And we’re back for Part 2 of my best LEGO Marvel sets to invest in guide! In this series, we go through the standout sets from each year of the theme that is worth your investment money. If you don’t already know, LEGO is a better investment right now than interest payments from your local bank.
Again, let’s fly through the disclaimers for the newcomers. This is not professional advice. What I say today can be obsolete tomorrow. The LEGO market can be volatile, especially with re-releases – as can be shown from the recent re-release of the Saturn V and the Ship in the Bottle set. I can’t determine how much as set will go up in value, because I don’t have a time machine. I’ll give my best-educated guess, but it’s uncertain. So any venture you take, is your own risk, like any investment.
I will also be excluding any exclusives, such as SDCC figures and sets, as they are not very accessible, although they are the best LEGO investments of all time. Finally, this is only not a Top 10 list. I’ll just be going through the years, and point out notable sets that I feel are worth looking at. I’m not going to cover every set in detail, so if you do want that, go check out my LEGO Marvel Retrospectives.
So in this part, we’ll go through the LEGO Marvel sets released between 2015-2017 that you can invest in. Although you can’t these sets in stores right now, you could still buy them from a third-party seller online and then sell them off in a couple of years.
2017
There are two notable sets from this year to look out for. Both are from the Thor: Ragnarok wave. Ultimate Battle for Asgard (76084) is something that could have potential. Why? All the minifigures are exclusive. We get our best Thor to date with arm printing, a highly-desired Hela figure with a completely new helmet mould and our only Valkyrie figure. The ship is iconic from the film. And the other parts such as the Berserkers and the massive wolf build are just great additions. It’s based on a very memorable part of the film, and therefore is very accurate, meaning it could be something to look at. However, a counter to this is that the price of this set has remained the same price.
Thor vs. Hulk (76088) is probably one of the best 2017 LEGO Marvel sets to invest in. Looking at Bricklink, this set has appreciated by an average $30 AUD in value. Yeah, all the minifigures are cool. However, the exclusive and unique Gladiator Hulk is the primary reason this set is worth so much. It’s Marvel’s best big figure to date, so it’s understandable. The rest of the set (the arena build) is also quite solid and a great display of an iconic scene from the movie, making the set more desirable. So I’d say this is the best set to invest in for 2017.
2016
There are quite a few sets that you should look at from 2016. Avenjet Space Mission (76049) has yielded a $30 AUD profit on average. The minifigure selection is particularly strong, with the exclusive Iron Man and Thanos figures being the main draw. The jet itself also has some appeal. I’d say that selling the minifigures by themselves would yield you a similar profit by just selling the set itself.
This next set is undoubtedly one of the best LEGO Marvel Superheroes set to invest in of all time. It’s Super Hero Airport Battle (76051). Forget the set for a second. The Giant Man brick-built figure retails right now for $45 AUD. To put that into perspective, that’s the price of a 501st Clone Trooper Battle Pack here in Australia. The Mark 46 Iron Man armour included in this set is going for $40 AUD. Scarlet Witch? $30 AUD. And War Machine himself also goes for a staggering $45 AUD. And those are only just half the characters from this set. Selling these four figures by themselves will excess the retail price that it went for in Australia – $120 AUD.
So how much does this set go for all together? Well, add $100 AUD to that retail price, and you can see that you could’ve doubled your investment by now. Honestly, these figures will stay exclusive to this set and will appreciate more in the future. So definitely invest in this. While I’m on the Civil War Topic, the Hawkeye and Black Panther from this wave also pay a pretty penny, so look into those.
Finally, the (76057) Spider-Man: Web Warriors Ultimate Bridge Battle is something that has potential. Although it has remained relatively at its retail price, I believe that this will one day be worth a lot. We get so many exclusive minifigures in this set, including our only Spider-Woman, Scarlet Spider and Kraven the Hunter. Besides that, it’s such a beautiful build, which is a perfect play and display piece. I still don’t know why it hasn’t tripled in price, yet. But on the bright side, it just makes it easy for me to get it now.
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2015
The unexpected Hulk Buster Smash (76031) has made this list. Well, it’s not unexpected. The other ones, besides the expensive UCS Hulk Busters, didn’t make the list. So why this one? Well, this set retailed in Australia for $50 AUD. The Hulk bigfig in this set is already at $20 AUD. Scarlet Witch is worth about $15 AUD. But I think that because it is the first Hulkbuster, it has doubled in price. Yeah, it goes for about $100 AUD.
No surprise, Attack on Avengers Tower (76038) has doubled in value. The figures don’t add much to the massively inflated value, but the fact that this is the most iconic Marvel building right now means that it is a safe investment. Retailing for $100 AUD, this bad boy is worth $200 AUD. So that’s why you should keep your eye out on the new 2020 version before it retires. And this one is still great to buy now so that you can sell it off later.
Ant-Man Final Battle (76039) is also not much of a surprise. Due to a strange reason, this set retired extremely early into its release schedule, making it extremely hard to get then, and especially now. It’s doubled in price from $40 AUD to about $80 AUD.
And finally, to round off the article, the $500 AUD SHIELD Helicarrier (76042) has only increased in price by $50 AUD. It’s very confusing, seeing as it was the theme’s first-ever UCS-styled set of an iconic ship. So why do I mention this on the investment guide? Well, I have a feeling that it will one day jump up in price, but don’t quote me on that.
So that’s it for the second part of my best LEGO Marvel sets to invest in! As I said before, this is not professional advice so invest at your own risk! I would, however, keep an eye on the ones that I’ve mentioned today. Although they’re all retired, with some not even really appreciating, I see potential in these, and they could be very profitable for you in the future. But anyway, I’ll see you guys in Part 3, where we finish off this mini-series. See you guys then! Bye!
All images from Brickset
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