We’re continuing our coverage of James Gunn’s announcement of Gods & Monsters, the first phase in his and Peter Safran’s all-new DCU. Let’s see how the comic collecting market reacted to the news of more of the DCU movies and TV shows coming soon.

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow

One of the more interesting properties to be announced by Gunn is the  Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow film. Based on the 2021 comic series, it places Supergirl on a sliver of Krypton that survived the planet’s destruction. It’s a much more mature and jaded Supergirl than most fans are used to and could serve as a fascinating juxtaposition with Gunn’s take on Superman.

There are only 41 graded copies of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #1 in the CGC census, not surprising considering the recent publication and the fact that it wasn’t on anyone’s radar until a few days ago. All of the Universal graded copies are 9.8. A Universal copy sold on January 31 for $70, tying the record. And then the roof blew off with a fixed price eBay sale for $200.

That census count will likely rise in the coming months, but there’s definitely a big question mark regarding how high it could go. There are only an estimated 38,000 graded copies of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #1 that were circulated in June 2021, when it was the 74th ranked release and a far cry from the top DC book that month: Batman #109 with an estimated 130,000 copies circulated. Still, it’s worth a trip to back-issue bins at comic shops to see if you can locate a copy before the store owner does.

Of course, Supergirl made her first comic book appearance decades ago in Action Comics #252, cover-dated April 1959. We’ve seen one sale of a graded copy since the announcement, a CBCS graded 3.0 Restored copy selling for a slashed $1,310.

Considering the CBCS discount and the restored nature of this copy, it’s hard to tell whether this is a precursor to an uptick in values at this time. We’ll have to wait to see what other sales look like in the coming weeks.

Swamp Thing

As soon as Gunn labeled the new DCU’s first phase “Gods & Monsters,” it was pretty much a given that Swamp Thing would figure into the mix. Swamp Thing made his first comic appearance in House of Secrets #92, easily recognizable from the gorgeous Bernie Wrightson cover.

There are 3,129 graded copies of this early Bronze Age masterpiece in the CGC census. It doesn’t appear to have received any bounce yet from the film’s announcement, however.

A 9.0 graded copy sold in a January 31 Heritage auction for $4,273, followed quickly by a February 2 sale for a slashed $5,600. That Heritage sale marks a low point for this book, which has sold pretty consistently in the $5,000 to $5,750 range over the past eight months, including in June and September Heritage auctions.

It’s definitely worth keeping an eye on this book. With a healthy although not robust census number, there’s room for it to go either way in upcoming sales.

There are many other Swamp Thing keys beside his first appearance. With a beloved run by writer Alan Moore, a modern Swamp Thing film will likely include key points from that narrative. As such, Saga of the Swamp Thing #20, Moore’s first issue on the title is worth consideration for your collection. And a Swamp Thing film could also see the debut of John Constantine in the DCU. His first appearance was in Saga of the Swamp Thing #37.

Both are good speculative picks as they have intrinsic value outside the DCU that will prevent prices from cratering if worst comes to worst cinematically. Saga of the Swamp Thing #20 hasn’t budged yet on the news, although we are starting to see some increased volume in Saga of the Swamp Thing #37 and a slight escalation in pricing. These are two worth grabbing quickly before others jump on the bandwagon.

Legacy Films

The elephant in the room prior to Gunn’s big announcement was the status of the four DC films scheduled for release this year: Shazam: Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Gunn confirmed all four films with already scheduled release dates intact.

Gunn further iterated that The Flash will serve as a reset for the DCU, coming about as close as you can imagine to confirming what fans have long conjectured, that The Flash would be heavily based on the Flashpoint comic book storyline. The biggest surprise here is Blue Beetle.

With no pre-established characters, the recent axing of the Batgirl film, and no evident ties to the new DCU, this was a movie ripe for the chopping block. The fact that it’s still going to be released tells us two things. First, the movie must be pretty good; I can’t imagine Gunn allowing it to go forward if it wasn’t. Second, Gunn later hinted that Blue Beetle could in fact be an Elseworlds film.

Elseworlds

The beginning of Gunn’s announcement confirmed that there will still be DC films outside of the DCU. Smartly, he chose to call these film Elseworlds, extending the popular brand from comics to films and television. This allows Matt Reeves’ Batman films to continue to be produced – The Batman, Part II is currently scheduled for a 2025 release – and Todd Phillips’ Joker franchise would continue as well – Joker: Folie À Deux is currently scheduled for an October 2024 release.

With some big contracts involved, DC parent company Discovery likely couldn’t just walk away from these films. This also opens up a number of sandboxes for Gunn and Safran to play around in that could be among many fan favorites. And with a multiverse concept, those sandboxes could someday merge if it all became too unwieldy.

Are you excited about the upcoming DCU productions? Which other DC characters would you like to see in the DCU? Let us know below.

*Any perceived investment advice is that of the freelance blogger and does not represent advice on behalf of GoCollect.