When we started Mythic Messenger over a year ago, we never thought of it as overlapping much with the mainstream news. But 2021 and the ongoing collectibles boom pushes us closer and closer to CNN and even TMZ as weeks go by! Major celebrities and corporate giants are getting loudly involved, and editorials on alternative assets are now much more serious - as pundits realize the new trend is here to stay.

MCU revival trailer builds excitement for top heroes to return

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is back in a big way, after dropping a “trailer of trailers'' with release dates for their next 10 films! This finally ends the studio’s long silence after the pandemic broke up their decade of box-office dominance.

Very little in the mega-trailer was new information, but the slick repackaging - featuring an inspirational voiceover from the late Stan Lee over heartwarming MCU moments - was more about projecting confidence. Marvel fans have known about these films for years, after all - but now they know when the long-awaited titles will release.

Leading the charge are Black Widow (July 9) and Shang-Chi: Legend of the 10 Rings (September 3), bridging the gap between the outgoing era of Marvel’s Avengers and the one about to dawn. Shang-Chi will be particularly interesting to watch, featuring a focus on martial arts choreography and Asian cultures which are both new to the MCU. The little-known Eternals supergroup will make their self-titled debut next (November 5), before the triumphant return of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in No Way Home (December 17).

Things slow down a little after this barrage, spreading releases out over 2022 and 2023. Natalie Portman gets her turn with Norse armor and hammer in the gender-flipped THOR: Love and Thunder (May 6, 2022), and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (July 8, 2022) will be intensely scrutinized as Marvel attempts to both honor and move past the legacy of Chadwick Boseman.

But the trailer saved its biggest moment for last - a brief flash of the famous Fantastic Four logo to confirm years of rumors surrounding Marvel’s First Family. No further details were included, and it’s unlikely the film will release before 2024, but considering the long struggle to bring these foundational Marvel characters into the MCU, just this tease was enough to whip fans into a frenzy.

It’s certainly an interesting development ahead of Mythic Markets’ next trading day (May 20) - where landmark debut comics of Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four will both have shares trading publicly.

eBay latest to roll out support for collectibles and alternative assets

We previously reported on how eBay executives have talked up the important role high-end collectibles play in their marketplace, and signaled big moves around these assets in the future. Now the online auction juggernaut has put its money where its mouth is, as SVP Jordan Sweetnam authored a lengthy blog post declaring their new goals supporting alternative assets.

Addressed to eBay's global community of sellers, the post reads like an open letter, moving swiftly and frankly through a definition of “alternative assets” and acknowledgment of the peaks such items have reached at auction through 2020-2021. More exciting is the emphasis Sweetnam places on technological developments around collectibles, both in the headline-grabbing NFT explosion and in the creation of new services for traditional collectibles.

Like many top-end players in collectibles this year, eBay is racing to become a primary part of the new digital infrastructure supporting this “new era of collecting, anchored by better data, greater transparency, and tools that make it easier than ever to discover, buy or sell anything.”

This post announced an immediate and telling move to open eBay’s markets to NFTs; but further developments are no doubt on the horizon, as the marketplace follows the market in its renewed quest for alternative investment options.

Fast fandom

As always, there is a ton going on in the interconnected world of pop culture and fan media. Here are a few of the stories that caught our eye:

Malone might be the Magic Hasbro is searching for

The power of celebrity was on display recently as a media buzz enveloped rapper Post Malone… for visiting an L.A. game store to buy Magic cards. Other than the high-rolling nature of his purchases, there wasn’t much to elevate this from any other tabloid news cycle.

But this could prove much more meaningful on the Magic side of things, with Malone the biggest celebrity to be publicly associated with the game. Considering the lengths publisher Hasbro has gone to in pulling in metal band Mastodon, actor Danny Trejo or influencer Mr. Beast for past PR stunts, it seems like they’d be falling over themselves to get the charismatic Malone for a spokesman. Get hype for a #1 hit mumble-rap track about Serra Angel in 2022!

Ken Goldin's rise to pawn-stardom part of massive marketing push

Cashed-up sports card hub Goldin Auctions has hit on an outlandish scheme to help revamp their nerdy image in the mainstream: build a reality TV series around their colorful figurehead Ken Goldin! The show will be produced by Brent Montgomery, who masterminded the hit show Pawn Stars, and you have to imagine that a similar formula will be used to spice up the world of card auctions and evaluation for cable audiences.

The other half of the equation is Connor Schell, who made his name heading ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentaries - and whose new production company is financed by The Chernin Group, which our readers might remember as having just bought a controlling stake in Goldin Auctions! Paid promotion or no, the level of commitment here is yet another sign of the crazy momentum behind the current collectibles boom.

And now, a word from across the desk...

We already mentioned it in this issue’s lead story, but we wanted to remind everyone who holds an account on our platform that our next public trading day is coming up next week, on Thursday, May 20!

All our previously sold out collectible offerings will be available to trade with other investors, from our set of sealed 1994 Magic booster boxes (up 136.36% over our last trade period) to historic comic books like Fantastic Four #1 (up 60.94%).

To make sure you can participate in this expanding fractional market, log into your Mythic account a few days ahead of time and go through the authentication process for trading (if you haven’t already).

Learn all about trading here.