It is a story with more twists than a Hollywood thriller: a brazen New Year’s Eve heist, a decade-long disappearance, a “miraculous” discovery in a dusty storage locker, and finally, a record-shattering payday.
On Friday, a pristine copy of Action Comics #1—the 1938 issue that introduced Superman to the world—sold for a staggering $15 million in a private sale. The transaction, brokered by Manhattan-based Metropolis Collectibles, doesn’t just break the record for a comic book; it obliterates it, surpassing the previous $9.12 million mark set only months ago.
But this isn’t just any copy of Superman’s debut. This is the “Cage Copy,” the very book stolen from the home of Oscar-winning actor Nicolas Cage twenty-six years ago.
A Provenance of Mystery and Crime
The “Cage Copy” is legendary among collectors not just for its condition—graded a near-perfect CGC 9.0—but for its cinematic history.
- 1997: Nicolas Cage, a noted comic aficionado who even named his son Kal-El, purchases the book for $150,000.
- 2000: The comic is stolen from Cage’s West Los Angeles estate during a holiday party. For eleven years, it remains the most famous “missing person” in the collectibles world.
- 2011: In a scene straight out of Storage Wars, a man purchases the contents of an abandoned storage unit in Southern California and finds the comic tucked away inside.
- 2011 (Later): After being identified by experts and returned to a “delighted” Cage, the actor sells the book at auction for $2.16 million—at the time, a world record.
“The theft essentially turned this book into the Mona Lisa of pop culture,” said Stephen Fishler, CEO of Metropolis Collectibles. “When the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in 1911, it went from being a great painting to a global icon. That is exactly what happened here.”
The Economics of the “Holy Grail”
The $15 million price tag reflects a surging market for high-grade “blue chip” collectibles. As investors look for tangible assets that outpace traditional markets, Action Comics #1 remains the undisputed gold standard.
| Year | Sale Price | Context |
| 1938 | $0.10 | Original newsstand price. |
| 1997 | $150,000 | Purchased by Nicolas Cage. |
| 2011 | $2,160,000 | First sale after recovery. |
| 2024 | $6,000,000 | High-water mark for an 8.5 grade. |
| 2026 | $15,000,000 | New world record (Private Sale). |
Why It Matters
To the uninitiated, paying eight figures for 64 pages of newsprint may seem absurd. However, historians argue that Action Comics #1 is the literal “Genesis” of the modern American mythology. Before this book, there was no Superman, no Batman, and no multi-billion dollar Marvel or DC cinematic universes.
“Without this specific book, the entire superhero genre simply doesn’t exist,” says Vincent Zurzolo, President of ComicConnect. “It is the ultimate survivor. Out of 200,000 copies originally printed, only about 100 are known to survive today. Finding one in this condition is like finding a dinosaur egg that’s still warm.”
The buyer and seller of the $15 million copy have chosen to remain anonymous, but the sale has sent shockwaves through the industry. It signals that even in a digital age, the physical remnants of our cultural origins are more valuable than ever.
As for Nicolas Cage? While he no longer owns the book, his name is forever etched into its pedigree—a fitting legacy for an actor who spent his career playing larger-than-life characters.