The Ten Best Fictional Billionaires From Movies

adrian veidt2

Recently, we’ve discussed some of the highest earning families on television, but now we turn to film where there are many more fictional rich people to be found. Today, we’re focused on billionaires in particular, who happen to be a lot more interesting and colorful than many of the real-life billionaires we see out in the world today. Unless Warren Buffet is secretly a superhero, that is.  Well, that could very well be the case and we think he secretly has that desire.  In any event, here are the ten best fictional billionaires from movies.

BruceWayneTDK

1. Bruce Wayne

Bruce Wayne built up Wayne Enterprises after his family’s tragic death in his youth. His nearly unlimited access to money has allowed him to purchase all the necessary tools to become a superhero, though he’s also hyper intelligent and at a physically fit peak. Wayne Enterprises seems to have a hand in nearly everything in the DC universe, probably only bested by Lex Luthor’s Luthorcorp in terms of total reach.

[Photo via Warner Bros.]

tony stark

2. Tony Stark

Switching over to the Marvel universe, Stark is another billionaire playboy who uses his mass wealth to essentially buy his way into superhero godhood. And he didn’t even have to go to ninja school like Bruce Wayne. The Iron Man suit makes him practically invincible, a walking weapon that fortunately, he uses to do good as part of The Avengers. Stark has lost control over his own company a few times, but it seems to always find its way back to him.

[Photo via Disney]

charles kane

3. Charles Foster Kane

Now we’ll jump back seventy years or so for Charles Foster Kane, star of arguably the greatest film of all time, Citizen Kane. The character was based on newspaper magnate William Randolph Hurst, so much so that when it was released, Hurst actually banned the movie from being mentioned in any of his papers. In the film, Kane is on his deathbed, and uttered the most famed last word in movie history, “Rosebud.”

[Photo via RKO]

akeem joffer

4. Akeem Joffer

There are more than a few comedic characters on this list as well, chief among them Akeem Joffer, played by Eddie Murphy in the 1988 John Landis film, Coming to America. Joffer hails from the fictional nation of Zamunda, and comes to America in search of a bride. He tries to hide his wealth in order to find a woman who will love him for who he is, rather than his enormous fortune.

[Photo via Paramount]

richie

5. Richie Rich

Another comedy, but this time we see Richie Rich as an almost tragic figure. He has unlimited money to the point where he has a McDonald’s and a roller coaster in his house, but his wealth makes him so socially isolated, a major plot point in the film is that his staff actually has to pay younger kids to hang out with him. Eventually Richie acquires friends without a cash settlement, but this did make an impression on me in my youth, that money doesn’t buy everything.

[Photo via Warner Bros]

Smaug in the new Hobbit film

6. Smaug

Didn’t see that coming? Well, Smaug may be a dragon, but he also could theoretically be the richest being on this list. He literally lives in an endless pile of gold, Scrooge McDuck style, and depending what what the running market value is for a dwarven gold, Smaug could be a billionaire many, many times over, given the vast fortune he hordes during all the Hobbit films. We just got a taste of the wealth in Desolation of Smaug, where the final sequence takes place in his golden fortress.

[Photo via New Line]

goldfinger

7. Goldfinger

There are probably a few James Bond villains who could make this list, as you have to be fairly wealth to build weapons of mass destruction, but none are more iconic than one of the originals, Goldfinger. The man is obsessed with gold to the point where he even kills people with it, and even before he tries to get his hands on everything in Fort Knox, he is an extremely rich man.

[Photo via United Artists]

len grossman

8. Len Grossman

I’ve nearly forgotten about Tom Cruise’s hilarious billionaire producer, Len Grossman, a character he invented for Tropic Thunder, and one that I think surprised everyone. The actor donned a baldcap and potbelly to play the insane, rich producer, and the character was so beloved at the time, there was even talk of a solo feature for him at point, but I don’t think that ever actually materialized.

[Photo via Dreamworks]

adrian veidt

9. Adrian Veidt

Veidt is another contender for the richest man on this list, as he’s at least the richest man on Earth in the Watchmen universe, so much so that he owns an ice fortress and a genetically modified tiger. He ends up being the mastermind behind the deaths of millions, but he maintains that it was necessary in order to save billions. He’s a complex character, and a non-traditional rich villain in the sense that by the end, you may actually think he’s right.

[Photo via Warner Bros.]

willy wonka

10. Willy Wonka

Alright, there are probably richer people I could have chosen for the final spot on this list, and I’m not convinced you can become a billionaire from a single candy brand alone. That said, Willy Wonka does many things you don’t expect, and given all the tech he has at his disposal, and the fact that his candy is the hottest food item on the planet in his world, I definitely think it’s possible that he has billions in the bank.

[Photo via Paramount]

Written by Paul

Paul lives in New York with his beautiful and supportive wife. He writes for Forbes and his work also appears on IGN, The Daily Dot, Unreality Magazine, TVOvermind and more. It's a slow day if he's written less than 10,000 words.