The guys (Kareem, Ken, and Pat) review the state of billionaires in comics. Tangents include Charles Xavier’s insatiable lust for money, mutant apartheid, mutant syphilis’s, and more.
Show Notes: A Billion Is…How Much Again?
Welcome back to Tangential Giants, where Kareem, Ken, and Pat dive into the absurd world of comic book billionaires and the very real history of wealth. This week’s episode asks a deceptively simple question: how much is a billion, really? Spoiler: it’s more money than most of us can even conceptualize.
Episode Highlights
- Charles Xavier’s finances: How does Professor X keep the lights on at the X-Mansion while rebuilding it every time Magneto drops by? Offshore accounts, psychic stock market manipulation, and mutant real estate empires are all on the table.
- Mutant apartheid & inequality: The guys explore whether comic book billionaires solve systemic problems or just build taller adamantium towers.
- Mutant syphilis?! Yes, even superhumans face awkward medical bills. The crew discusses the implications of mutant diseases and how even wealth can’t buy immunity.
- Tangents galore: From secret mutant Illuminati meetings to Batman vs. Iron Man in an arm-wrestling contest, this episode veers into hilarious chaos.
Real-World Context
To ground the comic absurdity, the episode also explores the history of billionaires:
- John D. Rockefeller became the world’s first confirmed U.S. dollar billionaire in 1916, thanks to Standard Oil’s near-monopoly.
- Oxfam’s 2017 report revealed that just 42 individuals held as much wealth as the poorest 3.7 billion people combined.
- Female billionaires are on the rise: Between 2013 and 2019, their numbers grew by 46%, outpacing male billionaires.
- Japan’s bubble economy in the 1980s produced billionaires like Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, once the richest man alive with a $20 billion fortune built on real estate.
Perspective on Scale
- Spending $10,000 a day would take 274 years to burn through a billion.
- In 2019 alone, 19 new billionaires joined the ranks, some through inheritance or divorce.
References & Links
- John D. Rockefeller – Wikipedia
- John D. Rockefeller – Britannica
- History.com – John D. Rockefeller
- CNBC – Oxfam Report 2017
- UBS/PwC Billionaires Report 2019
- Report.az – Female Billionaires Growth
- Yoshiaki Tsutsumi – Wikipedia
- Japan Inside – Rise and Fall of Yoshiaki Tsutsumi
Summary: This episode blends comic absurdity with real-world billionaire history, showing how wealth in both fiction and reality shapes power, inequality, and sometimes hilariously awkward problems.
EP.121 – Catching Bullets With His Teeth – A Review of The State of Martial Arts Films pt.1 – Tangential Giants Podcast
This week on Tangential Giants, Kareem, Ken, Patrick, and guest JPG attempt the impossible: giving a straight, disciplined breakdown of the state of martial arts films today. Naturally, it goes off the rails immediately.Kareem and JPG revive their long‑running feud over who the real host of Tangential Giants is, Ken tries to keep the peace like a weary kung‑fu mentor who never asked for this, and Patrick wonders aloud how Superman ever got talked into snapping necks in the first place.From the elegance of classic martial arts choreography to the modern trend of turning every fight scene into a small‑arms convention, the crew eventually lands on Roadhouse and its staggering devotion to gunfire. They try to talk technique and philosophy, but Roadhouse keeps showing up like an uninvited bar brawler.If you like martial arts cinema, chaotic detours, and the kind of debates that only get louder when no one is winning, this episode is your dojo.#tangentialgiants #martialartsmovies #actioncinema #roadhouse #superman #moviepodcast #filmtalk #popculturepodcast #JPGvsKareem
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