In brief
- Marvel’s first official NFT crypto collectibles will launch on the VeVe marketplace this month.
- Spider-Man digital sculptures will be released this weekend, priced between $40 and $400 each, with other Marvel NFT drops due later in August.
Marvel Entertainment didn’t immediately jump into the fray when the NFT market exploded earlier this year, but eventually in June, the comic book giant announced plans to release NFTs via the VeVe marketplace. Come this weekend, it’ll be none other than Spider-Man to introduce Marvel to the world of NFTs.
Today, Marvel and VeVe announced that the web-swinging comic book hero will headline the first NFT release in their tie-up, with five different Spider-Man collectibles available for purchase starting this Saturday, August 7.
The Spider-Man digital collectibles will range in price from $40 to $400 apiece, with the total edition count shrinking with each step up the price scale. For example, the “common” rarity Amazing Spider-Man NFT will be available for up to 32,000 buyers, while the “secret-rare” Ultimate Animated Spider-Man NFT will be limited to 1,000 units.
Be a part of @Marvel history! The FIRST APPEARANCE of Spider-Man in premium digital collectible format drops 07 August 8AM PT.
(3/5) #MARVELxVeVe pic.twitter.com/SDLbV8udVi
— VeVe | Collecting 2.0 (@veve_official) August 4, 2021
An NFT represents ownership of a provably scarce digital item as verified by a blockchain, and can take the form of a video clip, still image, tokenized tweet, or something else entirely. As with many other VeVe collectibles, these Spider-Man NFTs are 3D “digital statues” that can be viewed from all angles and displayed in users’ own customizable virtual showrooms.
Spider-Man will be first out the gate in this collaboration, but additional NFTs will be released over the course of August, or what VeVe is dubbing “Marvel Month.” Later in the month, VeVe will offer five variant covers of “Marvel Comics #1,” the firm’s original 1939 comic book that introduced the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner. That drop will be handled in a “blind box” format with each NFT available for $6.99 apiece.
VeVe will also launch a blind box series of Captain American NFTs in the form of “Marvel Mightys” digital figures. The set will include the characters Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes, John F. Walker, and the Red Skull, with each blind box NFT sold for $13 a pop.
The VeVe collectibles are the first official NFTs created in partnership with Marvel Entertainment, although interestingly, they are not the first-ever licensed NFTs to feature Marvel characters. In 2018, 20th Century Fox teamed with Atom Tickets to release NFT digital posters based around its film Deadpool 2, which features Marvel characters but was not an in-house Marvel Studios production. Disney, which owns Marvel, has since acquired 20th Century Fox.
The wider NFT market exploded in early 2021, racking up $2.5 billion in transaction volume in the first half of the year driven by the success of NBA Top Shot, artwork drops on NFT marketplaces, and the rise of blockchain-driven games like Axie Infinity and The Sandbox. Buzz around NFTs quieted in late spring and early summer, but the market has caught fire again just recently thanks to top-dollar NFT sales and rising overall volume.