How Superheroes Can Save Billions
When the Avengers team up to save the world, they don’t exactly tread lightly. Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the rest of the S.H.I.E.L.D. super-team are constantly facing the threat of global annihilation, all while risking life and limb. But when the bone-crunching fights are over, and the dust settles, who pays for all the damage? Certainly not the bad guys!
There’s no doubt the Avengers would need a superhero-sized bundle of insurance policies to cover the financial consequences brought on by their brawls. But what, exactly, would these policies look like? The experts at Pearl Insurance decided to find out.
How Much Coverage Would the Avengers Need?
The Hollywood Reporter sought out some hard numbers in 2012, when they asked the disaster experts at Kinetic Analysis Corp. (KAC) to calculate the economic toll the events from The Avengers would have taken on Manhattan. They estimated that the damage unleashed by Loki, his flying Chitauri minions, and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s nuclear missile would have cost New York at least $160 billion. That figure includes up to $70 billion in property damage and $90 billion in cleanup and recovery costs.
While $160 billion dwarfs the $220 million budget of the film itself, it’s only a fraction of the expenses the Avengers would incur over the course of many battles. Before the next epic face-off begins, the super-team would be wise to invest in several types of insurance coverage.
What Coverages Would the Avengers Need?
Some of the Avengers have their own solo movies, but all of them would need their own insurance policies. See how we would insure the following Avengers to accommodate their unique risks.
Insuring Black Widow (AKA Natasha Romanoff)
From the moment it dropped out of the sky in the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer, Black Widow’s Harley Davidson was a scene-stealer. Natasha is a martial arts expert who knows how to handle a bike, but even she would need motorcycle insurance for her magnificent ride.
Insuring Hawkeye (AKA Clint Barton)
When he’s not taking down aliens with his archery skills, Hawkeye lives a modest life on a farm with his small family. Mr. Barton would need a homeowners policy to protect this hideaway, but we also hope he has a safe room inside to keep his loved ones secure.
Insuring Captain America (AKA Steve Rogers)
Military tests turned scrawny Steve Rogers into a super-soldier, and it was Iron Man’s dad, Howard Stark, who built Captain America’s vibranium shield. Cap should definitely invest in a policy for his life-saving shield, and he would also need renters insurance for his apartment.
Insuring Iron Man (AKA Tony Stark)
Cap’s frenemy and fellow Avenger requires the most comprehensive coverage of all. As a billionaire businessman, the owner of an artificial heart, and the target of angry gods, aliens, mutants, and artificial life forms, Tony Stark would need some serious insurance coverage.
Here are the policy options we would tell him to consider:
Business Owners Policy: BOP insurance would give Iron Man the basic coverage he needs to protect Stark Industries from property damage and basic liability claims. It’s basically mandatory for the owner of a big corporation, and it would cover the building in New York and other properties with Stark’s name on it.
General Liability Coverage: Stark owns the patent to Iron Man, and Stark Industries manufactured the suit and heart. The company’s general liability coverage would cover them if Iron Man got sued for claims of negligence, property damage, injuries, and more.
Product Liability Coverage: Even after Stark’s change of heart in the desert, his company’s weapons continue to cause collateral damage, and product liability coverage protects these goods.
Even Superheroes Need Insurance
Every time the Avengers team up to save the world from a supervillain, damage follows. It may be a small price to pay for mankind to survive another day, but we don’t live in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We can only imagine how much havoc Captain America and Iron Man will wreak in their civil war, but if they choose the right coverages, at least they won’t owe millions (or billions!) of dollars in liability costs.
This post was originally published on the Pearl Insurance blog.