20th Century Fox
We salute you, Forbes, for your continuing commitment to showing that the rich get richer, and so do the fictionally rich.
Forbes has assessed that the highly distinguished members of its 2011 list have an average net worth of $9.86 billion, up a staggering 20% from last year. The Fictional 15, as they are commonly known, are said to be worth $131.55 billion, which, as Forbes points out, is more than the gross domestic product of New Zealand.
(More on TIME.com: See pictures of things money can buy)
In first place is Scrooge McDuck, the billionaire bird known for placing his gold coins inside a Duckburg “money bin.” In light of the price of gold rising more than 30% year on year, Forbes reckons his net worth is now $44.1 billion.
The runner-up is Twilight‘s Carlisle Cullen, though it should be noted that due to his being 370 years old, the decision to investing a tiny amount of capital back in 1670, and letting the interest accrue, has literally paid off. And NewsFeed is equally happy for the Twilight franchise, because if anything needed a much-needed boost, that’s exactly the area which was crying out for more recognition.
Other notable entries: Richie Rich at no. 4 — the name kind of gives it away — a welcome return for Mr. Monopoly at 9, Monty Burns at 12 (he always makes the list though his fortune went down this year) and Gordon Gekko, who returns at 14. Would rather you forget about his time in jail and focus instead on his correctly predicting the bursting credit bubble?
It’s a good thing there’s never anything of real consequence taking place in the financial world, otherwise we might claim that Forbes has a tiny bit too much time on its hands.
(More on TIME.com: See the top 10 fiction books of 2010)