There are rumors and then there are rumors.

In the case of some gossip, especially MCU related, we can discount what we hear after some consideration (like the rumors that Venom would make an appearance in ‘Spider-Man: Far from Home’ or that Annihilus would appear in ‘Endgame’), and then there are rumors that we should take seriously.

I would put the rumor floated the other day that Marvel has an 'A-Force' project in development (see here), in the latter camp.

It has often been the case that Marvel drops hints in its movies about things to come. These hints range from obscure references to outright direct and ‘in your face’ signs.

The clues crafted into the MCU films often foreshadow what will happen in future projects.

In the former category [of obscure references] we can cite: the hints that the Mandarin was coming in the 'Iron Man' movie (the 10 rings symbol in the cave when Tony is held in Afghanistan was fairly obscure). A fake Mandarin then showed up in 'Iron Man 3', but as we now know, the real Mandarin is slated to appear in the 'Shang-Chi' movie.

Much more obvious hints in past movies included: the teaser that an ‘Infinity War’ adaptation was coming in both the post-credit scene of ‘The Avengers’ (2012) and the cave scene with Thor in ‘Avenger’s: Age of Ultron’ (2015) and then again in the post-credit scene of that same film which featured Thanos’ donning the Gauntlet.

Okay, but when it comes to A-Force have the hints been obscure or overt?

Well, let’s see: the entire scene in 'Endgame' with the 'A-Force' ode in the final battle was fairly overt. Add to that the fact that, since 'Endgame', the number of original A-Force members who have joined or are being prepared to join the MCU has exploded.

That takes us to the comic you should consider:

A-Force #1 (May 2015) – First appearance of the all female A-Force

Debuting in February of 2015 as a byproduct of the revamped Secret Wars story arc and Written by Ms. Marvel scribe, C. Willow Wilson, with art by Jorge Molina, this wasn’t exactly a fan favorite. Okay, that’s an understatement. This comic was basically impossible to move after the first issue. Plummeting sales (a 79% drop between the first and last issue) led to its cancellation.

Who was in this comic?

The ‘Amazing A-Force’ consisted of: Captain Marvel, Medusa, She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters), Singularity, Nico Minoru, and Alison Blaire as both Dazzler (616 Alison) and Thor (15513 Alison). Basically, an all-female version of the Avengers.

Of the above listed characters we already have Captain Marvel; since her movie was a success at the box office- she probably isn’t going anywhere.
After ‘Endgame’: Female Thor (however the Jane Foster version, not the multi-verse Alison Blaire one from the comic), has been confirmed.

She-Hulk, as readers of this blog probably know, was also confirmed the other day and will be getting her own Disney+ show.

Medusa has already appeared in the ill-fated MCU ‘Inhumans’ small screen disaster; however the disconnect between the small and big screen projects of the MCU makes reintroducing her for ‘A-Force’ a possibility.

Finally, Dazzler has actually appeared in the Fox ‘Dark Phoenix’ movie; but once again, Marvel now has the rights to all the X-Men characters and that means bringing her into the MCU would not be a problem.

All in all, I’d say this rumor may have some bite to it.

That said: the leaked news has had a fairly weak effect on A-Force comics. It’s failed to really move the value in the way, e.g. the Angelina Jolie as Sersi rumor lit up prices on Eternals #3 for example.

Currently: A-Force #1 sells for between $5.00 and $20.00 dollars raw on eBay. Looking at the GoCollect data: we see that before the announcement (on August 26) the FMV for a 9.8 copy of the first issue stood at $55.00. Not much is happening to really push that up right now.

That doesn’t mean this book will not become hot in the coming months or years. However, even if an 'A-Force' project happens, I expect there will be a brief window during which prices will surge and peak, with a decline setting in soon after.

The real winners in the value department, furthemore, will probably be the harder to find variant covers: especially the Molina variant (current FMV for a certified 9.8 = $110.00 after 37 sales), and the Adam Hughes variant with its Medusa cover (current FMV for a 9.8 = $170.00 after 179 sales).

If an A-Force project is officially announced, that would be a good time to flip those books. Use the money to buy up the individual introductions of the popular A-Force members: Captain Marvel #1, She-Hulk #1, Dazzler #1, Fantastic Four #36 (first Medusa), etc. which are all better investments.