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Marvel Universe

  • The Avengers:
    • In an earlier issue where accountants were talking to the team, trying to account for all the damage caused during a fight with elemental golems. Most of the Avengers were dismissive about it, Thor left a bag of gold, Iron Man reminded them that he was Tony Stark and could pay for it, and Cap... Cap handed over the parking ticket and the badge number of the officer who had ticketed the Quinjet when he'd made an emergency landing in an illegal zone. And the paperwork for having taken something out of a prison without filling in forms beforehand. The accountants loved him. An Avengers annual had the heroes touring a construction site. The employees knew villains would not be far behind (it is a construction site) and indeed, they showed up. Without the heroes knowing, the employees put the smack down on all the bad guys.
    • A problem in All-New, All-Different Avengers as Tony Stark, by this point, isn't the financial powerhouse he once was, thus the team has to go easy on smashing villains across town. Ms. Marvel is horrified when Nova decides to smother a fire by bringing down the entire building, especially since it's on her turf.
  • Damage Control: Lampshaded by Marvel, as the comic book is about the company which cleans up after super battles. D.C. has been shown to clean up very specific examples of property damage, enlisting the help of subcontractors. In the after-effects of the Civil War, its created-for-the-story new CEO is shown to have helped cause damage so the company gets hired to fix it. And they also dealt with the aftermath of World War Hulk, explaining why New York wasn't rubble just days after it was smashed.
    • It's mentioned a few times that New York City has a huge insurance policy specifically covering damage from supervillain attacks.
  • Daredevil: In the Guardian Devil arc Daredevil mentions that New York City has a billion-a-year insurance policy on damages caused by superheroes.
  • Doctor Strange: In the miniseries Doctor Strange: The Oath, after Night Nurse finishes operating on Dr. Strange after he is shot by an intruder, Strange jokes that he might still be covered under the Defenders' group health insurance plan. For reference, the Defenders were a somewhat mismatched superhero team-up that included the Silver Surfer, the Hulk, and Namor the Sub-Mariner.
  • Fantastic Four: The Fantastic Four had a storyline that began as something of a Humiliation Conga. First, their financial wizard disapparated with all their money, then New York "thoughtfully" let them off the bill for all the damage that's been inflicted to New York during their battles on the condition they handed over their HQ.
  • The Incredible Hulk: Marvel has also at times claimed that, despite having probably caused more property damage than Godzilla, the Hulk hasn't actually killed any civilians during his rampages. Ever. Amadeus Cho even claimed that Hulk didn't kill any military, either.
    • In The Incredible Hulks, Hulk and his teammates devastated a space launching bay because they didn't want America to interfere with Hulk's son. When called about it, Banner said they killed no one, and rebuilding all of this would create jobs! (If bombing expensive high-tech construction was a good way to create jobs, terrorism would fix economies).
  • Iron Man: Played straight in an issue of Invincible Iron Man 2008, when Tony Stark and Sasha Hammer have an all-out brawl in the middle of a busy highway, destroying a few passing cars in the process. Made absolutely hilarious when Pepper shows up and smacks Sasha with one of the destroyed cars, saying the owner gave her permission to use what was left of his car to beat the crap out of Sasha.
  • Marvel Adventures: In an issue of Marvel Adventures: Avengers, the team fights itself because of a hate ray, throwing some cars around and inflicting minor damage in the process. Once they are done the mayor of New York scolds them, sentencing them to... community service. Well, they are the Avengers. Fighting the next threat probably counts.
  • Not Brand Echh: Consciously averted in Marvel's Official Parody book, in a story where the Thing and the Hulk fight for six pages before an angry inspector from the Comics Code Authority comes and chews them out, listing all the damage they have caused. Because the Hulk reverts to Bruce Banner just before the inspector shows up, the Thing ends up taking most of the blame, and gets stuck with the responsibility for repairing the damages.
  • The Punisher: This trope is either deconstructed or parodied in the Marvel What If? story The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe. In short, Frank Castle's family is killed in the crossfire of a superhuman battle and he, with the financial support of a group of people who've been similar victims of "collateral damage", goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge on the superhuman community.
  • She-Hulk:
    • There was a comic in which She-Hulk decided the Thing needed some stress relief, so she took him out to a bar for a few drinks and started a fight with him. However, the city block destroyed in the process was scheduled for demolition (and she knew it). In fact, the workers hired to demolish that city block spent most of the comic sitting on the bar roof cheering — their contract said they got a hefty bonus if demolition was completed early, it didn't say the workers had to be the ones doing the demolishing.
    • In another story, She-Hulk works as a volunteer for Green Cross, an organization dedicated to cleaning up the damage caused by the Hulk and other gamma-radiation cases. The Green Cross leader and founder later reveals that he was the one who dared Rick Jones to sneak into the gamma-bomb testing area, so he feels responsible for the very creation of the Hulk.
  • Silver Surfer: Averted in an issue where the Silver Surfer uses his powers to repair all the damage done to a city after his fight with the Enslavers.
  • Sleepwalker: Lampshaded when a city accountant is examining all the property Sleepwalker has bent and twisted with his warp beams and trying to determine how much money Sleepwalker's efforts are costing the city. Detective Cecilia Perez, head of the NYPD task force assigned to investigate Sleepwalker, justifies the trope when she points out that crime is down 70% in the areas Sleepwalker patrols, and notes that getting rid of him might cause more problems than it solves.
  • Spider-Man: In the first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man (J. Michael Straczynski), Spidey levels down a building scheduled for demolition, to work out some anger issues, and the wrecking crew just call it a day.
  • Thunderbolts: The first incarnation of the Thunderbolts finished winning the hearts of New York City in their first issue by staying behind to repair the damage to the Statue of Liberty caused in one of their battles. It was specifically mentioned that everyone was so happy to see a new team of heroes, that the metalworkers unions weren't going to sue their pants off for doing union work. Citizen V even alludes to the fact that superheroes cleaning up after themselves is usually not appreciated by those who would otherwise be paid to do it. Definitely a bit of lampshading for this trope.
  • The Ultimates: Deconstructed, as one of the Hulk's massive rampages results in many deaths and millions of dollars in property damages — and Bruce Banner on trial for crimes against humanity.
  • Ultimate Spider-Man:
    • Shortly before the death of Spider-Man, the Shield pointed out how dangerous an uncontrolled Spider-Man was when a battle between him and Boomerang did almost one million dollars in damages, when Boomerang was just robbing a jewelry store for a few dozens of thousands of dollars.
    • On parting ways with the new Ultimate Spider-Man Miles Morales at the end of Spider-Men, main universe Spider-Man gives him advice on being Spidey, which includes not sticking around after battles so as to avoid clean up duty. While this may be surprising for two such responsible-minded characters, it should be noted that if asked both would feel obliged to help no matter what else is going on, and considering the general crap-tastic time constraints a Spider-Man usually has on the average day, they just simply don't have that kind of time to burn.
  • X-Men:
    • Subverted in a barfight between Colossus and the Juggernaut, where Cain actually pays for damages afterwards.
    • Cyclops always advises the team to avoid collateral damage (i.e., no throwing random cars at bad guys), or at least cut a check to affected parties afterwards, since a mere diversionary tactic could mean years of debt for a civilian.
    • Also sort of lampshaded by Rogue in an issue of X-Treme X-Men, where she comments that "the X-Men may cause more collateral property damage than God," but they don't kill innocents.

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