Doom and Gloom, Greeted with Joy

Doom and Gloom Greeted with Joy

The Comic-Con crowd buzzed with anticipation as the cloaked figure stepped forward and removed his mask. The man who would play the next existential threat to humanity in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is……the same man who played the superhero that ended the last existential threat to humanity in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Robert Downey Jr. is back, and the reactivation of the Marvel direct deposit to his bank account is proof positive that nothing is ever truly dead in the MCU.

As announced at Comic-Con, Dr. Doom is set to assume the mantle of Marvel’s “big bad,” a foil to the soon-to-be-launched Fantastic Four. The choice of actor is polarizing, both befuddling and exciting, depending on who you ask. Is Downey playing an entirely new character? Is Dr. Doom some form of Tony Stark variant?

We’ll have to wait at least a year for the release of Fantastic Four: First Steps for any hints, but the comic book market lacks patience. It reacts immediately.

Doom’s antidote? Iron. Following the reveal, enterprising collectors quickly sought out comic book issues fixating on the relationship between Iron Man and Dr. Doom. For instance, there’s Infamous Iron Man, a series which sees a redeemed Doom wearing Iron Man armor with Stark out of commission. The first issue of that 2016 series was selling for around $50 earlier this spring, even in CGC 9.8 condition. Following the announcement, copies have traded hands in the $250-350 range.

Or consider Marvel Team-Up #3, a 2004 book in which the Fantastic Four and Dr. Strange believe they’re fighting Dr. Doom, only to learn that it’s actually Tony Stark (also known as the Iron Maniac). Raw copies of that book were worth $5 or even less mere days ago. But today, they sell for $25-50.

Until the MCU Doom’s relation to Iron Man is revealed, collectors will continue to speculate on the value of issues that explore their connection.

Doom and gloom → doom and joy. RDJ or not, collectors have diligently prepared for Doom’s more telegraphed MCU entrance, as the introduction of the Fantastic Four inevitably necessitates it. Marvel announced that introduction back in 2019. At the time, the most expensive sale of Fantastic Four #5, Doom’s first appearance, was $55,200, paid for a CGC 9.2. Of course, that announcement preceded a bull run in the comic book market, but nonetheless, that record grew to $180,000 by September of 2022.

The highest graded issues (CGC 9.6, 9.4, and 9.2) haven’t traded in 2023 or 2024 to date, but issues of lower quality haven’t avoided the effects of a cooling market. For instance, an 8.5 traded as high as $60,000 in late 2022 but sold most recently for $42,006. With the character set to feature in three of the franchise’s most pivotal upcoming films over the next five years, it bears watching to see if the highest graded issues will be coaxed onto the block.

Kang the Conquered. Beneath the thunderous applause greeting Downey’s return was the hushed recognition that Marvel had indeed aborted its ambitious and costly plans for Kang to serve as the focal villain of the decade in the franchise. Despite Kang’s intriguing turn in both seasons of Loki, The Kang Dynasty was doomed (pun intended) as the launchpad for the next phase of Avengers for multiple reasons: lackluster reception for Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (in which Kang is the antagonist), struggles for Marvel content broadly, and personal troubles for Kang actor Jonathan Majors.

Just as there’s excitement for Doom now, Kang invited excitement from collectors, and the fallout is a lesson worth heeding.

Kang first appeared in Avengers #8 in 1962. That book, graded CGC 9.4, rose as high as $14,400 in January of 2023. It most recently sold for $3,930 in March, and similar stories have unfolded at lower grades. Some argue Fantastic Four #19 is Kang’s first appearance, though he appears as a pharaoh by the name of Rama-Tut. A CGC 8.5 is the highest grade to sell this year, reaching just $1,150 in January after peaking at $2,149 in June of 2022.

Reality check. The success and adoration of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is no longer the surety it once was. The “buy the rumor, sell the news” adage may apply here, but it won’t prevent some incremental hype from supporting the issues above, plus others like Secret Wars, for the time being.

Gold Medal Grails

The 2024 Paris Summer Olympics officially opened last week with more than 10,500 athletes from 206 nations set to compete across 329 events.

The sale of memorabilia from this year’s games has already commenced as RR Auction sold a torch and torchbearer’s uniform for $44,549 in their Olympics-themed auction last week. The top lot transacted in the aptly timed auction was a medal from the 1904 St. Louis Olympics awarded to George Eyser, an American Gymnast who famously won gold despite having only one leg. The early 20^th century medal sold for $80,163, while the second-highest result came from a gold medal awarded to a member of Team USA’s 2012 4 x 400m squad which realized $58,855. 

As the Summer Games heat up and nations jockey for position on the medal count standings, we decided to ask and answer a relevant question: What does the market for Olympic memorabilia look like?

As the world’s premier sporting event, collectibles from the Olympics have sold for millions and even held the record for any sports memorabilia until 2022. In 1892, Pierre de Coubertin authored a foundational document that outlined his vision for reviving the ancient Olympic games. The 14-page document was delivered as a speech at the Sorbonne in Paris, presenting the games as a promotion of international peace and a showcase of athletic talent across the globe. Coubertin would go on to start the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the document was donated to the organization after his passing in 1937. After vanishing from the public eye for nearly 50 years, the manuscript resurfaced, having been held in a Swiss bank vault through the latter half of the 20^th century.

Fun fact about Coubertin: His last wish was that his heart would be laid to rest in Olympia, Greece. His request was fulfilled, and his heart was placed in a marble memorial at the site of the ancient games.

The document was auctioned in 2019 at Sotheby’s and hit the block with an estimate between $700,000 - $1 million. It ultimately sold for $8.8 million which easily shattered the previous sports memorabilia record of $5.6 million, paid for a Babe Ruth jersey earlier that year. The manuscript winner was Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, a former stakeholder in the soccer club Arsenal, who donated the piece of sports history to the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, where it resides today.

The manuscript sale also surpassed the previous record for any Olympic memorabilia, which had been held by one of Jesse Owens’ 1936 gold medals. The medal was sold by SCP Auctions in 2013 to former Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner Ronald Burkle for $1.4 million.  Another gold medal earned by Owens in the 1936 Olympics sold in 2019 for $615,000, while a silver medal won by Germany’s Luz Long, who famously befriended Owens at the pre-war games, realized $488,000 in 2022. 

Other notable Olympic memorabilia sales include:

• The 1904 Olympic Games Golf Trophy - sold by Golden Age for $493,777 in 2021.

• Michael Jordan’s 1992 “Dream Team” Game-Used Sneakers - sold via Goldin for $420,000 in 2023

• Michael Jordan’s “Dream Team” Jersey - sold in the same auction as his sneakers, for $3.03 million.

With superstars and future legends spending the next two weeks in Paris, could the next million-dollar piece of Olympic history come from the 2024 games?

Fun one to watch: Dave Wottle’s spikes from the 1972 Munich Olympics are up for auction at Goldin this week. Wottle wore them on his way to gold in the 800m, a race in which he completed one of the most incredible comebacks of all-time. No takers so far at a $10,000 opening bid.

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