20 Fictional Billionaires Under 40

A few days ago, Forbes posted an article highlighting twenty-nine billionaires under the age of forty. The elite list includes 28-year-old Dustin Moskovitz and Mark Zuckerberg, the boys who made hunting down people we went to pre-school with that much easier via Facebook, 32-year-old Marie Besnier Beauvalot, who inherited a French dairy company and Ayman Hariri, a 34-year-old heir of the deceased Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Honestly, the only thing I find notable about this article is that most of these rich individuals either dropped out of college to invent the next best way to stalk people on the internet, or they inherited a ton of money or a company from their billionaire parents. Which is great – who doesn’t hope that one day they will find out their great-great-aunt they never knew left a pile of blood diamonds for them in a safe deposit box?

But since most of us probably find this list a little bit tedious, let’s talk about rich people that we know, rich people that we have had deep connections with. These are characters that, over the last few seasons, we’ve really started to understand, or develop gigantic crushes on. These people are portrayed in films and have found a way to get under our skin. Perhaps they are classic icons that we immediately associate with being filthy freaking rich. Yes, I’m talking about fictional characters here. We have lived vicariously through them, whether they are admirable individuals or the most evil villains in town, I’ve compiled a list of 20 billionaires (or around there, these guys never really reveal how much is in their bank account) from both television and film that really stood out to me. The list is a combination of characters who either vigorously work(ed) for their dough, or had the world handed to them. Some even through magic.

Rich TV Characters:

1. Gus Fring from Breaking Bad: The Chicken Man made his billion or two from producing meth in large quantities.
2. Regina Mills from Once Upon A Time: Wealthy by magic and inheritance from the king, who she killed.
3. Eric Northman from True Blood: Although not exactly under 40, this vampire does not look a day over 32. Wealth by sheer infinite existence and a lucrative bar.
4. Sybil Crawley from Downton Abbey: Wealth by inheritance
5. Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl: Wealth by inheritance
6. James Van Der Beek from Don’t Trust The B— In Apartment 23: James, played by James cashed in a ton of money from all six seasons of Dawson’s Creek.
7. Samantha from Sex and the City: This lady earned her dough by owning her own PR company and later takes a hefty commission from jump-starting underwear model Smith’s career.
8. David Wallace from The Office: Became wealthy overnight by his invention of “Suck It”, a children’s toy, after leaving Dunder Mifflin.
9. Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother: Barney’s career is ambiguous but we know he has a lot of cash since he can clearly afford a suit made out of diamonds.
10. Mindy Lahiri from The Mindy Project: This girl lives in a fabulous New York apartment and can buy bunk beds on a whim because she is a hardworking doctor who constantly sacrifices her social life for her career.

Rich Movie Characters:

1. Patrick Bateman from American Psycho: Uber rich, thanks to business connections from his Wall Street father.
2. Lisbeth Salander from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: Hacked and schemed her way to wealth because she is a genius.
3. Edward Cullen from Twilight: Once again, this vampire is technically super ancient, but appears to be a high-schooler. He drives fancy Volvos and Audis due to his Cullen inheritance.
4. Bruce Wayne from Batman: This superhero is filthy rich due to a fat inheritance and his company, Wayne Enterprises.
5. Kathryn Merteuil from Cruel Intentions: This bitch is rich due to inheritance.
6. Michael Corleone from The Godfather: This blood-thirsty man has inheritance money AND he is the head of a mafia.
7. Elle Woods from Legally Blonde: Wealth by inheritance and being a badass lawyer.
8. Calvin Candie from Django Unchained: Wealth by presumably inheritance, owning a plantation and profiting off of evil activities, such as slave fights.
9. Lara Croft from Tomb Raider: Wealth due to inheritance.
10. Catherine Tramell in Basic Instinct: Earned a lot of money from her best-selling crime novels, for which she did a lot of hands-on research.

Who is your favorite rich character?

Featured images via Bouquet of Bee, Black Comic Guy, Fanpop