A miserly duck, a vampire and pair of precocious kids are among the richest fictional characters, according to a ranking by Forbes。
Scrooge McDuck, the "penny-pinching poultry" with a fortune in gold coins whose estimated worth is $44.1 billion, headed the list of Forbes' "Fictional 15" wealthiest imaginary characters。
But despite his riches, McDuck still trails Microsoft founder Bill Gates' $53 billion。
Vampire-themed franchises have become big business, so it's no surprise that Carlisle Cullen, the 370-year-old vampire from the "Twilight" books and films who has been accruing interest on a small savings account since 1670, came in second with $36.2 billion。
A pair of over-achieving youngsters came in third. Artemis Fowl II, the prepubescent scion of an Irish crime family from Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl novels, was pegged at $13.5 billion, while the altruistically inclined comic book character Richie Rich totaled $9.7 billion。
To qualify for the list the characters must be known in their fictional stories and by their audiences for being rich。
"Net worth estimates are based on an analysis of the fictional character's source material, and where possible, valued against known real-world commodity and share price movements," Forbes said。
While the list, which Forbes editors have compiled since 2005, is all in fun, the process and resultant numbers are serious business, said special projects executive editor Michael Noer。
"We go to great lengths to calculate their net worth," Noer said in an interview. "It's similar to how we calculate real billionaires."
Market forces, especially commodities, also provided some guidance。
"McDuck was up over 30 percent, which is what gold has done this year, and his wealth is mostly in gold," Noer explained。
Similarly Jed Clampett, the country bumpkin who found black gold in the television series "The Beverly Hillbillies" benefited from rising oil prices for a $9.5 billion net worth。
Mr. Monopoly, the top-hatted, mustachioed character from the popular board game, placed ninth with $2.6 billion. The editors based his worth on the current value of Atlantic City real estate and a presumed percentage of property ownership。
《福布斯》发布虚拟人物富豪榜。贪婪的老鸭、吸血鬼以及早熟的孩子等虚拟人物纷纷上榜。
“守财奴”史高治?麦克老鸭(译者注：迪斯尼动画中唐老鸭的舅舅)在《福布斯》15位最富有虚拟人物榜中高居榜首，它囤积了估价达441亿美元的金币。
不过，麦克老鸭的财富还是没能赶上微软创始人比尔?盖茨。盖茨身价已达530亿美元。
吸血鬼题材近期大热，因此《暮光之城》系列图书和影片中370岁的吸血鬼卡莱尔?卡伦以362亿美元的资产位居榜单次席就不足为奇了。他自1670年开始就一直在积累财富。
紧随其后的是两个早熟的孩子。欧因?科弗所著的《阿特米斯奇幻历险》一书中来自爱尔兰犯罪家庭的阿特米斯?法尔二世小小年纪身价就已达135亿美元。漫画书主角雷切?里奇花钱很大方，但也坐拥97亿美元。
入榜的这些人物必须是因身价不菲而著称的虚拟人物。
《福布斯》表示：“净资产估价是根据虚拟人物的原始资料分析得出的，在可能的情况下，还会与现实世界的商品以及股价变动进行对比。”
《福布斯》自2005年起开始发布年度虚拟人物富豪榜。特别项目执行编辑麦克尔?诺尔表示，尽管这份榜单纯属娱乐，但统计过程和所得出的数据都非常严谨。
诺尔在接受采访时说：“我们尽努力计算净资产，就像我们为真正的亿万富翁统计时那样。”
市场因素，特别是商品因素，也为估价提供了参考。
诺尔解释说：“麦克老鸭的财富增加了超过30%，这和今年金价的走势一致，他的财富大部分是黄金。”
同样，受益于油价上涨，在电视剧《贝弗利山庄》中挖到石油的“乡巴佬”杰德?克拉珀特的净资产也达到95亿美元。
备受欢迎的大富翁游戏的主角“大富翁先生”排名第九，身价26亿美元。他头戴大礼帽，还长着八字胡。《福布斯》杂志编辑根据他位于大西洋城的房产现价、以及所有权占比对其财富进行了评估。
