First Appearance of Thanos: Iron Man #55 (1973) Value

Thanos first appeared in The Invincible Iron Man #55 (cover date February 1973), published by Marvel, by Jim Starlin. The source puts it this way: "Created by writer-artist Jim Starlin, the character first appeared in The Invincible Iron Man #55 (cover date February 1973).".

• Creators and cover date: created by writer-artist Jim Starlin, Thanos first appeared in The Invincible Iron Man #55, cover-dated February 1973.
• Cover date confirmed independently by CGC: CGC's own record independently confirms the issue date as 2/73.

• Indicia: the small print on the first page or inside cover gives the issue number, date and publisher; reprints usually say so there.
• Cover price and barcode: a price or barcode format that did not exist in the year printed means a later edition.
• Paper and staples: decades-old newsprint is tan at the edges; bright white pages on an old date are a warning sign.
• Restoration: color touch, trimmed edges and married covers are common on expensive keys; a grading service can detect them.

Shoot the front cover flat, straight on, in even light, then the indicia page and the back cover. Include the top edge and staples in one frame. The app reads the title, issue number and cover and matches it against the checks above; the indicia photo settles most reprint questions.

PriceCharting values for Iron Man #55 (1973), based on recorded sales, retrieved September 25, 2026:

• Ungraded: $348.44
• CGC 4.0: $399.99
• CGC 6.0: $519.12
• CGC 8.0: $850.00
• CGC 9.2: $1,494.53
• CGC 9.8: $6,600.00

The top grade is worth more than four times a 9.2. PriceCharting records about two ungraded sales a week and only a few 9.8 sales a year.

The issue is more than a Thanos key. PriceCharting's listing and sales notes also mark it as the first appearance of Drax the Destroyer, and it introduces Starfox, Mentor and the Blood Brothers. Wikipedia credits the creation of Thanos to Jim Starlin with Mike Friedrich. Starlin said his first drawings looked like DC's Metron, until editor Roy Thomas told him to model the character on Darkseid instead.

Damion Poitier played Thanos in the mid-credits scene of The Avengers (2012). Josh Brolin took over through motion capture starting with Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) (Wikipedia). In the comics, his best-known story is The Infinity Gauntlet (1991), in which he gathers the six Infinity Gems and kills half of the universe's population (Wikipedia).