Robert Downey Jr. helped boost Marvel’s ultimate sales

Later this year, Robert Downey Jr. returns to the MCU as Doctor Doom For Avengers: Apocalypse. But right now, he’s everywhere in comics — or rather, his works are.

On New Year’s Eve, Marvel Comics released Ultimate Endgame #1, the first in a five-part miniseries telling the final story of its rebooted Ultimate Universe. To help sell the event, the publisher launched a True Believers Blind Bag Programwhere readers can purchase a physical copy in a bag that could have one of the book’s cover variations Or 500 hand-drawn sketches by major Marvel artists like Pepe Larraz and Peach Momoko. Two of these artists are Downey And Kevin Feige. No, really, and Downey is drawn four, two each for his past and future turns as Iron Man and Doctor Doom with signed and unsigned versions.

According to the hollywood reporterDowney’s drawings led to Ultimate Endgame #1, potentially becoming Marvel’s best-selling comic in years. At the time of writing, it’s unclear exactly what this means, as there are no precise sales figures like DC recently gave for its Absolute Booksbut it’s still a notable step.

This is also a funny moment of fate: End of game is written by Deniz Camp, who also writes Ultimate, and for this book fourth number– which focused on the Doom of this world, the evil Reed Richards (the Creator), and the absence of the Fantastic Four. Before this issue, he joked that it was the book to grab “if you want to understand Robert Downey Jr. as Doom.”

Marvel is already looking to expand its blind bag program with the next Daredevil relaunch in March. Meanwhile, Downey will face Doom in Avengers: Apocalypse on December 18, and Ultimate Endgame continues with its second issue on February 4.

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