LOT of Marvel heroes don't have jobs.

As a note, the Avengers were drawing a paycheck at one point. I have no idea if that's still a thing, though.

The Avengers were always paid, except for in ANAD Avengers. Vision had to take a job (with the government), and Sam Wilson was the only other guy Tony could get. Jane and the future Champions kids happened upon them by chance and were invited to join just because they were there (note that they'd need to know secret identities to pay you, so Jane, Miles and Kamala couldn't be paid anyway - Falcon knew Jane's identity by the time the question of payment would've come up). Note that at that time, the New Avengers and Uncanny Avengers were still paid, thanks to Sunspot and Deadpool respectively. Sunspot paid his team members until the end of No Surrender. When Peter Parker joined the Avengers after the Champions split off, he took over funding, which lasted until Secret Empire, when Parker Industries was destroyed. At the same time Deadpool left the Unity Squad, leaving them with no funding. However, Johnny Storm inherited money from the legally deceased Reed Richards' patents and took over funding of both Waid and Zub's teams. The team broke up after No Surrender though, but now Tony's back and has regained control of his fortune, so he'll probably resume funding the Avengers, allowing Johnny to return his money to Reed for the Fantastic Four.

[Digifiend]

Some characters who do have jobs:

Peter Parker: Science reporter at Daily Bugle
Spider-Gwen: Aspiring pop star (Mary Janes)
Janet Van Dyne: Runs two businesses, Van Dyne's fashion design and Pym Labs research lab...
Nadia Van Dyne: Team leader of think tank Genius In action Research Labs (GIRL), which Janet incorporated into Pym Labs.
Jane Foster: Medical doctor and former Midgardian ambassador to Asgard, but currently on sick leave due to cancer.
Amadeus Cho: Was running the Olympus Group, but that passed to his sister at the end of his solo book.
Kamala Khan, Squirrel Girl, Miles Morales, Sam Alexander: Students
Kate Bishop, Jessica Jones, Jamie Madrox, Misty Knight: Private Detectives.
Kitty Pryde, Reed Richards, Captain Britain: Headmasters of schools (Xavier Institute, Future Foundation, and Braddock Academy).

There are plenty of other examples.

[ed2962]

I still remember X-Men #201 from back in the day...Scott and Maddie are having an argument and she says something like, "Look, at least I have job skills, I can earn a living! Can you say the same?"

[Michael Watkins]

Marvel characters can be separated into four groups:

1 - Those who live off Tony Stark's money
2 - Those who live off Reed Richard's money
3 - Those who live off Charles Xavier's money
4 - Spider-Man, Daredevil, and She-Hulk (the three characters that actually have a job)

Why is it so uncommon to see a Marvel character actually working? Isn't it supposed to be "the world outside your window"? Aren't the characters supposed to be "relatable" and "grounded"? How can that be true when the majority of them simply relies on a billionaire friend to give money to them? In the world outside my window, there are way more people working and way fewer billionaires giving money to everyone around.

What does Scarlet Witch do for a living? Quicksilver? Falcon? We don't even know if they have any marketable skills.

Scott Lang a security contractor.

[JudicatorPrime]

Hmmm...let's see.

Blue Marvel is in group #4, since he's a college professor. But BM is also quite wealthy due to patents that he owns, the inestimable value of his Challenger Deep base at the bottom of the Mariana Trench and the esoteric -- if not outright alien -- technology that he houses there. If by some chance he lost all of that, he'd need only generate and sell antimatter particles for profit. A single gram runs anywhere from $25 billion to $60B depending on which type of antimatter particle we're talking about. That would put him in Tony, Reed, T'Challa net worth/ cash reserves territory.

Alas, you'll never have to worry about a group #5: Those who live off of Adam Brashear's money. Those stories won't ever be written.

[Digifiend]

Scott Lang a security contractor.

Not any more. Ant-Man Security Solutions closed down during his last Astonishing Ant-Man book, because he went to jail.

[Michael Watkins]

Not any more. Ant-Man Security Solutions closed down during his last Astonishing Ant-Man book, because he went to jail.

eh. he has still had to work most of his hero career. even the Future Foundation gig was, technically, a job. all of the ant-men have had them. Eric worked for Damage Control and SHIELD. Pym was a lecturer.