“With great power comes great responsibility.”

The advice that Peter Parker’s uncle gave to the nerdy kid behind the Spiderman mask could also serve today’s entrepreneurs quite well. After all, superheroes and entrepreneurs have quite a lot in common. They both have to gain the public’s trust, build a brand from scratch and make a lot of personal sacrifices for the greater good. With this in mind, we’ve delved into the world of comic books and found the superhero alter egos of some of the world’s most famous entrepreneurs.

Steve Jobs as Professor Xavier

An iconic leader in the fictional movement for mutant equality, Professor X was responsible for recruiting one of the most famous teams of superheroes ever. Similarly, Steve Jobs knew how to present his vision for Apple in a way that inspired millions. Both men are considered geniuses in their respective universes.

Richard Branson as Aquaman

In the comic book series, Aquaman was the king of Atlantis. Arguably the closest thing to Atlantis we have in the real world is Necker Island in the Caribbean, and Richard Branson serves there as its sole guardian.

Mark Cuban as Wolverine

The X-Men rebel Wolverine doesn’t think twice about jumping from an 18-wheeler onto a hovering helicopter. In business, Mark Cuban is not afraid of similarly brave moves.

Jessica Alba as Invisible Woman

Much like female superheroes, celebrity entrepreneurs are often underestimated. Alba, who actually portrayed the Invisible Woman in Fantastic Four, is far more hands on at the business she founded, than you might expect. Her business, The Honest Company, deals in nontoxic baby products.

Jeff Bezos as Batman

The Amazon founder is currently battling the book publishing industry over e-book pricing. Before that conflict, it was Barnes and Noble and other brick and mortar retailers who took issue with Amazon’s price-cutting tactics. They, and many small business owners in various industries who have been put in the red by Amazon, will always view Bezos as the morally ambiguous Dark Knight of entrepreneurship.

Bill Gates as Spiderman

The Microsoft founder is the typical geek entrepreneur. Brainy Spiderman has relied on his smarts, not just his web-shooter, to catch the bad guys. Over the years, both Gates and Spiderman have cultivated fan clubs all over the world that never want their hero to step out of the spotlight.

John Mackey as Captain Planet

No other supermarket chain has championed the organic food movement more passionately than Whole Foods. Their eco- friendly founder and CEO John Mackey is a modern-day Captain Planet; a strong supporter of free economics setting out to reinvent capitalism.

Marc Benioff as Superman

CEO of Salesforce, a cloud computing company, he didn’t even blink when he decided to donate 1% of his software company’s resources to charity. At the company’s Dreamforce conference this month, he asked the attendees to donate 1million meals to combat hunger worldwide. Like Superman, Beinoff’s persona is standing up for what’s right and inspiring others to follow his lead.

So think superheroes, think entrepreneurs and then tell us – what match-ups have we missed?

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About The Author

Karl Bilby

We work very closely with our expert accountants to bring you the latest factually correct tax and accounting news. We also enjoy writing about small business news that we hope you find useful!

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