Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man in “Iron Man 2”©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Col
A geek crime wave has hit Hollywood — as villains are pilfering pricey Marvel memorabilia.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, robbers have stolen fanboy treasures including an Iron Man suit reportedly valued at $325,000, a shield from “Captain America” and a set of claws from “Logan.”
Former execs at Lucasfilm and Marvel have also been robbed, as sales of such collectibles have reached $400 million per year.
Legitimate sales are robust.
One LA auction house CEO told the magazine, “I have hedge funds looking to diversify into this market.”
The crooks have taken notice, too.
Muddying the market further, fraud can be rampant with fewer safeguards in place than in the fine-art world, and overly sentimental collectors often don’t care about the quality of the artifacts.
“Veep” exec producer David Mandel, a major collector of “Star Wars” stuff says of wealthy buyers: “If [these individuals] were buying a company, they’d go up and down over it a million times and not take anyone’s word for it — they’d do due diligence. But yet people buy stuff all the time and merrily go, ‘I don’t care.’ ”
One LAPD detective who specializes in fine-art theft says, “It’s a difficult field to investigate.”
Some costume pros have started weaving DNA into the garments for tracking purposes.