As a kid who grew up in the 1980s, I LOVED Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends, an animated TV show that ran from 1981-1983. I even loved the theme song. Most importantly, for me, the show introduced me to the X-Men in season 1, episodes 6: A Firestar is Born.
Well, true believers, it looks like there's a chance we might we see a version of the show in live-action. Reporters have confirmed that Sadie Sink from Stranger Things fame will be joining the cast of the upcoming Spider-Man 4 film in a "significant" role, but did not know whom the famous red-headed actress would be playing -- which of course set the Internet on fire with speculation. Some bloggers speculated she would be playing Jean Grey or Mary Jane Watson -- two of the most famous redheads in the Marvel Universe.
As others have noted, however, both roles would be problematic considering that: (1) Spider-Man doesn't have a much of a history with Jean Grey; and (2) Spider-Man has already fallen for a different "MJ" played by Zendaya in the previous three Spider-Man films.
I agree with those writers who think it won't be either Jean or MJ, but Angelica Jones, aka the mutant Firestar, another redhead who has a long history with Spider-Man and perhaps most importantly for the future of the MCU, introduces us to the X-Men. This makes sense on so many levels by tapping into nostalgia and putting more eyeballs on the animated series now on Disney+.
Firestar has two first appearances in comics.
In some ways, Firestar's publication history is similar to Harley Quinn's; both first appeared in a TV show and their first appearances in comic books were outside of main stream continuity. Firestar's first appearance, not in regular continuity, is Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends #1.
Considering that this is a late Bronze Age book with the first appearance of a significant character, there are surprisingly few copies of this issue on the CGC Census (1,576 universal blue label copies). With 349 copies, the most common grade on the CGC Census is a 9.6. After reaching a high-sale of $290 during the height of the comic boom in 2021, this issue has actually been ticking up slightly over the past year with its 30-day average of $125 exceeding its one-year average by over 9%. That may not sound like too much but a 9% increase is actually a pretty good return in this bear market.
You can purchase a 9.6 of Firestar's first appearance in regular continuity for less than case costs.
Firestar's first appearance in regular continuity is Uncanny X-Men #193 which is an undervalued minor key issue, in my opinion. According to GoCollect, the FMV of a 9.8 copy of this issue is $65, but it has been steadily losing value over the past year with the 30-day average of $63 falling well below the 90-day average of $72:
You can get a 9.6 copy of this issue for less than it costs to have it shipped and graded by CGC. For instance, this 9.6 white pages sold on March 13th (the day after Sadie Sink was confirmed to appear in Spider-Man 4) for a mere $30:
In my opinion, at that price, even if Firestar doesn't appear in the MCU, you can't go wrong.
Another great affordable minor key issue is the first issue in Firestar's first solo series: Firestar #1. The last 9.8 sold for $63 in May 2024 (see below), but you can also purchase a high-grade raw copy for only a few dollars on eBay:
