When we envision the wealthy Jay Gatsby, we always seem to picture Leonardo DiCaprio raising a glass of gin and club soda. Well, behind the character’s fictional smile lies a fortune amounting to $1 billion!
The character is from ‘The Great Gatsby,’ a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and published in 1925. Gatsby in particular obtained his fortune by being a bootlegger in the 1920s.
Crawley’s initial fortune came from the inheritance that she received after her father passed away. But her wealth skyrocketed after her husband, Matthew Crawley, died as well.
The television series ‘Downton Abbey’ features many characters of wealth and privilege, but Lady Mary Crawley certainly tops them all with her net worth of $1.1 billion.
Of all the characters on this list, Mr. Monopoly is the only one that is a mascot for a board game. The character’s actual name is Milburn Pennybags, and he has a comfortable net worth of $1.2 billion.
This list would be incomplete if it didn’t include at least one immature billionaire! Walden Schmidt owns a mansion with arcade games and sci-fi mannequins, and he earned his $1.3 billion fortune through start-ups and investments.
The character appears in the American sitcom ‘Two and a Half Men,’ which ran for 12 seasons until 2015.
Mr. Burns has been a frequent and recurring character in the series since the very first episode aired in 1989. He was born into poverty, but was then adopted into the world of money by a wealthy billionaire.
Also known as Mr. Burns, Montgomery is the evil owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant in the animated series ‘The Simpsons.’ His lack of generosity and work ethic has made him the richest character in Springfield, with a net worth of $1.5 billion.
In the trilogy, it is revealed that Grey earns $100,000 an hour from his company. Most of his wealth is spent on luxury cars and an assortment of expensive possessions.
The youngest fictional billionaire on this list is Richie Rich, who became a household name after the release of the 1994 film of the same name. Richie received his fortune from an inheritance, which pushed his net worth to $5.8 billion.
Richie actually made his debut appearance in a comic book that was published in 1953. Back then, he taught several young readers that they should invest in things that improve the world and make it a better place.
A prominent character in the Marvel Universe, Tony Stark arrives on this list as the fifth-richest fictional character, with a fortune of $12.4 billion.
One of the most famous rich characters to appear on this list, Bruce Wayne inherited his enormous wealth after he watched his parents die while leaving the opera. He employs his $9.2 billion fortune to build technology that he uses to catch criminals.
The classic American film ‘Citizen Kane’ (1941) follows a fictional newspaper magnate named Charles Foster Kane and how he rose from obscurity to the upper echelons of the media industry. By the end of the character’s life, Kane’s net worth was a staggering $11.2 billion!
The story behind Kane’s fictional wealth lies in the gold that his family mined, which allowed him to rise from a poor childhood to become a 20th-century American oligarch.
Stark is portrayed as a brilliant engineer and inventor, skills he uses to expand his father’s business, Stark Industries. The money that the company generates allows him to build the now-famous Iron Man suit.
The top two places on this list are both occupied by animals! Second place goes to Smaug, the menacing dragon that destroys the fictional city of Erebor and lays claim to the mountain of gold buried inside. But how much is that gold worth? About $62 billion!
The dragon is a greedy and powerful creature that appeared in J. R. R. Tolkien's ‘The Hobbit,’ published in 1937.
Top place on this list goes to Scrooge McDuck! This cartoon character is the incredibly wealthy uncle of Donald Duck, and he’s typically seen wearing a very expensive-looking coat. Oh, and his net worth is about $65.4 billion!
Scrooge has become a pop culture icon as a way of describing excessive wealth. He has a swimming pool of gold and money, all of which he has acquired through sneaky business deals.
Sources: (Forbes) (TheRichest) (IMDb) (Time)
See also: The 30 wealthiest cities in the world
Daddy Warbucks is the fictional character who can be found in ‘Little Orphan Annie,’ an American comic strip published from 1924 to 2010. His role as a hardhearted businessman is what places his net worth at $36.2 billion.
In the comic strip, Warbucks is convinced by his adopted daughter Annie to donate several of his billions to charity. But the character’s net worth doesn’t stay low for long!
The archaeologist and renowned tomb raider Lara Croft earned her fortune via a large trust fund set up by her parents, which amounts to $1.3 billion. And what does she use the money for? Traveling the world and seeking adventure, of course!
Third place on this list goes to the breadwinner of the Cullen family, Carlisle Cullen, whose fortune amounts to an astonishing $46 billion! But to be fair, Carlisle is a vampire who has been around for about 343 years, so he’s clearly had enough time to invest...
The Cullen family made their appearance in the Twilight Saga that gained international popularity after their release in the mid-2000s, first as a book series and later as a film franchise. And the only reason why Carlisle was able have so much money is because of investments he made back in 1670!
The tomb raider has primarily appeared in video games, the first of which was in 1996. But since then, many feature films and spin-offs have been made.
The character first appeared on in-game cards in 1936, which was actually a year after the release of the Monopoly board game.
If sadomasochism and mystery had a name, it would be Christian Grey, one of the protagonists in the ‘Fifty Shades’ trilogy. Christian owns Grey Enterprises Holdings, Inc, which earned him a fortune of $2.5 billion.
Wayne and his alter ego, the crime-fighting Batman, first appeared in 1939 in a comic book published by DC Comics.
Mansions, private jets, and vacations on exotic islands–the ultra-rich certainly seem to have it all! But while the celebrities and tech giants of the real world have been amassing their millions and billions in ways we can somewhat grasp, there are other, less real characters that have impressive fortunes of their own. These fictional characters may not be real, but their bank accounts will make you believe they belong among the glittering crowd of the mega rich.
Curious? Click through this gallery to see which characters are worth their weight in gold!
All amounts in USD.
The richest fictional characters of all time
How much money can an imaginary person have?
LIFESTYLE Curiosities
Mansions, private jets, and vacations on exotic islands–the ultra-rich certainly seem to have it all! But while the celebrities and tech giants of the real world have been amassing their millions and billions in ways we can somewhat grasp, there are other, less real characters that have impressive fortunes of their own. These fictional characters may not be real, but their bank accounts will make you believe they belong among the glittering crowd of the mega rich.
Curious? Click through this gallery to see which characters are worth their weight in gold!
All amounts in USD.