They left out a big one:

Cost of girlfriend's Scientology "auditing" - $350,000 (low estimate)

Hubbard really did pull off one of the all-time great scams, didn't he? Like any predator/prey relationship, it helps to just think of it as evolution in action.

Frighteningly, available evidence indicates that the alternative uses of such funds by Hollywood personalities would probably be even loonier.

I thought that Forbes already established that Bruce Wayne was worth $6.3 Billion back in 2002.

http://www.forbes.com/2002/09/13/400fictional.html

Man that Wayne Tech stock must have taken a real dive!

Speaking of wealthy superheroes for you trivia buffs , the new Marvel Ultimate series put a figure for the net worth of Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Charles Xavier (Professor X of the X-Men) at $150 and $3.5 Billion respectively.

Joe -

My concern, what with Tom Cruise rummaging around for suitable partners, is that the Scientologists are trying to breed their own Kwisatz Haderach.

Glen, I demand that you pay for the soda I just sprayed over myself. Demand, I say!

I prefer Forbes' Fifteen Fictional Zillionaires. Sorry that the formatting gets blown out - use the URL.

http://www.forbes.com/2002/09/13/400fictional_print.html

Rank Name Net Worth
1. Santa Claus $infinite;
2. Richie Rich 24.7 billion
3. Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks 10 billion
4. Scrooge McDuck 8.2 billion
5. Thurston Howell III 8 billion
6. Willie Wonka 8 billion
7. Bruce Wayne 6.3 billion
8. Lex Luthor 4.7 billion
9. J.R. Ewing 2.8 billion
10. Auric Goldfinger 1.2 billion
11. C. Montgomery Burns 1 billion
12. Charles Foster Kane 1 billion
13. Cruella De Vil 875 million
14. Gordon Gekko 650 million
15. Jay Gatsby 600 million

Dude: fix that trailing </b> tag, you're boldening the whole rest of the page.

There was a Batman novel or comic several years back where a guy scomes to Gotham and figures out that Batman is Bruce Wayne simply because he is the only one who afford to have things like radar controlled batarangs and stuff, and he was the only one with enough property to have a base, untraceable computer, etc. It was cool.

So I guess Bill Gates should make sure he has an ironclad alibi before he dons the cape and cowl. :)

Regarding the OT Hubbard--interesting quote from him from a 1949 New Jersey Science Fiction Convention: “Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion.” The following year, in May 1950, Hubbard released Dianetics: A Modern Science of Mental Health.

If Forbes had never made its antipathy to Batman so obvious, I might never have noticed Mr. Forbes' resemblance to The Joker. The plot thickens, indeed. See: http://www.batmantas.com/cmp/joker.htm

My understanding of Scientology in actual practice is that you need not attempt to join if your income is below superstar status.

johnnymozart,

I remember that story, the villain in that piece was a computer tech guy who was able to deduce from the equipment that was being ordered that it must be for the BatVac (better name than the Bat Computer although it sounds like something Aflred would use to clean Wayne Manor). IIRC he was able to sabotague the BatVac in order to go on a crime spree.

I believe that the book you're thinking of is "The Further Adventures of the Batman." I remember buying it as a kid after the movie came out. There was a sequel "The Further Adventures of the Joker" that gave two accounts of the Joker's childhood which were pretty disturbing.

Superheroes as a celebration of vigilantism.

Apropos to nothing. It just occurred to me.