Nicolas Cage is well known for his eccentric hobbies and purchases. From buying multiple real estate properties, such as two castles, to a dinosaur fossil, Cage has spent his money on many eccentric things, including his massive comic book collection. His personal collection once ranked among the most valuable and famous in Hollywood history, though it also connects him to a comic book heist.
In 1996 Nicolas Cage bought a rare ‘Superman’ comic book
BBC reported that in 1996, Cage spent a whopping USD 150,000 to buy a rare edition comic book. Called ‘Action Comics #1,’ the book was the first documented version of the story where Superman as a character appears for the very first time in 1938. He bought the copy through Metropolis Collectibles/ComicConnect. The issue was rated 9.0 (VF/NM) by Certified Guaranty Company (CGC), which made it one of only two known copies in existence at that visual grade.Some of the other rare edition comic books that the actor has owned include ‘Detective Comics #27 / #33 / #38,’ which records the first appearances and early Batman/Robin lore; ‘All-Star Comics #3,’ the first comic book appearance of the Justice Society of America; ‘Amazing Fantasy #15,’ the first time that Spider-Man appeared in the comics; and lastly, ‘Fantastic Four #1.’
Nicolas Cage’s rare Superman comic book gets stolenA
In 2000, Cage held a massive party at his West Los Angeles, California, home. The copy was stolen directly from Cage’s wall since he had many of his collectables put up on display, including his comic book collection. While the police were notified at the time of the crime, no suspect was ever caught, and the item remained missing for over a decade. 11 years later, however, the very comic book that had been taken from the ‘National Treasure’ star’s home turned up in the unlikeliest of spaces.While talking about the incident to Comics Beat, Vincent Zurzolo, the president of the organisation, shared, “The book didn’t resurface, but Steve told Nic that sooner or later somebody would try to sell it.”
In 2011, the comic book ends up getting auctioned
After not knowing where the rare comic book went for 11 years, it ended up being auctioned off at an event by Nicolas Cage himself. The famous copy had been recovered from an abandoned storage locker in San Fernando. After an unnamed person bought the locker and retrieved the comic, they found it in its original protective case. Soon after the police were alerted, its authenticity was confirmed through insurance and serial numbers, and the item was safely given back to Cage.In the same interview, Zurzolo ended up opening up about what happened, sharing, “Steve flew out the very next day and met with a detective, and they put together a game plan for retrieving the book. They went to do a meet to buy the book. The asking price was $1 million. The story was that somebody found it in a storage unit.”Soon after it was returned to the actor, Cage put it up for sale at an auction event. Later in November 2011, he put the recovered comic up for auction through ComicConnect, from where he had first acquired the copy. After this, it was sold for a record-breaking USD 2.16 million.
Latest sale of the rare Superman comic book
The book, according to a recent update, was confirmed to have been sold through the same management agency; the comic book had been sold off for USD 15 million through a privately brokered deal. This all happened earlier this year, in January 2026.