BY MATT TUCK
Marvel has done the unthinkable and made collectors care about an overlooked member of the Fantastic Four.
Fans of the classic Fantastic Four cartoon series will recognize the cute, helpful robot (who looked like something straight from The Jetsons), H.E.R.B.I.E. As part of last week’s The Fantastic Four casting announcement, he was indeed confirmed for the new movie.
First appearing in 1979’s FF #209, H.E.R.B.I.E. made his actual introduction in the FF’s ‘78 cartoon series. That year, the team was set to arrive on the small screen. The problem was they couldn’t include their most popular character, the Human Torch, whom Marvel had optioned for a solo movie that never came to fruition.
Unless the cartoon’s producers wanted to rebrand them the Fantastic Three, Marvel’s First Family needed an additional member. Being a kids’ cartoon, Stan Lee suggested a friendly robot, and Jack Kirby drew the first images for the show’s storyboards. Thus, H.E.R.B.I.E — the humanoid, experimental robot, B-type, integrated electronics — was born. A year later, Marvel slid him into the comics as official canon.
There’s nothing quite like a character’s live-action debut to get the market hopping. As soon as the H.E.R.B.I.E. movie news was official, FF #209 fittingly took off like a rocket. The graded 9.8, which had been hovering in the $150 range, suddenly jumped to over $300.
How much of this is the FOMO effect? That remains to be seen. Depending on how H.E.R.B.I.E. is used in the film, his first appearance may not have hit the ceiling just yet. This is a character that Kevin Feige and company could easily play for laughs, and that could make him an MCU fan favorite. In that event, there could be higher values in the future.