Silver Age Hot Pick – Avengers #25 1966
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Silver Age Hot Pick – Avengers #25 1966
Our latest Silver Age Hot Pick this week has a surprisingly weird output, and that is exactly why Avengers #25 keeps pulling us back in. This is the February 1966 issue featuring the first meeting between Doctor Doom and the Avengers, with a brief guest appearance by the Fantastic Four. The comic was written by Stan Lee, with pencils by Don Heck, inks by Dick Ayers, colors by Stan Goldberg, and letters by Sam Rosen.
Now here is where it gets interesting. This is not some impossible Silver Age book hiding in the shadows. There are raw copies out there. You can find this comic if you are patient and know how to hunt. That is what makes the graded numbers stand out even more. CGC has 1,476 total graded copies on the board, yet only 191 copies sit in that 9.0 through 9.8 range. Even more eye-opening, there are just 5 copies at 9.8 and only 15 at 9.6. For a 1966 Marvel key that is still very findable in the wild, that is a strange split. There are copies around, but the top end is not exactly overflowing either.
Then you look at the sales and the market gets even stranger. A 9.2 signed by Stan Lee sold for $1,780. An unsigned 9.2 sold for $1,100. A CGC 7.0 brought $450, while a CGC 8.0 brought $451. That alone should make collectors stop and stare for a second. Then you add in the other grading lanes. A PGX 8.0 sold for $338, which almost feels like one of those “do I crack this and take my shot with CGC?” books. Then PSA enters the room with a 5.0 selling for $177. That is a lot of pricing movement across multiple grading companies for a comic tied to one of Marvel’s most recognizable villains and overall significance of this book.
Silver Age Hot Pick – Avengers #25 1966
And that is really the point here. We are not just tossing numbers around for fun. We are trying to drive home the disconnect between the total graded population, the thinner-than-you-might-expect upper grades, and the price variance. For a book with real Marvel history attached to it, the market still feels oddly casual.
This is Doctor Doom meeting the Avengers for the first time. That is not a throwaway footnote. That is one of those foundational Marvel moments that sits there quietly until the wider collector base decides it suddenly matters again. In-story, Doom lures Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Captain America, and Hawkeye into Latveria as part of a trap meant to rattle the Fantastic Four. The Fantastic Four even show up briefly, which only adds to the broader Marvel-universe weight this issue carries.
So why do the prices still feel lower than they should? That is the weird output. With Doctor Doom positioned as a major screen presence again, plenty of non-committed collectors are going to start looking backward for books that feel important, recognizable, and historically relevant. Avengers #25 checks those boxes. It is not Doom’s first appearance, and that is exactly why some people sleep on it. But it is still a legitimate Marvel event book, and the kind of comic that can move once people start connecting the dots a little louder.
That is why this one feels like a smart awareness play. Buy the raw copies when the eye appeal is there. Be selective. Try to land cleaner copies and take your shot at the 9.0 range or better. The higher-end census is not crowded enough to ignore, and the pricing does not feel fully in line with the significance of the book. If that gap tightens, today’s patience can look pretty good later.
Speculation isn’t about hype, it’s about awareness.

Check out last week’s Rob Liefeld Checklist

Silver Age Hot Pick – Avengers #25 1966
-Jay Katz