Marvel has just confirmed that Taika Waititi and Chris Helmsworth (among others) will return for 'Thor 4'. The news comes from a source at the Hollywood Reporter (see here), and will most likely be publicly announced at the quickly approaching San Diego Comic Con.

What does this news mean for Thor’s key comics?

This is actually not surprising news at all. A few months ago, before the release of ‘Endgame’ and in response to rumors that Thor would be killed in the upcoming fourth Avengers installment, I wrote that:

In his trilogy, Thor is the one character that went from mainly Earth based to purely cosmic adventures. I think a fourth ‘Thor’ entry with a cosmic setting would develop that arc while fitting the current direction of the MCU.” (see my post: Thor 4?).

My reasoning was, however, only partly based on artistic considerations. Mainly it was, more in keeping with how film making decisions actually get made in Hollywood, based on purely economic factors. As I speculated at the time, the first two 'Thor' films earned worldwide totals of: $449, 326, 618 (‘Thor’, 2011) and $644, 571, 402 (‘Thor: The Dark World’ 2013) respectively. ‘Thor: Ragnarok’, by contrast, blew them both away with an amazing $853, 977, 126 total worldwide box office.

It would be no surprise, I argued, that Marvel would want to continue that kind of money making machine.

But how does this upcoming decision to produce even more stand-alone Thor movies affect prices on his key comics?

Well, Thor was already slated to return in the next 'Guardians of the Galaxy' film. That’s the main reason why comics like Thor #134 (October 1966) and Thor #337 (October 1983) have been surging in value.

'More Thor' can only mean good news for those comics as well. Let’s say they introduce Beta Ray Bill in Guardians 3 or, if Thor 4 comes out first, we may see Bill there, the value of Thor #337 will only go up because of that.

Journey Into Mystery #83 (July 1962) - First appearance of Thor; First appearance of Donald Blake; First appearance of the Kronans; First appearance of Mjolnir

Although it sounds strange to say this, one of the currently undervalued stand-alone Thor major keys is actually his very first appearance. When we compare Thor’s first appearance and see how it stands in relation to other Marvel mega key first appearances, the resulting numbers are interesting.

Sure, JIM #83 is definitely an already pricey comic, and an excellent investment. But how does it currently compare to the other Silver Age Marvel mega keys?

Currently there are a total of 1, 834 copies of JIM #83 on the CGC census.

In 2.0 grade, it sells for a FMV of $4,000.

That sounds impressive right?

Moreover, the sense of high value is maintained when we compare JIM in blue label universal certified 2.0 grade to the price of Tales of Suspense #39 (February 1963). The first appearance of 'Iron Man' in 2.0 grade sells for $3, 200. Around $800.00 less. The difference is that ‘Iron Man’ has no future films planned. Thor does. When we compare JIM #83 with Silver Age keys that have characters with film projects in the works, some surprising facts emerge.

Comparing Thor’s first appearance to the FMV value of Fantastic Four #1 (August 1961) in 2.0 grade, for example, it is no contest: FF #1 sells for $7, 250.00; almost double the price.

How about Amazing Fantasy #15 (July 1962), the first appearance of Spider-man. Another active Marvel character with future films almost guaranteed. Again we see that AF #15 in 2.0 sells for far more than the first Thor, this time $15, 000.00, or almost four times as much.

Even a character with a far less certain future movie prospects, the Incredible Hulk, has a value advantage over Thor with 2.0 copies of Incredible Hulk #1 (April 1962) going for $8, 250.00 in 2.0 grade. More than 50% current values for the first Thor.

Recently, I’ve been scooping up some of the early Journey Into Mystery keys in mid-grade condition, since they’ve dropped considerably from the prices they were at a few years ago. Objectively speaking, the new 'Thor' news can only mean good things for the value of your Thor keys, depending on which direction 'Thor 4' decides to move in, keep your ears peeled and hold onto your Thor comics for now.