As reported by numerous media outlets on August 29th, including Entertainment Weekly, Marvel released its first official glimpse of the Thunderbolts* in a new Marvel video celebrating Marvel's 85th anniversary. This glimpse includes Black Widow (Yelena Belova), the Winter Soldier, Wyatt Russell, U.S. Agent (and former Captain America), Ghost, and Red Guardian in what appears to be an elevator.
In a way, this movie is a sequel to 2021's Black Widow and a potential breakout film for Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova. Let's take a closer look at her key issues.
The market treats Inhumans #5 as the first appearance of Yelena Belova in cameo.
Although CGC's label describes Inhumans #5 as including "1st appearance of the new Black Widow (Yelena Belova, face not shown)." While CGC's description does not explicitly use the term "cameo," some could infer that it is a cameo appearance since her face isn't shown. Nonetheless, the ambiguity in CGC's description has led many collectors to believe that Inhumans #5 is Belova's first full appearance.
Ever since a 9.8 copy of this issue reached an all-time high of $723.62 back in July 2021, this book has been in a steady state of decline falling to an FMV of $140. Part of this can be explained by the huge increase in supply of 9.8s since 2021.
Interestingly, the 30-day average of $141 is a noticeable improvement over its 90-day average of $133. It's possible that the Thunderbolts* presentation at San Diego Comic-Con back in late July may have provided this book with a small bump in value.
The market prefers the Dynamic Forces Edition of Black Widow #1.
Despite the debate over Belova's first full appearance, over time, it has become clear that the market generally prefers Black Widow #1 Dynamic Forces Edition variant as the go-to key issue for Belova (first appearance or not). A 9.8 copy of this book reached an all-time high of $1,425 in July of 2021 and then entered a prolonged bear market territory for three years falling to a current FMV of $300.
Clearly, in spite of the debate about Belova's first appearance, the market has placed a much higher value on the Dynamic Forces variant of Black Widow #1 for several years now. I'm not sure why that's the case, but it could be because it's the only version of Black Widow #1 that features both Natasha Romanoff and Belova on the same cover.
Personally, I prefer the variant cover of Black Widow #1 that only features Belova on its cover. Since this book is a key because it may contain her first full appearance, I'd prefer a cover that focuses solely on her.
The market, however, clearly disagrees with me as the FMV of a 9.8 is only $140 and not even half of the value of a 9.8 of the Dynamic Forces edition. Still, there is renewed interest in this issue as the 30-day average of $200 is considerably higher than the one-year average of $162.
