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For almost twenty years, the leading factor driving comic book speculation has been the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The MCU is infamous for inflating demand for obscure first appearances and other key issues overnight, turning dollar bin fodder like The Eternals into collectors’ items. If this is the effect of the MCU on comics and characters without an existing fanbase, it’s no surprise that the highly-anticipated MCU debut of Marvel’s greatest villain, Doctor Doom, has seen the price of his 1962 first appearance surge.
Following the announcement that Robert Downey Junior would be donning Doom’s mask and cowl for Avengers: Doomsday, auction houses like Heritage have seen record sales of Fantastic Four #5 even in low and mid-grade condition. That gives this CGC-graded 9.4 copy – one of only nineteen on record in this condition or better – the potential to be a record-breaker. The most expensive copy of this comic ever sold was $180,000 in 2022. The 2022 sale was both in lower grade than this sample (only a 9.2) and predates confirmation of the character’s MCU first appearance.
Why Doctor Doom’s First Appearance Made Him a Fan-Favorite
Doctor Doom emerged fully-formed in Fantastic Four #5, already wearing his iconic silver armor and green hooded cape; and already showing off the maniacal, calculating genius that would make him a fan favorite. Jack Kirby’s design for Doom is the rare comics costume so well-conceived that there has been no lasting attempt to redesign or replace it in the character’s history. In the opening pages, Lee and Kirby establish key attributes of Doom’s character and backstory that endure into the present. These include his vendetta against Reed Richards, his despotic rule of Latveria, and his Doombots – the latter serving as writers’ easy out to Doom’s capture or demise for decades to follow.
Inexplicably, Doctor Doom is relegated to the background of most of his first appearance. After capturing the Fantastic Four and imprisoning them in Latveria, Doom reveals a bizarre, convoluted plan for revenge agains Reed Richards. Doom has invented a time machine, and demands that Richards, the Human Torch, and the Thing use it to travel back in time and retrieve the treasure of legendary pirate Blackbeard. In typical silver age fashion, Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman, is kept out of the action as a hostage.
After some bootstraps-paradox hijinks with the Thing becoming the basis for the Blackbeard legend, the heroes return to the present with the treasure. There, they confront Doctor Doom, who escapes at the end of the issue, joining forces with the Sub-Mariner to battle the team in Fantastic Four #6. Doctor Doom received overwhelmingly positive notices in the comics’ letters page from fans including a young George R.R. Martin, ensuring he was kept a regular part of the team’s rogues’ gallery throughout the silver age.
How Doctor Doom Became the Marvel Universe’s Most Formidable Villain
Doom would threaten Marvel’s first family in eighteen more silver age Fantastic Four issues, with schemes ranging from stealing the Silver Surfer’s power cosmic to crashing Reed Richards and Sue Storm’s wedding. He would also appear in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Sub-Mariner before the decade’s close. His Spider-Man appearance is an especially memorable one, as it sees him abduct Flash Thompson in a Spider-Man costume, mistaking him for the real wallcrawler. Perhaps out of character for Marvel’s most cunning villain.
Doctor Doom has been afforded greater depth and development than perhaps any other villain, beginning with the first-of-its-kind Marvel Super-Heroes #20, a solo story exploring Doom’s backstory and motivation. He would be given an eight-issue feature in Astonishing Tales in 1970, followed by hosting Super-Villain Team-Up in 1975. John Byrne would develop the character significantly in his landmark Fantastic Four run, exploring Doom’s complex relationship with his nation state of Latveria.
What Makes Doom’s First Appearance Such a Rarity
The decade that spawned Doctor Doom, the nineteen-sixties, was a transitional period for the comic book market. It saw not only the rise of the Marvel Universe, but the birth of now-common practices like comic preservation and comic newsletters. As the decade wore on, character debuts began to be speculated on like stock futures.
Ironically, Doom’s first appearance owes its rarity to predating these changes and owes its value to the market they created. Now, his long-awaited return to live action fuels a speculative boom that has put his first appearance into the running for the most valuable villain debut of the silver age. Comic pricing authority the Overstreet Price Guide lists Fantastic Four #5 as the #14 most valuable silver age comic. The only other key valued primarily for a super-villain’s first appearance that rates higher is The Amazing Spider-Man #14, the debut of Green Goblin.
Record sale for a copy of Amazing Spider-Man #14 is $210k, almost $50k more than the record sale of Fantastic Four #5. While the difference is significant, so are the market factors that have emerged since the 2022 sale: Doom’s upcoming MCU appearance and the remarkable condition of this sample. Heritage notes that only one higher-grade Fantastic Four #5 has ever appeared at auction, back in 2017. This is likely the least expensive a copy in this condition will ever be – even if the sale breaks records.
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