Thanos comics: record auction prices and key issue values

Thanos is a Bronze Age creation: Jim Starlin wrote and drew the character for the first time in Iron Man #55, cover-dated February 1973. There are no Golden Age or Silver Age Thanos comics — anyone offering a "Silver Age Thanos key" is referring to a different character entirely. That same issue also introduces Drax the Destroyer, making it one of the most valuable dual-first-appearance books of the Marvel Bronze Age. Thanos then anchors the Thanos War saga in Captain Marvel #25–33 (1973–1974), returns in Silver Surfer #34 (1990), and reaches his narrative peak in The Infinity Gauntlet #1–6 (1991, script by Starlin, art by George Perez and Ron Lim). His MCU appearances in Avengers: Infinity War (2018, $2.05 billion worldwide) and Avengers: Endgame (2019, $2.79 billion worldwide) drove sustained collector demand for his key books.

This guide sticks to the verifiable: eBay medians from our estimator (eBay.fr + eBay.com, June 2026) and records documented by ComicLink, Heritage Auctions, and specialist press. One standing caveat: a blended eBay median across all grades is a broad secondary-market signal heavily skewed by low-grade and ungraded copies — it substantially underrepresents high-grade value (CGC 9.4 and above), which trades in an entirely different bracket.

Thanos key issue ranking (documented records and eBay data, June 2026)

The issues below form the core of any serious Thanos collection. eBay medians cover all printings and grades combined — for high-grade CGC copies, auction records are the only reliable benchmark.

Record sources: ComicLink, Bleeding Cool, sellmycomicbooks.com. The €9 eBay median for Iron Man #55 is a broad-market figure dominated by low-grade and ungraded copies — it bears no relation to the value of a high-grade CGC copy.

Iron Man #55 (1973): the definitive Bronze Age Thanos grail

Published in February 1973 and written and drawn by Jim Starlin, Iron Man #55 is the cornerstone of any Thanos collection. It contains the first appearance of the Mad Titan alongside that of Drax the Destroyer — two characters central to both the Marvel cosmic universe and, since 2014, the MCU. Starlin conceived Thanos during psychology classes, drawing on Freud's concept of the death drive (Thanatos); editor Roy Thomas reportedly pushed him to "beef up" an initial design judged too close to DC's Metron, nudging it toward Darkseid.

Our eBay estimator returns a median of €9 across 73 listings in June 2026 — a solid volume, but a figure dominated by ungraded and low-grade copies (CGC 1.0 to 5.0) that account for most secondary-market activity. At the high-grade end, the picture is radically different: a CGC 9.8 double-cover copy — a printing defect that produced a prized variant — set the issue record at $13,025 at ComicLink in August 2013. Subsequent CGC 9.8 sales without the double-cover premium have landed in the $7,200–$9,600 range based on documented sales between 2019 and 2022. CGC 9.4 copies have traded around $3,000 and CGC 9.6 copies around $5,000 in the recent market. Specialists note that well-centered copies of this issue are particularly scarce in high grade, which explains the premium commanded by pristine examples.

Silver Surfer #34 (1990): Thanos reborn

Published in February 1990, written by Jim Starlin with art by Ron Lim, Silver Surfer #34 marks Thanos's return to continuity after thirteen years — his last in-continuity appearance before this was his death in Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2 (1977). This resurrection sets the stage for Thanos Quest #1–2 (1990) and The Infinity Gauntlet (1991). Our estimator returns a median of €19 across 55 listings — an active entry-level market, with a meaningful but undocumented premium on high-grade CGC copies.

Avengers #125 (1974) and the Captain Marvel saga

Avengers #125 (July 1974) is a key chapter in the Thanos War — the Bronze Age arc running primarily through Captain Marvel #25–33 (1973–1974) under Starlin's creative direction. Our estimator returns a median of €9 across 54 listings for Avengers #125, a solid volume for this crossover issue. The Mar-Vell Captain Marvel run of this period remains less prominent on the secondary market than the Iron Man and Silver Surfer keys, but it represents the core of Starlin's foundational Thanos narrative.

The Infinity Gauntlet (1991): the modern peak

The Infinity Gauntlet #1–6 (July–December 1991) is the defining Thanos story: script by Jim Starlin, art by George Perez (issues 1–3) and Ron Lim (issues 4–6). The arc in which Thanos assembles the six Infinity Gems to eliminate half the universe's population directly inspired the Avengers: Infinity War / Endgame film duology. CGC 9.8 copies of The Infinity Gauntlet #1 trade actively on the secondary market, but our estimator does not cover this series and no isolated public auction record was found in the sources consulted — GoCollect and Heritage Auctions remain the best sources for tracking recent sales on this title.