One thing I loved about ‘Agents of Shield’ was how Agent Phil Coulson was played by the same actor (Clark Gregg) who appeared in the 'Avengers' film.
That was a great nod to continuity, and it made AoS feel like it had a connection to the Marvel film universe. Unfortunately, and with the exception of Jaimie Alexander’s revisiting of the show in character as Lady Sif (late in Season One for Episode 15: “Yes Men”), none of the other Marvel actors even made so-much as a cameo appearance.
Nick Fury, where were you?
The resulting one-sided relationship of the show to the movies probably hurt AoS more than it helped; in fact it took multiple seasons for the show to find its stride and stand on its own legs.
Well, Marvel now apparently has even more plans to connect their movie universe to the small screen; this time in the form of live action programs on the Disney streaming service which will feature Loki and Scarlet Witch live action programs purportedly to be launched under the supervision of the president of Marvel Studios, Mr. Kevin Feige.
It seems like Disney is pushing for more content on the streaming service slated to begin in 2019. What will this do for Loki and Scarlet Witch comics?
The good news is that, whatever happens with these programs (good, bad or otherwise), the Marvel characters the new shows are based on –even if relegated to second-tier status in the movie universe – have key comics that are incredibly strong and will maintain their value.
This should happen even if the live action programs go the way of Peggy Carter and get unceremoniously cancelled. The comparison with Peggy Carter is apt, since Marvel has tried this before when they gave Hayley Atwell a chance to move from the movies to the small screen. Two years later: that was all she wrote for Peggy Carter in the MCU. Her show was unfairly cancelled after two seasons (it was actually not that bad). Now Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen have a chance to take the same gamble.
However, and this is important, in comic book terms there’s a huge qualification here. Peggy Carter’s first appearance is in Tales of Suspense #77 (May 1966), a comic that is a minor key at best, in fact the demise of Agent Carter coincided with its losing value.
Loki and Scarlett Witch, by contrast, have two mega-keys for their first appearances.
Loki’s first appearance is in this comic. Luckily it also features the first appearances of Heimdall, the realm of Asgard, Balder the Brave and the trickster Loki himself. So this is in no danger of losing value if the Loki streaming show winds up less than stellar. Currently JIM #85 has a high end fair market value [in 9.8 and certified] of $100,000.00 [compared to Tales of Suspense #77 at $5,250.00] and a low end [0.5 grade] FMV of $290.00. With best returns on 7.5 grades showing a positive + 130.1% roi after 17 sales over the last 15 years. The value of this is not going to disappear any time soon.
Turning to Wanda, she is now closely associated with the Avengers but began her comic career in the pages of X-Men . The X-Men, at that point, were still the ‘most unusual teen-agers of them all!’ How far they’ve come since those days! It is very early in the original run of the X-Men (issue 4) that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby brought back the menace that was the threat from their very first issue (Magneto) and then topped it off by giving him a ‘Brotherhood of Evil Mutants’ to command. Given the later changes that would happen to these original evil mutants (including Magneto) perhaps misunderstood or confused would have been a better descriptor than ‘evil’. Especially given how Magneto’s children in this comic: Wanda Maximoff and her Brother Petro (aka Quick-Silver) later become heroes. How does the first appearance of the Scarlet Witch look according to the data? After 684 recorded sales on GoCollect.com, X-Men #4 has a FMV of $$66,000.00 in certified 9.8 grade. Best returns have been on 9.0 grades with a positive +78.5% roi after 19 sales over the last 10 years. Early Silver Age X-Men seem to be doing just fine, and this should continue whether or not Wanda uses her chaos magic to hex her streaming show.
