A comic book panel featuring the superhero's transformation into the infamous Venom fetched the record breaking price at an auction in the US.
ADVERTISEMENTAn original page of a comic book featuring Spider-Man in 1984 in Marvel's rare Secret Wars series reached the record price of $3.36 million (€2.9 million) at auction in the United States.
The sale makes Spiderman the most powerful superhero where sales are concerned.
In the three-panel page by Mike Zeck from issue 8 of 'Secret Wars', a series published by Marvel Comics in 1984-85, the superhero puts on the black costume for the first time, which turns out to be a symbiote (parasite extra-terrestrial), giving birth to Venom, the franchise's fearsome "super-villain".
It's a moment film, literature and television have been trying to recreate ever since.
A big reveal for even bigger money
"This page was the big reveal alluded to on the cover! This is where Peter Parker (the heroic teenager hiding under the Spider-Man mask) really got his fancy new black costume," explains the auction house Heritage Auctions, describing page 25 of the publication.
"It's a costume with a secret! Because it quickly turns out to be alive and has its own agenda. It's the origin of the character of Venom!"
The work was initially offered at $330,000 (€289,000). But prices for comics – even single comic book pages of this kind – are wildly on the rise as fans find themselves steeped in nostalgia over their favourite heroes.
Just minutes after the sale the auction house were said to be offering up a comic depicting the first appearance of Superman, which sold for €200,000 less, says Heritage Auctions.
None of the sellers or buyers of each were identified.
The previous record for an original page of an American comic dates back to 2014 when a page showing the first appearance of Wolverine for an issue of 'The Incredible Hulk' dating from 1974, sold for $657,250 (€573,650).
