Editor’s Note: I might be Speculative Chic’s MCU Fangirl-in-Chic, but I have literally zero knowledge about the comics that lead to the creation of my favorite cinematic universe. Luckily, Dennis Gallagher is here to update us on this aspect of the franchise! –J.L. Gribble
This post contains minor spoilers for Avengers: Endgame.
I’ve had a lot of conversations with other collectors and comic book shop owners on what’s next for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and for the collector’s market. This is the first time in over 10 years that viewers left an MCU movie without a true end-credits scene. When I was sitting in the theater watching the credits, my mind raced thinking about all the possibilities. Needless to say, I was stunned to only see the Marvel logo and hear the hammer swings of Tony Stark making the Mark 1 Iron Man suit in the cave all those years ago. And sure, the hammer swings gave me a great sense of nostalgia, but nothing to look forward to. As such, we as fans and collectors were left in the dark, constantly (and absentmindedly) speculating over what’s coming next.
What we do know is that we will be continuing on with some of the old characters. We know that Spider-Man: Far from Home is coming out on July 5, 2019. We also have confirmation that we will be seeing Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Black Panther 2, Doctor Strange 2, and Black Widow. There have also been talks of a third installment of the Ant-Man series. Furthermore, we also have some inclination of new characters being brought into the MCU with announcements of a Masters of Shang-Chi and Eternals movies in the works. We also know that the Disney+ streaming app will bring shows starring some of the original movie actors including Tom Hiddleston, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Elizabeth Olsen, and Paul Bettany from the MCU. The shows confirmed so far are Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, and WandaVison. These shows will be debuting with the launch of the Disney+ app on November 12, 2019. There are also rumors that a Hawkeye show will be coming as well.
The continuation of current MCU characters with new movies and the new Disney+ shows that tie into the MCU will keep these characters hot for the time being and keep the comic books associated with those characters hot as well. I recommend investing in first appearances of the major characters and staying away from speculation on villains for these franchises. We don’t know who any of the villains will be for these movies and the trend for the majority of the solo franchise films is to do a one and done villain. First appearances of villains tend to drop heavily in price once they are gone because most are in one movie and then gone. Also, the introduction of Shang-Chi and Eternals give collectors something to invest in for the long term. Some examples of books surrounding these franchises include Marvel Special Edition #15 (first appearance of Shang-Chi), Eternals #1 (first appearance of the Eternals) and Eternals #2 (first appearance of Ajax and the Celestials).
Next, let’s move on to speculation about the near future. The easy answer would be to assume that Disney will be immediately utilizing its newly acquired characters. This assumption brings along with it significant increases in all of the major keys associated with the Fantastic Four and X-Men franchises. This easy conclusion has already seen some initial effect in the market with values of major key books such as Incredible Hulk #181 (first appearance of Wolverine) and Giant Size X-Men #1 (first appearance of the new X-Men team) continuing to see all-time highs.
Comic book speculators and collectors also have to figure out who the next main villain will be because this will dictate the direction of the bigger tie-in films like future Avengers movies. The safe and most logical choice seems to be Galactus. Galactus would be a smart choice as you will have a surplus of source material to choose from. Galactus has been in most of the Marvel comic series and is an iconic villain that spans decades. Galactus will also have a lot of similarities to Thanos. They are both cosmic aliens who are incredibly powerful. The Galactus that is portrayed in the comics would be in a lot of ways even more powerful than Thanos because Galactus is a massive being who consumes planets in order to sustain his life force. This choice becomes even more clear because of the decision to not include an end-credits scene. I say this because we couldn’t have seen anything from Galactus in the end credits because at the time of production, Disney had not finished its deal with Fox and therefore could not have used any of the characters associated with the aforementioned deal. The market has also already recognized the possibility of Galactus, as the trilogy of Fantastic Four #48-50 (first Galactus and Silver Surfer story) has already seen increased sales. I think investing in Galactus is risky because we haven’t seen anything besides the Fox deal that would indicate this, and I don’t believe the deal alone is enough to go on, especially since these books have already substantially increased in value.
My question is: What will happen to these key books once some of these major characters are finally phased out of the MCU? It is typically the trend that as soon as we see a new movie announced, we see a huge spike in value for all major books associated with the movie and characters. Inversely, we also see those key books typically fall off in value once the initial buzz surrounding that movie has gone. A few good examples of books to watch out for would be Iron Man #55 (the first appearance of Thanos) or the Infinity Gauntlet series now that Thanos is dead. The same is true for books like Tales of Suspense #39 (the first appearance of Iron Man) or Iron Man #1 (the first silver age appearance of Iron Man) or any of the key books that are centered around Steve Rogers’ Captain America. Will we see these prices stay the same because they have established themselves to have long-term sustainability? Or will we see a steady decline as the market moves to the next round of characters? If there is a decrease in some of the major keys in the next few years, will it be time for people to invest in those books, or will the books just continue to decline? My recommendation would be to sell your Thanos books, because Thanos will never be as popular as he is right now and it will be a very long time before we see him again on the big screen, if we ever do. I think collectors will begin to see the major books centered around Thanos begin to decline in value after the hype finally dies down from Avengers: Endgame. I think Iron Man and Captain America major books will always hold their value, if not continue to rise, because they are staples of Marvel comics and the MCU. With that said, I would continue to hold on to your Iron Man and Captain America major books if you are fortunate enough to own them.
All of these factors are going to make it very hard to be able to predict the market in the near future, and this will lead to a lot of poor investments and failed speculation. This has also sort of already happened with the shroud that was put around Avengers: Endgame leading up to its release. We saw a lot of speculators investing into books that could have been centered around Endgame and are now counting their loses. One example of a book that dramatically increased in value because of supposed leaked rumors is Fantastic Four Annual #6 (the first appearance of Annihilus). We saw no indication of who the next “big bad” will be in the coming phases of the MCU, and we certainly didn’t see any indicator of it being Annihilus. As we move on to the next phase of the MCU, I would caution all collectors to be careful when investing their hard-earned money and only do so when they feel completely comfortable. Also, I always tell everyone to invest in books they truly enjoy, so that way if something doesn’t work out, they still have a collection that will make them happy.
Until next time, true believers!
Dennis Gallagher is a life-long comic book collector, reader, and opera singer. Gallagher graduated from West Virginia University with a degree in Vocal Performance and from the University of Houston with a masters in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy. He currently resides in Pittsburgh, PA where he works as a full-time salesman, runs an online comic business from his house, and spends time with his wife and dog. Follow him on Instagram @wanderingcomics and Twitter @comicwandering.
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