Among the many exotic collectibles owned by Nicolas Cage—including a Lamborghini Miura formerly owned by the Shah of Iran and a stolen Tarbosaurus skull—the Leaving Las Vegas actor also once owned one of around 100 extant copies of Superman’s very first comic book appearance—Action Comics No. 1. And it just sold privately for a record-setting $15 million.
According to the New York Times, the sale marks the highest price ever paid for a comic book, which was previously set by Superman No. 1 at $9.12 million in November of 2025. The latest sky-high figure was achieved largely due to the aforementioned rarity and its condition—it’s one of only two examples of Action Comics No. 1 in the world that’s been graded at 9.0, indicating Very Fine/Near Mint condition.
But its tumultuous provenance pushes its value even higher. Cage originally purchased the book in 1997 for $150,000, and in 2000, Cage discovered that his Action Comics #1 and two more of his most prized comics had been meticulously removed from their high-security wall frames. The subsequent LAPD investigation went cold, but in 2011, it was found among the contents of an abandoned storage locker in the San Fernando Valley. Cage took ownership again and immediately sold it for $2.16 million. With its most recent sale, the Action Comics No. 1 copy becomes the holy grail of the comic book world, just as the $12.6 million 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle is among trading cards.
Stephen Fishler, the CEO of Metropolis Collectibles, which brokered the sale, compared Cage’s issue to history’s most famous artwork in a statement. “Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911 and kept under the thief’s bed for two years. The recovery of the painting made the Mona Lisa go from being just a great Da Vinci painting to a world icon—and that’s what Action #1 is. An icon of American pop culture.”