Iron Man 55, first Thanos, has long been called a “sleeper” issue ready to rise further into the stratospheric heights of key comics, but although a key and more expensive than surrounding issues, this comic hasn’t really hit the big time – until now.

!!!!Potential Spoiler Alert!!!!

The rumor patrol says the upcoming Avengers movie hints at Thanos as the next villain. We’ll see on Friday, but Iron Man #55 did break out this week.

The Iron Man #55 Breaks Out

On April 30th a CGC 9.6 copy of Iron Man #55 finished at $1,424. The winning bidder has 0 feedback, we’ll see if final payment is actually made. Looking at the bid history there was a more reliable bidder that chimed in with a max bid of $1,399. We’ll see if the winning bid holds. The previous high bid was around $899.

The importance of this comic was mentioned back in November in the “Avengers Movie Gets a New Villain?” post. It will be fun to watch this play out.

You can find other copies of Iron Man #55 for sale here and check out my Iron Man 55 Value and Investment Survey here.

Iron Man #55 is the first appearance of Thanos, one of the more interesting villains in the Marvel Universe. The excellent video below give his in-depth storyline. Iron Man #55 has always been a key Iron Man issue standing out from the crowd and the issue has enjoyed “sleeper” status. As of 2011 he was rumored to be an additional villain in the Avengers movie (see Avengers Movie Gets a New Villain?)

Make sure to check out the issues of Iron Man 55 for sale.

Amazing Adventures #11 is the first “new” Beast. In this issue he turns blue and there is a flashback to his origin. Because of the importance of the Beast in the X-men universe and difficulty of finding this edition in high grade with it’s black cover, it remains a sought after Bronze Age comic.

Amazing Adventures #11 has only 2 copies in CGC 9.8, with the last one selling in 2009 for over $7,300! A 9.6 copy sold in 2012 for about $750, illustrating just how much small difference in condition can bring. Lower grade issues, while still highly desirable, sell for much less.

The high grade rarity and importance of the Beast give this a solid position as a key Bronze Age comic. Below you’ll find Amazing Adventures #11 for sale and I highly suggest checking out our free course on buying key comics for pennies on the dollar.