It's easy to forget sometimes that the superheroes of Marvel and DC Comics are just people behind the masks and capes. With the exception of someone like Thor or Aquaman, these are individuals who have to go to a normal (sometimes) job when they're not fighting villains and saving the universe.
Sometimes, they need to make quick money for an emergency or just to pay rent, and that sometimes means that they have to perform odd jobs or do a quick one-off favor for someone to make that money. That can lead the hero to some pretty weird places and doing very strange things.
10 Wolverine Joining Up With Weapon X And Team X
It's easy to forget that, for all that Wolverine suffered at the hands of Weapon X, that he did deliberately join them at first. By then, Logan was already a soldier through and through, so joining up with an outfit like Weapon X and the CIA for money was a natural fit. Weapon X was already warry of mutants, and they loaned out Wolverine to the CIA to be part of Team X.
Team X consisted of Wolverine, Sabretooth, Maverick, Silver Fox, Mastodon, and Johnny Wraith/Kestrel. He ended up quitting the team after their first encounter with Omega Red and went on to join Department K in Canada.
9 The Winter Soldier Helping Extract Villains From Their Lifestyle
After the fall of Hydra at the end of Secret Empire, the Winter Soldier went on the road. He, with the help of Sharon Carter, set up a system where he would help extract low-level members of criminal organizations like Hydra, A.I.M, the Hand, and others.
This was fairly short-lived, as Bucky soon encountered RJ, a teenage assassin trained and programmed by Hydra. RJ became Bucky's own sidekick for a time, but this led to further drama as Hydra's programming proved hard to crack.
8 The Flash (Wally West) Winning $6.5 Million In The Lottery
This is a thoroughly bizarre instance from the DC side of things. They say that one is more likely to be struck by lightning than win the lottery; Wally West has accomplished both. After Barry Allen was lost during Crisis on Infinite Earths, former Kid Flash Wally West took on the Flash mantle.
Soon after, Wally won 6.5 million dollars in the lottery. This led to Wally buying a mansion, and he had a string of tumultuous relationships at this time. He later abandoned the mansion after his powers became particularly chaotic, and he became a loner in Swainsville, New Mexico. After that was resolved, he moved to Keystone City--home of the original Flash, Jay Garrick.
7 Scott Lang Stealing The Ant-Man Costume From Hank Pym
This is actually how Scott Lang became the Ant-Man. Scott was already an experienced thief when his daughter, Cassie, was diagnosed with a congenital heart condition. To pay for her surgery, Scott broke into Stark Industries and found the Ant-Man suit there--as Hank Pym was working for Stark at the time.
After observing Scott and figuring out why he went to such extremes, Hank decided to let Scott keep the costume so long as he became a hero instead of continuing his thieving career. Scott even got a job of his own with Stark soon after.
6 Nightwing Becoming A Taxi Driver In Bludhaven
Dick Grayson becoming a taxi driver isn't such a wild idea in itself; however, the circumstances around this career are pretty buck-wild. Dick had been shot in the head by the KGBeast, and the brain damage caused Dick to lose pretty much his entire career as Robin and Nightwing.
Dick cut all ties with the Batman Family, abandoned his role as Nightwing, and became a taxi driver in Bludhaven. However, a crew of others found Nightwing's suits and gear and became a Nightwing team. Dick, still retaining the muscle memory of his combat and acrobatics training, felt some responsibility to help the new team of Nightwings. Eventually, Dick regained his memories, and the Nightwings retired with the return of the original Nightwing.
5 Hawkeye Working In The Circus With His Brother And The Swordsman
Before ever becoming Hawkeye or an Avenger, Clint Barton and his brother, Barney, fulfilled the childhood dream of running away from home and joining the circus. There, they gained archery and acrobatics training under the Swordsman--another future Avenger.
Eventually, Clint left the circus and joined Black Widow on a criminal crusade, first appearing as an antagonist for Iron Man. Later, Hawkeye and Black Widow both became Avengers themselves.
4 Guy Gardner Opening The Warrior Bar On Oa
Guy Gardner is definitely a different kind of superhero. He's brash, cocky, and has a loud mouth. He often antagonizes his comrades and started his career as a Green Lantern by starting a feud with then-Green Lantern Hal Jordan and, later, John Stewart.
Guy Gardner has been a Green Lantern off and on over the years, and he spent some time under the name Warrior. He opened a corresponding bar in Baltimore called The Warrior. He later opened a Warrior bar on Oa as well for the Green Lantern Corps.
3 Spider-Woman Being A Bodyguard For A Rich Girl's Yacht Birthday Party
Very recently, Spider-Woman Jessica Drew took a job as a bodyguard for Michael Marchand, a wealthy pharmaceutical executive. This was intended to be a one-off job to help make ends meet for Jessica and her son, Gerry.
Unfortunately, things were complicated by Jessica experiencing some form of mutagenic sickness from her powers, and she discovered that Michael is actually her brother. In addition, Michael's daughter, Rebecca, was experiencing similar health issues. This led to a vast adventure that took Spider-Woman back to her own origins and her time with the High Evolutionary.
2 Red Hood Taking Over The Iceberg Lounge From The Penguin
In another fairly recent story, the Red Hood made a big show of seemingly killing the Penguin in the streets of Gotham City, and this led to another major falling out between Jason and the Batman. Later, Jason Todd resurfaced in Gotham as the new owner of Penguin's Iceberg Lounge.
Jason hired the Teen Titan known as Bunker and former villains the Sisters Su as security, and things worked out well for a time. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and the Penguin escaped Jason's prison and eventually retook the Lounge.
1 Spider-Man Live-Streaming His Superheroics On The Internet
In the most recent out of these tales, Peter Parker found himself short on income. He's working for a different news outlet these days, and they wanted to be able to put their audience in Spider-Man's shoes. To do this, they designed their own new Spider-Man suit with cameras inside the mask that allows the audience to experience what it feels like to be the Web-Head firsthand.
On top of that, the audience can submit one-liners for Spider-Man to use while fighting the bad guys. Unfortunately, many of them were quite bad.