Do you have a favourite?
Superhero collectibles ask us to pick a team or a, well, hero.
Are you Marvel or DC?
Which side are you on?
Superman or Batman?
Whichever you pick, collecting superheroes offers you a huge and exciting - and growing - universe in which to adventure.
And, it offers amazing returns if you find the right object.
Much of what is now incredibly valuable was produced extremely cheaply, designed to be throwaway entertainment for kids.
It’s ended up as one of the most enduring products of American popular culture.
1 - A very brief history of superheroes
If you’re at all interested in collecting superheroes then I’m sure you’re going to get interested in their deeper significance and long history.
Was Sherlock Holmes a superhero?
Super detective, but is Holmes a superhero?
Or Robin Hood?
This isn’t the place for that discussion, though it’s a fascinating one.
For our purposes, superheroes are those created by the comic books of the mid-20th century in the United States.
Most comic book historians date this, and the Golden Age of Comics, back to 1938.
This Golden Age ended in the mid-1950s when the United States Senate pushed for censorship of comic books, claiming they were a cause of juvenile delinquency. The industry acted first, self-censoring via the Comics Code Authority.
That certainly didn’t kill off superheroes though.
A new wave, most notably Spiderman, were created in comic books in the 1960s.
And older heroes like Batman, and the Green Lantern were moving into live-action and then animated TV formats.
Spiderman was from the Silver Age of comics in the 1960s. Image courtesy of Amazon/Marvel.
Superman, in 1978, is not the first superhero movie. Depending on your definition of superheroes - is the Lone Ranger one, Conan the Barbarian? - there were dozens that came before it.
But, it probably marks the beginning of the modern era of big-budget, mainstream family movies based on the biggest, best-known superheroes.
Superman’s still with us. In 1989 Batman got a modern sheen and a rebirth that still continues to grow.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe took the genre into the internet and gaming age in 2008 with Iron Man.
From humble beginnings to a global, billion-dollar business.
So, superhero fans have plenty of options for collecting:
1 - The original superhero comics
2 - merchandise and toys spun off from those comics
3 - TV memorabilia and merchandise
4 - Movie memorabilia and merchandise
Let’s look at those worlds through 5 numbers:
1
It all starts here.
#1 to be exact, is Action Comics issue number 1, that hit newsstands in the US in June 1938.
If it’s exactly the first superhero comic or not doesn’t really matter. It’s the first Superman comic and it kicks off the Golden Age of Superhero Comics.
It gives us a lot of other numbers.
Cover price? 10 cents.
Current top price? $6 million in April 2024.
The most valuable comic ever.
2
Stan Lee, the biggest figure in Marvel history during World War II.
The comics universe is ruled by two big companies, Marvel and DC.
Neither was formed under its current name and both now take in much more than comics, notably gigantic movie (and TV and streaming) franchises.
Marvel was founded in 1939, when it was called Timely Comics.
In the 1950s it was successful as Atlas Comics, becoming Marvel only in 1961.
Marvel heroes include Spider-Man, Iron Man, Wolverine, Thor, Hulk, Captain America… Marvel has teams of heroes like the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.
They’re now part of the Walt Disney company.
Stan Lee is the biggest name in Marvel history and created many of those iconic characters.
DC published Action Comics with Superman, but not under it’s current name, which is short for Detective Comics.
The DC Universe takes in Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Aquaman, and teams like Justice Society of America, and Suicide Squad.
"Detective Comics" to give them their full name.
The company was founded as National Allied Publications in 1934.
Superman was something of a fluke hit in Action Comics. Batman was born in 1939 in Detective Comics, which gave the company its name.
The company is now part of Warner’s.
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, co-creators of Superman, and Bob Kane, the man who made Batman, are probably DC’s most consequential heroes.
These two companies aren’t the whole story, but they make up such a dominant force in the market that you can easily specialise in just one of them and keep yourself busy for life.
$2.799 billion
That’s the gross income of Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame, released in 2019.
Iron Man is made of gold. Image Marvel Studios.
That may mark the high water mark of the latest round of superhero superpower battles.
The movie - packed with stars like Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle and Brie Larson - cost around $400 million to make.
And it’s a truly global hit, so if you want to focus your collection on Chinese Avengers merchandise you can.
It’s because these movies make huge profits that they continue, for now, to be made, and a tidal wave of merchandise and collectibles follows behind them.
10
If you want to buy comic books you need to understand the to-10 CGC grading system.
It’s used across the industry for comics (and also some other published collectibles).
It’s easy enough to use.
10 is the top: Gem Mint, “The collectible must have no evidence of any manufacturing or handling defects.”
A further 24 points - 9.0, 9.2, 9.4, 9.6, 9.8, 9.9, and fewer intervals further down the scale - take us down to 0.5 and “A heavily defaced collectible with a number major defects. Some pieces will also be missing.”
Condition counts for a lot, and the recent record-setting Action Comics #1 was rated 8.5: “8.5 An attractive collectible with a moderate defect or a number of small defects.”
That’s remarkable for an item created in 1938, aimed at a mass market (largely of children), and designed to last a week or so.
$4.6 million
Holy auction records, Batman, it's the Batmobile!
The most valuable superhero item outside actual comics I can find is a 1960s Batmobile that sold in 2013 for $4.6 million.
Not bad, for a TV series that took a bright, swinging, kitschy take on the superhero now usually portrayed as a dark, brooding antihero.
But, for a generation, that TV Batman was a first introduction to the world of Superheroes.
Film prop vehicles can make big fees, usually hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Action figures are another great area for collectors.
Early 1960s models in good condition and packaged can be worth five figures.
If you’re buying for the future then follow the rules you would for any collectible manufactured to be collected. Look for special editions or rarities and keep them boxed and well preserved.
Christopher Reeve's Superman is probably the foundational figure of the modern superhero universe. His own story is also heroic.
Your own superhero collection
We’re just touching the surface of the superhero world here.
You’d have to put these characters right up there with some of the most culturally significant creations of the last century.
That means they cross into every area of life.
Warhol made a Batman fan flick, and you could have bought one of his Superman pieces if you had $200,000 to spare.
Endlessy reimagined, Keanu Reeves will be the next Batman. Superheroes evolve to reflect a changing world.
Comics, art, games, even Rolex watches, superheroes are everywhere a collector wants to look.
For more collecting news and heads up on new items in our collections sign up for our free newsletter here.
