Ever since 2019 when Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, we have been waiting for the day when the X-Men would join the MCU. Five long years later, on March 20, they are finally going to appear in their own animated show on Disney+: X-Men '97.
Some critics have seen the first three episodes of the show and the hype is building. Will that buzz generate into ROI in the collectibles market?
X-Men '97 is counting on '90s nostalgia to drive viewership.
X-Men '97 is, of course, a revival of X-Men: The Animated Series from the 1990s. The Animated Series introduced the X-Men to much of the world and paved the way for Bryan Singer's big screen adaptation in 2000. Disney is leaning hard into the 1990s nostalgia factor; the trailer is first shown playing on a cathode ray tube TV (i.e., not a flat screen TV), many of the voice actors are returning, and, of course, the trailer includes the iconic theme song from The Animated Series.
And it's more than just the look and feel of the show; X-Men '97 picks up immediately where The Animated Series left off. The last episode of The Animated Series aired on September 20, 1997. During that episode, Professor X is near death, but Lilandra (a member of the alien race) takes Xavier away to her world where the Shi'ar's advanced technology could potentially save his life and the X-Men are left alone with Magneto. Talk about a cliffhanger; we've waited literally decades to find out what happened!
The hype hasn't yet translated into increased values for comics related to X-Men '97.
In spite of the good early publicity, Marvel books closely related to the show aren't increasing in value. For example, let's take a closer look at X-Men Adventures #1. Based on the TV show (as it states on its cover), X-Men Adventures #1 also contains the first appearance of Morph, a character who was created specifically for The Animated Series.
A CGC 9.8 copy of X-Men Adventures #1 reached an all-time high of $430 back in April of 2022 about five months after Disney announced that it was working on X-Men '97 and just after the "comic boom" of 2020 and 2021. However, like many other comics in 2022, X-Men Adventures #1 rapidly declined in value, losing nearly 60% of its value by the end of 2022.
It has risen a bit in value since then with the most recent sale of a 9.8 occurring on eBay for $200 just over a week ago. According to GoCollect, the FMV of a 9.8 is $220. Importantly, there does appear to be a high volume of sales for this book even though values haven't risen dramatically. It appears as though five or six copies are selling each day on eBay in recent weeks. The high volume could be a leading indicator of increasing value in the future depending on whether or not the show is successful.
Interestingly, there appears to be less demand for raw copies of X-Men Adventures #1. Looking at recent sales on eBay for raw copies, it looks like you can purchase a high-grade copy for $10 or less (one raw copy even sold for a $1 yesterday). If you're willing to take the time to look carefully and grade these books, you might be able to score a decent ROI.
There are other comics with direct ties to X-Men '97. There's X-Men Adventures #1 vol. 2 which features Mr. Sinister on its cover (a 9.8 sold on eBay recently for $125). And, of course, so much of The Animated Series is based on X-Men #1 (1991), the greatest selling comic book of all-time (9.8s sell for around $75 to $100).
Are you excited about X-Men '97? Let us know what your opinion is in the comments section below!
