The most expensive misunderstanding on this comic happens before anybody looks at a price. Iron Man 1 value depends first on knowing which comic you are holding.
This is the first issue of the solo title, cover dated May 1968. It is not the first appearance of the character, and the difference between those two things is most of the money in the hobby.
The first Iron Man is a different comic
Iron Man first appeared in Tales of Suspense #39 in 1963, five years before this issue, and that is the book that carries the first-appearance premium. I have a separate page for it, and the numbers there are in a different league.
What #1 has is the start of the solo run, which is a real thing collectors want, just not the same thing. A high-grade copy is a five-figure comic. A high-grade Tales of Suspense #39 is a six-figure one.
The original is 12 cents, May 1968, no bar code. Marvel has reprinted it as a Facsimile Edition, and there was a 1996 Iron Man #1 and a 1998 one, both ordinary comics from relaunches. The cover date settles all three in a second.
One month, two 9.8 sales, twice the money
CGC has published no auction report on this book, so nothing below carries a link to one. Everything here is a Heritage result or a closed eBay listing, and saying so is better than implying a source I do not have.
| Grade | Result | Where and when |
|---|---|---|
| CGC 9.8 | $52,800 | Heritage Auctions, November 2021 |
| CGC 9.8 | $40,800 | Heritage Auctions, December 2025 |
| CGC 9.8 | $36,600 | Heritage Auctions, March 2026 |
| CGC 9.8 | $28,800 | Heritage Auctions, January 2024 |
| CGC 9.8 | $26,400 | Heritage Auctions, November 2021 |
| CGC 9.6 | $11,500 | eBay, October 2024 |
| CGC 9.6 | $10,800 | Heritage Auctions, July 2025 |
| CGC 9.6 | $8,845 | Heritage Auctions, May 2026 |
| CGC 9.4 | $5,124 | Heritage Auctions, April 2026 |
| CGC 9.4 | $4,950 | eBay, July 2026 |
Start with the two rows from November 2021. A CGC 9.8 brought $52,800 and another brought $26,400, in the same month, at the same auction house. Exactly twice the money for the same grade of the same comic.
That is not a mistake in the data and it is not a restored copy. It is what a thin top grade does when two sales land in different sessions, and it is the reason I will not give a single number for a 9.8 of this book.
The rest of the 9.8 line has been steadier since: $28,800 in January 2024, $40,800 in December 2025, $36,600 in March 2026. Call it high twenties to low forties, and expect the actual result to depend on the night.
Below that the ladder behaves. A 9.6 brought $11,500 in October 2024, $10,800 in July 2025 and $8,845 in May 2026, easing gently. A 9.4 brought $5,124 in April 2026 and $4,950 that July, which is about as consistent as two sales get.
As with everything on this site, those figures come through CGC’s reporting of other companies’ auctions and Heritage’s own published results. GoCollect and PriceCharting track Iron Man #1 independently, and if their numbers disagree with mine it is worth finding out which of us is wrong.
Iron Man #1 value in each grade
355 sales tracked back to 2005; here are the three freshest in every grade.
| Grade | Sold for | Where and when |
|---|---|---|
| CGC 9.8 | $36,600 | Heritage Auctions, March 16, 2026 |
| CGC 9.8 | $40,800 | Heritage Auctions, December 2, 2025 |
| CGC 9.8 | $28,800 | Heritage Auctions, January 26, 2024 |
| CGC 9.6 | $8,845 | Heritage Auctions, May 14, 2026 |
| CGC 9.6 | $10,800 | Heritage Auctions, July 25, 2025 |
| CGC 9.6 | $8,500 | eBay, February 6, 2025 |
| CGC 9.4 | $4,950 | eBay, July 29, 2026 |
| CGC 9.4 | $5,124 | Heritage Auctions, April 30, 2026 |
| CGC 9.4 | $1,200 | eBay, March 14, 2026 |
| CGC 9.2 | $2,499 | eBay, July 26, 2026 |
| CGC 9.2 | $3,575 | eBay, May 17, 2026 |
| CGC 9.2 | $2,928 | Heritage Auctions, May 14, 2026 |
| CGC 9.0 | $2,450 | eBay, June 5, 2026 |
| CGC 9.0 | $2,100 | eBay, May 19, 2026 |
| CGC 9.0 | $2,074 | Heritage Auctions, May 14, 2026 |
| CGC 8.5 | $2,000 | eBay, August 6, 2026 |
| CGC 8.5 | $1,351 | eBay, July 7, 2026 |
| CGC 8.5 | $1,700 | eBay, July 3, 2026 |
| CGC 8.0 | $1,291 | eBay, July 30, 2026 |
| CGC 8.0 | $1,610 | eBay, July 16, 2026 |
| CGC 8.0 | $1,391 | eBay, June 5, 2026 |
| CGC 7.5 | $900 | eBay, August 4, 2026 |
| CGC 7.5 | $950 | eBay, July 4, 2026 |
| CGC 7.5 | $1,009 | eBay, June 18, 2026 |
| CGC 7.0 | $839 | eBay, August 7, 2026 |
| CGC 7.0 | $900 | eBay, July 26, 2026 |
| CGC 7.0 | $770 | eBay, July 25, 2026 |
| CGC 6.5 | $695 | eBay, August 3, 2026 |
| CGC 6.5 | $770 | eBay, July 25, 2026 |
| CGC 6.5 | $800 | eBay, June 28, 2026 |
| CGC 6.0 | $650 | eBay, July 17, 2026 |
| CGC 6.0 | $629 | eBay, July 3, 2026 |
| CGC 6.0 | $650 | eBay, June 14, 2026 |
| CGC 5.5 | $650 | eBay, August 7, 2026 |
| CGC 5.5 | $600 | eBay, June 12, 2026 |
| CGC 5.5 | $599 | eBay, June 3, 2026 |
| CGC 5.0 | $570 | eBay, July 7, 2026 |
| CGC 5.0 | $669 | eBay, June 16, 2026 |
| CGC 5.0 | $500 | eBay, June 2, 2026 |
| CGC 4.5 | $549 | eBay, July 18, 2026 |
| CGC 4.5 | $475 | eBay, June 25, 2026 |
| CGC 4.5 | $395 | eBay, June 24, 2026 |
| CGC 4.0 | $500 | eBay, July 24, 2026 |
| CGC 4.0 | $425 | eBay, July 13, 2026 |
| CGC 4.0 | $470 | eBay, June 21, 2026 |
| CGC 3.5 | $410 | eBay, July 14, 2026 |
| CGC 3.5 | $450 | eBay, June 11, 2026 |
| CGC 3.5 | $450 | eBay, May 14, 2026 |
| CGC 3.0 | $444 | eBay, July 31, 2026 |
| CGC 3.0 | $450 | eBay, July 19, 2026 |
| CGC 3.0 | $500 | eBay, July 15, 2026 |
| CGC 2.5 | $404 | eBay, December 20, 2025 |
| CGC 2.5 | $399 | eBay, April 18, 2025 |
| CGC 2.5 | $350 | eBay, October 25, 2023 |
| CGC 2.0 | $327 | eBay, February 28, 2026 |
| CGC 2.0 | $415 | eBay, February 21, 2026 |
| CGC 2.0 | $400 | eBay, July 14, 2025 |
| Raw | $376 | eBay, August 11, 2026 |
| Raw | $298 | eBay, August 5, 2026 |
| Raw | $455 | eBay, July 31, 2026 |
Every row above is a documented sale, verifiable in Heritage’s public Iron Man issue index and in CGC’s published auction reporting. Not one was reported by CGC. Every row is a Heritage result or a closed eBay listing.
What most copies of this are worth
A 1968 comic is a great deal more survivable than a 1962 one, and it shows. A hundred and eighteen readable copies have sold since January 2025, and they are cheap.
August 2026 alone: a 7.0 brought $839, a 6.5 brought $695 and a 5.5 brought $650. July gave three more 7.0 copies at $900, $900 and $770, a 6.5 at $770, and a 4.0 at $500.
Three separate 7.0 sales in one month at $770, $900 and $900 is a tight cluster, and it makes this one of the easiest books on my list to quote. A clean, complete copy is a few hundred dollars, and that is the honest answer whatever the 9.8 line says.
It also means grading is out of the question for a copy in this range. The submission would cost a meaningful share of the sale price and the grade would not move it far enough to matter.
Selling an Iron Man #1
- Check the cover date first. May 1968, twelve cents. The 1996 and 1998 Iron Man #1 relaunches are ordinary comics, and the Facsimile Edition names itself inside.
- Do not price it as a first appearance. Tales of Suspense #39 is that book, and it is worth many times this one.
- Expect a range at 9.8, not a number. The same grade sold at twice the price in one month, and no honest quote can ignore that.
- Sell the early run as a block. The first dozen issues attract a buyer that single copies do not.
Photographs first, and the first thing I will tell you back is which Iron Man #1 you are holding, because everything else follows from that.
Which #1 is it?
Photograph the cover date first. May 1968 at twelve cents is the original run; the 1996 and 1998 relaunches and the Facsimile Edition each name themselves inside. Text that one shot to me.
I read every request myself.
Send photographs and I will place your copy in its grade lane against the same recent sales you can read above. Where you take it next is your call, and the options for selling in Southern California are worth knowing either way.
Related
- Tales of Suspense #39. The actual first Iron Man, and the book this one gets confused with.
- Incredible Hulk #1. Another Marvel first issue where the record and the ordinary copy are far apart.
- The 100 most valuable Silver Age comics. And what each one really sold for.
Cover images on this page are shown small, for identification, with the publisher credited in the caption. If you are a rights holder and want an image removed, contact me and it comes down.
