Released on May 14th, the official trailer for Superman -- the first film in James Gunn's DCU film franchise -- once again depicts a world that is already full of super-powered individuals prior to Superman's arrival. Similar to Justice League International in the comics, it appears as though LordTech, a company owned by Maxwell Lord, have hired Guy Gardner's Green Lantern, Kendra Saunders' Hawkgirl, and Michael Holt's Mr. Terrific to form a corporate version of the Justice League.
While Guy Gardner's first appearance in Green Lantern #59 is already a major Silver Age key, the first appearances of Lord, Saunders' Hawkgirl (the second Hawkgirl), and Holt's Mr. Terrific will most likely receive renewed attention because of Superman. After all, the official teaser trailer for the film was viewed 250 million times across various platforms in just its first day. Personally, I think the first appearances for Lord and Saunders are attractively priced in today's market and the film could serve as a catalyst if it's a hit.
A 9.8 of Maxwell Lord's first appearance generally sells for around $100.
Maxwell Lord first appears in Justice League #1 (1987), a minor Copper Age key issue. We've seen Maxwell Lord before in the movies -- he appeared in Wonder Woman 1984 portrayed by Pedro Pascal. In Superman, he will be played by Gunn's brother, Sean Gunn, who is most famous for playing Kraglin in the Guardians of the Galaxy films. We saw Gunn's Lord for the first time (with Merced's Hawkgirl and Fillion's Green Lantern) in the recent Peacemaker 2 trailer. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of Maxwell Lord in the DCU's future.
The most common grade on the CGC Census for Justice League #1, a 9.8, sells for around $100. Looking at its pricing history over the past ten years, this issue didn't experience the dramatic highs and lows of the "comic boom" that occurred throughout 2021 and early 2022, but one copy did sell for $200 in early 2023.
On the day of the official trailer's release, this 9.8 sold for $104:
To me, its current valuation around $100 is an attractive price point especially when you consider that case costs (i.e., costs to ship to CGC, press, grade, return shipping, and amortized membership fee) can exceed $80. In other words, the book itself would only cost $20.
A 9.8 of Kendra Saunders' first appearance generally sells for around $150.
Although we've seen Hawkman in Black Adam (an underrated portrayal by Aldis Hodge, in my opinion), this will be the first time we've seen any version of Hawkgirl on the silver screen. Kendra, the modern incarnation of Hawkgirl, became the host for the soul of Shiera Sanders Hall -- the original Hawkgirl and wife of Hawkman -- after a tragic suicide attempt.
According to GoCollect, the FMV of a CGC 9.8 copy of Saunders' first full appearance is around $150. Like Justice League #1, this issue didn't experience the boom and bust that many (mostly Marvel) books experienced back in 2021 and 2022. Although more expensive than a 9.8 of Justice League #1, I also think its current price point is reasonable once you exclude shipping, pressing and grading costs. And we see some evidence in the sales data that Superman may be providing a small tailwind since the 30-day average ($164) exceeds both the 90-day average ($139) and the one-year average ($145).
And you might be able to find a better deal if you search for a raw copy. With only 149 total copies on the CGC Census (which might be driving up the costs of graded copies), there are a lot of raw copies of this 1999 book out there in the wild. Right now, raw copies are listed for $10 to $20 on eBay. This NM raw copy sold for just $3 a few weeks ago:
