LogFAQs > #878954274

Depends on what time period you're talking about.

Early on, the premise was basically that Xavier is straight-up rich, so he's essentially paying for their room/board/tuition at the school and they get a modest allowance for clothes/general life stuff, since constantly risking your life to save the world doesn't leave a lot of time to hold down regular jobs or anything. Later stories don't really touch on the question at all (in spite of it being relatively pertinent), mainly at times when the school is destroyed and the X-Men are mostly operating as a mobile unit or working out of other places (the implication is apparently that they're still able to draw on Xavier's resources - even when Xavier is blatantly missing - but it's never really spelled out).

In newer stories, once the school is rebuilt and reopened, the implication seems to be that at least some of the students are paying tuition (though why anyone would want to pay to send their kids to a school that gets attacked every other week is beyond me) while the X-Men themselves are mostly on the books as teachers (meaning they're getting paid - in spite of the logistical problems inherent in the fact that they're all completely lacking anything resembling educational certifications or even realistic qualifications).

Also, at various times when Xavier's money is completely unavailable (ie, like when the original X-Men formed X-Factor, or when some of them were operating as the Defenders or Champions), it's mentioned that Angel is also pretty damned wealthy, and he's usually willing to put his money behind whatever team he's part of.

Marvel's usual take on things with the X-Men is not worrying about where the money is coming from, because that's sort of beyond the point.

With the Avengers, though, it's been explicitly been spelled out that every member is paid a modest stipend (about enough to live on, nothing extravagant), as well as being allowed free room and board at the Mansion (or Tower, or Compound, or Hydrobase, or whatever depending on where and when we're talking about). It's part of why Spider-Man used to want to join the team (until he realized he'd need to reveal his secret identity to the team to clear government background checks, because the team had at least partial governmental approval and access to government resources and information). THAT money comes from a specific holding company created by Tony Stark, using some of his own family wealth (and the original Avengers' Mansion was literally family property he owned at the time they formed), that exists solely to help fund the Avengers' operational costs and help offset the fact that people on call 24-7 to save the world generally can't hold down regular jobs.

That being said, plenty of Avengers DID hold down jobs of one sort or another (She-Hulk continuing to practice law, Wonder Man acting, Captain America acting as an artist drawing for ad campaigns, Iron Man still running his own company, etc.), if they were able to get jobs that allowed them to deal with constant unexpected absences from work.


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