Is Superman rich?

[Jim Kelly]

In the classic "Superman's Billion Dollar Debt" and "Superman Owes a Billion Dollars"--SUPERMAN 114 (July 1957) and 148 (October 1961), respectively--it's established that Superman has a vast income. And in many of the old comic book tales, Superman could always mine tonnes of gold or compress coal into diamonds, whenever he was short on cash. Yet Clark Kent is supposed to be a man of the people, living a modest life without opulent splendour.

So which is it with the modern Man of Steel? Does he maintain a large storehouse of treasures that would make Lord Greystoke envious? Or does he convert all his potential wealth into donations for the needy and the deprived--keeping nothing for himself, depending only on his paycheque from the Daily Planet?

[Ascended]

I think Superman has incalculable wealth, but Clark's not very liquid.

Considering the things Superman has in the Fortress......he's got vast wealth. He could sell the smallest, most pointless bit of scrap technology (like his Kryptonian microwave oven) and instantly become one of the richest people on earth. But his wealth isn't easily accessed, it's not easily translated to liquid, usable funds, and Superman is actually more wealthy off world than he is on-planet.

But despite Superman's wealth, Clark can't really get at it. What's he gonna do? Try to pay rent with an alien laser gun in trade? Crush coal into diamond and hand it over? How's he gonna explain that? How's he gonna patent the technology without becoming a name on everyone's lips around the nation, if not the world? That's a spotlight far beyond what even being a news anchor brought and "Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter" is supposed to keep things on the DL.

And ultimately, I don't think Clark cares about the money. He doesn't need it, it doesn't bring him comfort (when you're Superman every mattress is soft) or joy, he's entirely self-sufficient....he's on a level beyond material wealth. He's like one of those billionaires who live like they're on a small fixed income and just let their money sit there, not because they're cheap but because they just don't give a damn about the materialism.

[marhawkman]

Clark uses his powers to acquire all of the resources he needs. If he decides he needs a 50 inch TV he buys one, but he does so because he plans to use it not to show off. It doesn't stick out much when you don't have a particularly opulent home. It makes you look like a tech geek not a playboy, and for Clark he'd probably use it for stuff like an external monitor for his computer... which is quite practical while researching articles.

[superduperman]

I suppose if he's ever hard up for cash, he could always sell some of the trophies in the Fortress or something. I always imagined that if the Kents were about to lose the farm they'd have Clark squeeze a diamond from coal or something.

[Fergus]

I remember when he sold his majority shares in some oil mine for one million dollars. Can't quite remember what he did with that money.

[Fergus]

I think Superman has incalculable wealth, but Clark's not very liquid.

Considering the things Superman has in the Fortress......he's got vast wealth. He could sell the smallest, most pointless bit of scrap technology (like his Kryptonian microwave oven) and instantly become one of the richest people on earth. But his wealth isn't easily accessed, it's not easily translated to liquid, usable funds, and Superman is actually more wealthy off world than he is on-planet.

But despite Superman's wealth, Clark can't really get at it. What's he gonna do? Try to pay rent with an alien laser gun in trade? Crush coal into diamond and hand it over? How's he gonna explain that? How's he gonna patent the technology without becoming a name on everyone's lips around the nation, if not the world? That's a spotlight far beyond what even being a news anchor brought and "Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter" is supposed to keep things on the DL.

And ultimately, I don't think Clark cares about the money. He doesn't need it, it doesn't bring him comfort (when you're Superman every mattress is soft) or joy, he's entirely self-sufficient....he's on a level beyond material wealth. He's like one of those billionaires who live like they're on a small fixed income and just let their money sit there, not because they're cheap but because they just don't give a damn about the materialism.

Some of those Billionaires donate or use a large chunk of their wealth to make the world better. I'd like a story where Clark does that [I like to think he does that anyways]

[origami]

I assume both Clark and Lois are paid handsomely for their journalistic endeavors.
There is always the lecture circuit, book deals, etc if they are so inclined.

Do members of the Justice League get salaries?

[Osiris-Rex]

I assume both Clark and Lois are paid handsomely for their journalistic endeavors.
There is always the lecture circuit, book deals, etc if they are so inclined.

Do members of the Justice League get salaries?

Maybe Bruce Wayne gives them all a stipend.

[bat39]

I assume both Clark and Lois are paid handsomely for their journalistic endeavors.
There is always the lecture circuit, book deals, etc if they are so inclined.

Do members of the Justice League get salaries?

Yeah.

I don't understand why some people believe that Clark is some low-level reporter getting paid peanuts. In current continuity, he and Lois ought to be well-established reporters and authors.

Clark and Lois are comfortably upper middle-class at the very least.

[Jim Kelly]

Back when I was in university, my best friend's father was a journalist and his mother a high ranking politician. They lived in an ordinary house just like the one I grew up in and they didn't dress or act like they were well off. My friend was always hard up for cash. But one thing I do remember is in their kitchen they had an original Picasso hanging on the wall.

In terms of Clark, my argument is that you don't have to be wealthy. Nobody's forcing you to keep your money. Some people do choose to be poor or at least not well off. So given Superman's values, maybe he abjures any income beyond his simple needs. And since he doesn't need much--not food nor warm clothing--all that he'd own would just serve to support his disguise. But as Clark, he's supposed to be generous and self-less--so Kent could have a reputation for donating to worthy causes and keeping almost nothing for himself.

[Ascended]

Yeah.

I don't understand why some people believe that Clark is some low-level reporter getting paid peanuts. In current continuity, he and Lois ought to be well-established reporters and authors.

Clark and Lois are comfortably upper middle-class at the very least.

I dunno, the average annual salary for a newspaper reporter is something around 35K. Given that the Kents live in Metropolis, and that city certainly has a higher cost of living, Clark certainly makes more than that. But I'd be surprised if he makes more than 50K. That's pretty far from being wealthy.

Lois certainly makes more than that, but Clark's usually not written as being as popular and well known as his wife, outside of a few exceptions like early post-Crisis and the GBS news anchor stuff.

[Lightning Rider]

I dunno, the average annual salary for a newspaper reporter is something around 35K. Given that the Kents live in Metropolis, and that city certainly has a higher cost of living, Clark certainly makes more than that. But I'd be surprised if he makes more than 50K. That's pretty far from being wealthy.

Lois certainly makes more than that, but Clark's usually not written as being as popular and well known as his wife, outside of a few exceptions like early post-Crisis and the GBS news anchor stuff.

I disagree, I see the Planet as a huge establishment comparable to the NYT. Glassdoor reports that the average reporter salary is over 100,000. Granted it's from only 8 reported salaries, but I believe it. It comports with what other educated professionals make by their mid-30's. Two award-winning journalists at a top newspaper with close to a decade of experience are going to be making around that I think.

[JackDaw]

It's interesting...I think..that none of us is really sure. He's obviously not on the bread-line, but beyond that...we don't really know (I think).

I suspect it's one of those cases where things are left deliberately vague, so we can project our own preferences onto the character.

[theoneandonly]

I don't think he has access to such wealth based on the story where he was shown to be struggling to answer positively to the innumerable mails he received requesting his help. he even had to call upon Bruce just to buy some toy's for the kids from the orphanage. of course that story was set prior to his impending death at Doomsday's hands so it would explain the gloomy aura of failure he seemed to carry emphasizing he was a MAN before SUPERman as he explains to a child. it was a issue designed to pull the emotional string of the readers.

[DochaDocha]

One of my closest friends was a journalist, and went to grad school to get a masters in journalism. His starting salary, in 2003, was something like $17,600. I kind of like to imagine that Clark Kent got that kind of a crappy salary in his early years, and to an extent, I like the idea that he's not well-paid more than the idea that he's solidly middle-class or higher. I don't apply that to Lois, and I guess toward the end of the post-Crisis days I figure they were both fairly well-paid for journalists, but I kind of like the idea of a Clark Kent who's neither highly compensated nor has the need for middle class income. It was just one of those things of Morrison's run that worked well for me.

But Superman? He's the "Man Who Has Everything," and wants nothing.