The private sale was announced on Friday by Vincent Zurzolo, president of Metropolis Collectibles and ComicConnect. Posting on X, Zurzolo said: “Action Comics 1 sells for a world record $15 million by my company Metropolis Collectibles! This is the first appearance of Superman and one of the rarest comics in the world.”

The sale makes the issue one of the most expensive comic books ever sold globally.

Published in 1938 and originally priced at 10 cents, Action Comics No. 1 is regarded as one of the first American comic books to feature a superhero, a milestone that helped shape modern pop culture.

Metropolis Collectibles said both the buyer and the seller have chosen to remain anonymous.

According to Zurzolo, the comic was stolen from Cage’s home in 2000 during a party and remained missing for more than a decade before being discovered in a storage unit in California in 2011.

“During that 11-year period, it skyrocketed in value,” said Stephen Fishler, chief executive of Metropolis Collectibles and ComicConnect. “The thief made Nicolas Cage a lot of money by stealing it.”

Fishler likened the comic’s story to that of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, which was stolen in 1911 and recovered two years later. “The recovery of the painting transformed the Mona Lisa from a great Da Vinci work into a global icon,” he said. “That’s what Action Comics No. 1 is today — an icon of American pop culture.”