The Marvel Legends figures collect not only the legacy of Disney’s MCU but the history of Marvel comics to deliver high-quality figurines to avid collectors. Most of them sell on release and pre-order for around $7.99 to $22.99. However, over time, some of these figures have become rare collector’s items that command enormous prices.
If you want to know an easy way to blow hundreds of dollars on your love of Marvel characters, here are the 8 rarest Marvel Legends figures in 2021.
- Worthy Captain America
- Luke Cage Silver Shirt Version
- Spider-Man 2099 A.D.
- Fin Fang Foom
- Dragon Man
- X-Men Sentinel
- Psylocke Crimson Dawn Variant
- Marvel Legends Wasp, Blue Wasp Variant
Year: 2019
Series: Avengers Legends
Bonus: Thor’s Hammer
photo source: Figure List
Worthy Captain America is the name given to this figure, which is the version of Steve Rogers that faced off against Thanos in Avengers: Endgame (once he had been proven “worthy”). It features a secondary Steve head without the mask, a battle-hardened shield featuring the damage it took in Endgame, and Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer (in the box, it’s hiding behind the shield).
New-in-box and with all the pieces, the Worthy Captain America figure often sells for $100 or more.
Did you know?
Captain America is not the first non-Thor hero to wield Mjolnir. In addition to Cap, other characters have wielded the hammer, included a Korbinite alien named Beta Ray Bill, Thunderstrike, Enrakt the Enchanter, Awesome Android, and Red Hulk. In addition, Loki tricked Thor into granting the hammer to Deadpool on one occasion.
Year: 2006
Series: Mojo Series 14
Bonus: Left Leg of Mojo
photo source: Figure List
Luke Cage has super strength, invincible skin, and a ton of merchandisable clothing variants that made these 2006 figures hot ticket items. The limited release silver shirt variant of the Marvel Legends Luke Cage figure is the one we’re interested in right now. This figure has almost never sold alone but has been valued as being worth at least $200 new-in-box when sold as a part of various bundles.
Did you know?
Luke Cage was targeted in prison as a test subject for the military to try and recreate the Captain America serum. In this instance, the results left them with an invincible and incredibly vengeful test subject. This paralleled tragic history in America’s own past surrounding experiments conducted on 600 black men in Tuskegee in 1932
Year: 2001
Series: Marvel Legends Spider-Man
Bonus: Wall-mountable display stand
photo source: Collectors
As many comic books have done in the past, Spider-Man took a stab at the future with the Spider-Man 2099 comics, in which a geneticist named Miguel O’Hara becomes Spider-Man after a lab accident combines his DNA with that of a spider. This 6-inch figure sports the Luchador-inspired Spidey costume from that comic, which is blue with vibrant red scrawls signifying his new logo and face pattern. Fans of Spawn should love it.
The figure comes with the articulated Spidey, as well as several accessories, including a standing platform. In-box, this figure sells at auction for about $500.
Did you know?
In a special 1995 issue called Spider-Man 2099 Meets Spider-Man, the O’Hara Spider-Man switches places with the Peter Parker Spider-Man to save the Heroic Age from temporal experiments performed by the gen-tech company, Alchemex. This leads to a battle with Eddie Brock and Vulture 2099, culminating with both fighting the female Hobgoblin 2211 in another timeline with the help of her father … Spider-Man. Yes, Marvel comics are weird.
Year: 2008
Series: Marvel Legends BAF
Bonus: Build-a-figure construction
photo source: MarvelLegends.Net
Fin Fang Foom, who looks like a bipedal dragon, was part of the Hulk Series 1 BAF series, which stands for Build-a-Figure. Here’s how it worked. By combining a single piece from separate action figures, you could build Foom after collecting all 8. This means that Fin Fang Foom by definition cannot be new-in-box (he doesn’t have one).
To acquire Fin Fang Foom, other than buying him at auction for $500+, you would need to collect the 8 pieces from separate action figures in the Hulk series, including She-Hulk, King Hulk, Skarr, and Grey Hulk.
Did you know?
Fin Fang Foom is a shapeshifting alien called a Makluan. It looks like a Chinese mythological dragon because it landed on earth in the 8th century in China, using its powers to mimic an imposing figure. The invasion failed, but Foom was entombed as a “back-up conqueror” in a tomb until unearthed by the Collector in the modern Marvel universe.
Year: 2006
Series: Fantastic Four Classics
Bonus: Posable wings and tail
photo source: Collectors
The Fantastic Four villain called Dragon Man is actually a dragon-shaped android brought to life using the magic of alchemy. He’s been around since 1965 and now represents one of the most valuable Marvel Legends figures. New-in-box, the Dragon Man with posable wings and tail can sell at auction for $850 or more.
Did you know?
Dragon Man was not originally sentient, animated by alchemy into a golem-like figure built to defend and fight for its creator. Valeria Richards (Mr. Fantastic and The Invisible Woman’s second child) reprogrammed Dragon Man with artificial intelligence so he could serve her father’s Future Foundation, speak, and defend the foundation’s children.
Year: 2020
Series: Marvel Legends
Bonus: Alternate head accessories
photo source: Big Bad Toy Store
The sentinels were giant robots designed to kill mutants in the X-Men comics, particularly in the famous Claremont run called “Days of Future Past.” The 26-inch Marvel Legends Sentinel figure are nearly as imposing, with LEDs in the chest and head, 18-inch tentacle accessories, an alternate head, and a 6-inch Bastion figure.
If you’ve been collecting comics since the sentinels’ debut in X-Men #14 (1965), you know how essential they are to Marvel history. This imposing, detailed, articulated representation of them now sells for $900.
Did you know?
This figure was sold in multiple “tiers” which came with additional accessories. This may describe why you can find a sentinel figure for less money – it commands its full price only when all 4 tiers are “unlocked.” This includes the alternate head, battle-damaged head and hand, 6-inch female sentinel, and Tri-Sentinel face accessories.
Year: 2006
Series: Mojo Series
Bonus: Lower torso and stomach of Mojo
photo source: Figure List
The Psylocke Crimson Dawn Variant is a highly articulated figure (with 30 points of movement) that was featured in the Mojo series. It came with a diorama and 32-page comic book, as well as parts of the Build Your Own Mojo set, which collected bonuses from 6 figures to build the villain Mojo (Psylocke included his lower torso and stomach).
Crimson Dawn offered an elixir of life to those who earned it. The figure that represents it costs $2,500 or more of that life. When the license for these figures transferred to Hasbro, this was one of the figures that halted production. This made it in retrospect a valuable limited-edition figure.
Did you know?
The comic included in Psylocke’s box is a reprint of Uncanny X-Men #258 (1963). This is a famous issue by X-Men-staple Chris Claremont about Wolverine’s attempt to escape Psylocke after being captured by ninja terrorist organization, The Hand. Wolverine may be physically invincible (nearly) but he’s known to be vulnerable to mental suggestion, such as Psylocke’s.
Year: 2006
Series: Marvel Legends Series 15
Bonus: Left leg and right leg of MODOK
photo source: Figure List
The rarest Marvel Legends figure is the Marvel Legends Wasp, Blue Wasp variant. This obscure variant of the Marvel Legends Blue Wasp figure was made in contrast to the default red coloring version, which is far more common. This figure is fully articulated with 26 points of movement, making it one of the more complex figures Legends ever made. However, if you have the Blue Wasp variant, you probably shouldn’t open and play with it!
In the box, which also includes a 32-page comic book, diorama, and MODOK parts (see below), this figure is worth $3,500 or more. Pricing information is actually pretty scarce on the Blue Wasp because so few are known to exist, maybe as few as 10 still in-box. Supposedly, one sold on eBay for $15,000.
Did you know?
This figure also included part of the build-a-figure set for MODOK in series 15, which allowed players to build the supervillain MODOK if they could assemble him from pieces separated in other Marvel Legends figures. This one included his left and right legs.
The Takeaway
The Marvel Legends figures sold in the early 2000s, sometimes as low as $7.99 each. Since then, they have climbed in value as collector’s items, changed company hands several times, and now adorn the shelves of many adamant collectors. The figures listed above now command outrageous prices on eBay if you can find them still in the box. And of course, they look awesome either way.
