Ike Perlmutter

Comic book titan sold Marvel Entertainment to Disney in 2009 for $4 billion in cash and stock; remains CEO. His fortune got a $200 million boost since last year thanks to his Disney stock, up 25%. Bought Marvel in 1993, beating out Carl Icahn and Ron Perelman. Now making a killing at the theater; his firm's box office hits include 2010's Iron Man 2. Perlmutter fought in Israel's Six-Day War in 1967 and moved to the U.S. soon after with $250 to his name. Started out presiding over Jewish funerals in Brooklyn. With partner, became principal shareholder in Odd-Lot Trading Co. Also owned Toy Biz. One of few existing photos of him in public domain is from a 1985 Forbes photo shoot. Marvel CEO Isaac Perlmutter is headed for another superhero-sized year. Marvel is set to release a May 2015 sequel to The Avengers, which ranks only behind Avatar and Titanic in world gross sales, as well as the much-anticipated adaption of Ant-Man in July. A year later, Perlmutter's comics-based movies were box-office champs, with a Captain America sequel capturing $260 million and Guardians of the Galaxy taking in even more--$330 million. Perlmutter emigrated from Israel with just $250 to his name. A veteran of Israel's 1967 Six-Day War, Perlmutter presided over Jewish funerals in Brooklyn before getting into the toy business. Biggest coup: He beat out fellow billionaire Carl Icahn for control of bankrupt Marvel--owned then by billionaire Ron Perelman--in October 1998. He sold the majority of Marvel to Disney in 2009 (for $4 billion in cash and stock), but still leads the company. In December 2013, he and wife Laura pledged more than $50 million to NYU Langone Medical Center to go toward cancer research and treatment, which created the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Medical Center, a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center.