Big business has always served as both friend and foe to popular comic book characters.
Ever since Lex Luthor was reimagined as the megalomaniacal CEO of LexCorp—a total departure, evidently, from the character’s origins as a power-hungry despot—the concept of the nefarious executive has been a fixture comic-book narratives. Sure, superheroes may have superhuman powers and a seemingly limitless ability to circumvent the criminal justice system, but the c-suite proves time and time again to be one of the most resilient foes to our protagonists.
And yet the corner office often serves as a planet-saving resource, too. Crime fighters like Batman and Iron Man rely on their respective companies to bankroll their nighttime activities: Wayne Enterprises is nearly synonymous with the Caped Crusader, while Tony Stark’s journey from arrogant CEO of Stark Industries to brilliant philanthropist has defined the character’s arc in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
As readers and viewers of these comic narratives, we have been enthralled with the fictional businesses from their pages and scenes. And that’s why—for first time ever!—Fortune has assembled the 27 Most Fantastical Comic Book Businesses. We made use of our patented Fortune Comic Grade Index™, a totally arbitrary and unscientific ranking that’s as trustworthy as Otto Octavius’s pursuit of science in service of humanity.
Fortune’s 27 top-ranking businesses span several industries, from media to weapons manufacturers, and can be filtered by location, comic-book publisher, and good or evil tendencies. Well don’t just sit there—read on to see who made it (and who didn’t).
