Uh-oh.

I’d imagine that’s what the Fox executives were saying after the test screenings for Deadpool 2 came back negative. And if the rumors are true, the feedback was not just negative but downright awful. Fox is denying that the test screenings were being called a disaster, but the damage has been done, and Deadpool and Cable fans should be worried.

You can thank Josh Brolin for getting the rumor mill started. He confirmed the reshoots, and that got many fans nervous, especially since the release date is on the horizon.

So what’s this got to do with comic collectors? A lot, actually.

Earlier this month, I explained how a bad movie can hurt the value of a comic. Go back in time to 2007 and the premiere of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. That movie was so poorly received that it brought down the value of Fantastic Four #48, and that is saying something. Usually nothing can hurt the iconic comics, and one would think that an issue like FF #48 - which has been a coveted staple of collectors for decades - would not be affected. That should tell you just how bad Rise of the Silver Surfer was when it made people stop buying copies of that comic. It’s taken 11 years for it to truly bounce back and return to “Holy Grail” status.

A more recent example would be The Inhumans.

The hype surrounding the Inhumans’ television debut in their own self-titled show sent collectors into a frenzy to get their hands on Fantastic Four #45 and #46. Between January and August, a CGC-graded 6.0 of FF #46 had risen to as high as $263 and routinely sold for around $200. Near-mint copies were peeking at nearly twice that. At the first of September, one 6.0 copy sold for $237, and a near-mint 9.0 brought $575 on September 29, which was the same day the show debuted.

Then the first episode was aired, and the reviews, both from critics and fans, were dismal. People hated that show so much that those 9.0s of the first appearance of Black Bolt plummeted from nearly $600 to under $400 within three months. These days, that same near-mint copy sells for $325 and may dip to the $300 range before the end of the year.

All that being said, these negative rumors swirling around Deadpool 2’s reshoots and test screenings will ultimately affect the value of the key issues for the characters featured in the movie. I told you before that the obsession over Deadpool had been waning, and values for New Mutants #98 were steadily dropping. If this movie sinks at the box office, NM #98 will go down with the ship. Sadly, the same will happen to Cable’s first appearance as well, I’m afraid.

Ever since we got our first look at Brolin in his Cable costume, the fervor for New Mutants #87 has escalated. Values for NM #87 has been climbing, and the 90-day average for a CGC 9.0 is currently at $177. But I firmly believe that if the rumors are true, and Deadpool 2 doesn’t do the character justice, the value will drop very quickly. If you are going to sell your copy, now would be the time while the market is hot, but if I were a buyer, I’d wait until after the movie hits theaters and see where the chips land.