Marvel's Ultimate Endgame Blind Bag Damages Fiasco
Marvel's entry into the blind bag game was certainly not a home run. Ultimate Endgame #1, set to release for New Year's Eve, was supposed to mark Marvel's first foray into the blind bag phenomenon that has dominated comic sales in 2025. Following the massive success of Skybound's Battle Beast blind bags, which increased sales by up to ten times, Marvel partnered with Penguin Random House to create mystery packages containing exclusive variant covers by Mark Brooks and Peach Momoko.
Shawn Kirkham at Big Clutch documented his experience with the bags and the problems he faced with multiple books.
Shawn, along with plethora of YouTube commenters and forum posters, offered experiences and frustrations with their own orders. Retailers are hesitant to even offer the bags to customers, and fans who are aware of the issue might almost want to avoid the bags altogether.
Limitless Comics ordered 600 blind bags and pulled samples from each case: "EVERY SINGLE book had MASSIVE spine ticks; didn't matter - variants, foils, blanks. We can't in good faith sell any of these in the condition they were received. Worst part is you can't really tell the damage until AFTER the bag is opened."
The bags themselves are larger than the books inside, leaving too much space for the comics to shift during shipping. "The bag is bigger than the book," Kirkham notes. "There's considerably more space in these, and I feel that leads to some of the issues."
Many commenters also suggested that the books that are preserved and are able to be graded well will perhaps be more desirable due to this unfortunate situation.
Perhaps most damning is Kirkham's insight into what should have happened. Drawing from his experience at Skybound, he explains the proper protocol: "When we were at Skybound, Dan and the team would build a box beforehand. They would say, 'This is the size box I think we want to use.' They would do testing to see how it fits, shake it around... if they didn't like it, they would redo it."
In any case, this is a huge problem for one of the comic giants. While no official or public response has been given as of December 29, one should think Marvel will make right on their mistakes. Some grace is to be extended, as this is the first blind bag offering by the company. But on the other hand, a company with as many resources and as much prestige as Marvel has no excuse no to have top of the industry services and products, because, well, they are the top of the industry. Faulty merchandise is one thing, but if Marvel fails to address this situation promptly and decisively, they will have PLENTY of dissatisfied fans.
Check out the awesome Big Clutch YouTube for more on this situation and for more top-tier comic content:
And make sure to visit the main Cowabunga site for all things comics!
My email to marvel
Hello,
I’m reaching out because something major has happened with the recent Marvel blind‑bag release, and I don’t believe anyone has fully recognized what it means yet.
Across all retailers, every single one of the 450,000 blind‑bag copies arrived with spine ticks. Not “many,” not “most” — all. This means the entire print run has a 0% natural mint rate, which has never happened before in Marvel’s modern publishing history.
From retailer counts and damage reports, only about 3,000 clean first‑print copies exist across the entire 450,000‑unit run. That’s a 0.66% high‑grade survival rate, the lowest of any mass‑produced Marvel comic.
And inside this situation is something extremely important:
Marvel has unintentionally created a brand‑new rarity class — natural blind‑bag scarcity.
This is not a variant, not a ratio, not a foil, not a gimmick.
It’s a true micro‑population created organically by the packaging itself.
The hobby has never seen this at Marvel scale.
Collectors don’t know this yet.
Retailers don’t know this yet.
The market hasn’t caught up.
But the numbers are undeniable:
• 450,000 blind bags produced
• 100% arrived damaged
• ~3,000 clean first‑print survivors
• 0.66% high‑grade rate
• Smallest modern high‑grade pool in Marvel history
This is a moment where Marvel can turn a production disaster into a massive marketing advantage.
If Marvel simply:
1. Acknowledges the ~3,000 clean first‑print survivors
2. Clarifies the blind‑bag damage issue
3. Announces a Second Print Ultra‑Rare Blind Bag Set
…you instantly transform the narrative.
Instead of a problem, Marvel now has:
• a naturally rare first print
• a controlled, collectible second print
• a new category of scarcity the market has never seen
• a story that benefits both Marvel and collectors
This is a unique opportunity — one that only exists because of how the blind bags behaved. You didn’t plan it, but you can absolutely use it.
DC accidentally created one of the rarest modern comics ever made because of blind‑bag friction. Their gold‑foil blind‑bag variants were produced in extremely small numbers, but the key point is this:
The blind bags themselves damaged almost every copy.
The friction inside the sealed bags created:
• spine ticks
• micro‑scratches
• corner blunting
• pressure dents
Because of that, only a tiny handful of high‑grade copies survived.
No one even knows yet!
DC didn’t plan this.
DC didn’t advertise it.
DC didn’t engineer it.
But the damage created a natural rarity event — a micro‑population of clean survivors that collectors now chase because they were created by the packaging itself.
This is the important part for Marvel:
Marvel is now experiencing the exact same phenomenon — but on a massive scale.
DC’s blind‑bag foil issue proved one thing:
Blind bags can unintentionally create ultra‑rare, high‑grade survivors.
Marvel’s situation is the same mechanism, just multiplied:
• DC had a tiny print run
• Marvel has 450,000 blind bags
• DC had high damage
• Marvel has 100% damage
• DC ended up with a micro‑population
• Marvel now has a micro‑population of ~3,000 clean first prints
DC’s blind‑bag foil event is the precedent.
Marvel’s blind‑bag event is the historic scale version.
Thank you for your time. I hope this helps your team see the scale of what was created here and how it can be turned into a win for Marvel and for fans! Is it possible to put a double layer on your foil books? It might stop the high damage rates.
Marvel has unintentionally created the first large‑scale natural rarity event in modern comic history — the same mechanism that made DC’s blind‑bag foils, but now happening at Marvel volume.
You folks have a great day!