2012 Marvel Beginnings Holo F/X Ant-Man - Graded GMA Gem Mint 10

Set: 2012 Marvel Beginnings Series 3
Company: Upper Deck
Type: Insert/Chase - Holo F/X
Character: Ant-Man
Grading Company: GMA (GMA Grading)
Grade: Gem Mint 10
Status: For Sale

In anticipation of the soon-to-be released Ant-Man movie, here is an Ant-Man hologram card issued by Upper Deck's Marvel Beginning Series.  There were a total of 3 series, with the first one produced in 2011. 

Ant-Man is not a widely known comic hero by the general population although he's been around since the early 60's.  Hopefully this movie will bring some well-deserved recognition and "fame" to the versatile character.

Now for some fun, who would win in a fight - Marvel's Ant-Man or DC's Atom?

2012 Marvel Beginnings Series 3 Deadpool - Graded GMA 10 Gem Mint

Set: 2012 Marvel Beginnings Series 3
Company: Upper Deck
Type: Base
Character: Deadpool
Grading Company: GMA (GMA Grading)
Grade: Gem Mint 10
Status: SOLD

It's unbelievable but I cannot keep anything with Deadpool in stock.  His graded Marvel cards are always the first to sell out, even before other popular characters like Wolverine, Spider-Man, or Captain America.  I guess our resident "Merc with a Mouth" has quite the following.

This particular card came from Upper Deck's third installment of the Marvel Beginnings series and was released in 2012.  Each installment had 180 cards so there were a total of 540 base cards from series 1 to 3.

2013 Marvel Fleer Retro Precious Metal Green Silver Surfer - Graded BGS 9.5 Gem Mint

Set: 2013 Marvel Fleer Retro
Company: Upper Deck
Type: Insert/Chase - Precious Metal Gems Green
Character: Silver Surfer
Grading Company: BGS (Beckett Grading Services)
Grade: 9.5 Gem Mint
Status: For Sale Sold (Updated 2/10/15)

In 2013, Upper Deck released its Marvel Fleer Retro card set, modeled after the successful 2011-2012 Fleer Retro Basketball.  Unfortunately, I was late to the party as I didn't purchase my first box until October of 2014.  Even so, the Marvel Fleer Retro has become one of my favorite Marvel card sets since it included the popular Jambalaya and Precious Metal Gems cards.

I purchased a box from Steel City Collectibles since they were running a sale at the time.  The box contained two mini-boxes for a total of 20 packs.  Each pack had 5 cards so a box break would give someone 100 cards.  I had hoped that a Jambalaya was inserted into my box but no such luck.  However, this Silver Surfer Precious Metal Gems (PMG) Green was a nice consolation prize!  The PMG Greens are serial numbered from 1 to 10, meaning Upper Deck only made 10 PMG Green for each character in the set.  Due to its rarity and the card's fantastic condition, I sent the card to Beckett Grading Services so it could be graded.  After a few weeks of waiting, it came back with a grade of 9.5 Gem Mint.  According to Beckett's population report as of 12/19/2014, it is the only Silver Surfer PMG Green card graded 9.5 and none higher.  The PMG Greens from the Marvel Fleer Retro set have been extremely desirable for character collectors since the cards had such limited print runs.

Updated 2/10/2015 - This card has been sold and is no longer available.