Three debuts, one team
Collectors who think of a franchise first as a single moment have not looked closely at this one. The team that Giant-Size X-Men #1 put together in May 1975 took more than five decades to fully reach VeVe, and it still has not. Storm's figure opened the mutant line in 2021, the comic that created her followed in 2023, and Colossus did not get a digital collectible of his own until the middle of 2026. Three releases, three different years, one team.
That spacing is useful rather than incidental. It means the comic sits in the middle of the timeline instead of at either end, so lining the three up chronologically by VeVe release date tells a different story than lining them up by their 1975 cover date would.
The issue that rebuilt the X-Men
By the early 1970s the original X-Men title had gone to reprints. Giant-Size X-Men #1 was Marvel's relaunch: Professor X recruits an entirely new team to rescue the original X-Men from the sentient island Krakoa. Len Wein scripted the issue, and Dave Cockrum, fresh off designing characters for DC's Legion of Super-Heroes, co-created the new roster's looks. The 36-page story introduces Ororo Munroe (Storm), Piotr Rasputin (Colossus), Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler), and John Proudstar (Thunderbird) in one go, alongside the returning Banshee and a newly recruited Wolverine, who had debuted the previous year in The Incredible Hulk #181.
The new team's international makeup, a Kenyan weather-goddess, a Soviet farm boy, a German circus performer, a Native American, an Irish ex-thief, and a Canadian loner, became the template for the X-Men's identity for the decades that followed. Storm and Colossus are the two members of that lineup who have their own VeVe figure so far.
Storm leads the mutants onto VeVe
Storm's debut carries two firsts at once: the first Storm digital collectible and the first X-Men digital collectible VeVe released, period. The drop went live November 20, 2021 as a $50 blind box, arriving after Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Captain America had already opened Marvel's line earlier that year. Handing the inaugural X-Men slot to Storm says a lot about how VeVe rated her.
Five tiers give Ororo a different pose at each rung, climbing from a grounded stance to a full ascent through the clouds. The two animated variants at the top of the ladder are the only pieces in the set that move.
Colossus arrives, years later
Colossus is one of the last original members of that 1975 team to get a VeVe first of his own. The drop released July 19, 2026 as a $30 blind box under Season 12, built around three sculpts that trace him through his 1975 Giant-Size debut, the cosmic-powered Phoenix Five arc, and a mid-1980s Secret Wars II redesign. Every piece in the set carries VeVe's First Appearance tag, its marker that a collectible is the character's genuine platform debut.
All three sculpts share the same $30 list price, so pull odds are what actually separate them, and one of the three hides a far smaller print run than its Common label suggests.
That is 2,525 editions total, with 150 withheld and none burned yet since this is a recent drop. Season 12 carries the standard 8.5% market fee.
Five covers for Giant-Size X-Men #1
VeVe digitized the issue itself on February 28, 2023 at $10, in a standard five-cover ladder from Common through Secret Rare. The Classic Cover reproduces Cockrum and Gil Kane's original published art. The Rare and Ultra Rare covers carry new work created for this drop by Nicoletta Baldari, art no printed copy of the issue has ever carried.
7,500 editions total, with 355 withheld for the licensor, promotional, and team distribution and none burned, so all 7,500 circulate. The first edition made available for public sale was #176, at an 8.5% combined market fee (6% licensor plus VeVe's standard 2.5%).
The numbers, side by side
Lining up all three releases by VeVe drop date shows a franchise that reached the platform in uneven pieces rather than all at once.
| Release | VeVe drop date | Variants | Total editions | Tightest variant |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Storm NFT | Nov 20, 2021 | 5 | 40,650 | 1,500 |
| Giant-Size X-Men #1 | Feb 28, 2023 | 5 covers | 7,500 | 188 |
| First Colossus NFT | Jul 19, 2026 | 3 | 2,525 | 75 |
Colossus's tightest variant counts 75 editions. Storm's tightest counts 1,500. The platform's first X-Man and its newest sit twenty editions apart at the top of their own ladders.
Each release used its own price point at drop (Storm at $50, the comic at $10, Colossus at $30), but those are years-old list prices now and tell you little about today's secondary market. The clearer read comes from the edition counts themselves: each release is meaningfully smaller than the one before it, and Colossus's Special Edition insert is tighter than anything else in this trio.
Market Context
All three releases now self-custody on the Collect blockchain following VeVe's January 2026 migration. The comic and Storm's figure have had years of secondary-market trading behind them; Colossus is fresh enough that none of its 150 withheld editions have burned yet, so its current scarcity comes entirely from the original mint counts and pull odds rather than any post-launch burn activity.
Colossus fills a real gap in VeVe's X-Men lineup: Storm has held the "first X-Men NFT" title since 2021, and this drop finally puts Piotr Rasputin alongside the teammates he debuted with in 1975, years after the fact. That late arrival, paired with the small Uncanny X-Men 1975 print run, gives the set more built-in collector interest than a typical new-character drop.
Which one should you own?
If you want the X-Men's first VeVe collectible: Storm's Mistress of the Elements Common, the character that opened the mutant line on the platform.
If you want the print origin: Giant-Size X-Men #1's Classic Cover for the accessible way in, or the 188-edition True Believer Variant if you want the tightest print run of the comic ladder.
If you want the tightest piece in this entire trio: Colossus's Uncanny X-Men 1975 Special Edition, at 75 editions.
If you want the piece that moves: Storm's Animated or Ultimate Animated variants, or Colossus's Secret Wars 1985 sculpt. All three are animated pieces.
If you want the full team's story: that is the actual case for all three. The comic is where the team began, Storm is the character who brought that team to VeVe first, and Colossus is the one who finally joined her there.
All three releases trade between collectors on the VeVe secondary market, sometimes below what they originally listed at. New to VeVe? Grab $10 off your first purchase.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cover-dated May 1975, it relaunches the X-Men with a new international team, introducing Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Thunderbird, and the living island Krakoa, and bringing a newly recruited Wolverine onto the roster. Len Wein wrote it, Dave Cockrum drew and co-designed the team.
The first Storm digital collectible released November 20, 2021 on VeVe as a $50 blind box, and it was also the first X-Men digital collectible the platform ever released. Five variants were available: Common (16,500), Uncommon (12,500), Rare (6,500), Ultra Rare (3,650), and Secret Rare (1,500), totaling 40,650 editions.
The first Colossus digital collectible released July 19, 2026 on VeVe as a $30 blind box. Three variants were available: Uncanny X-Men 1975 (Common, Special Edition, 75 editions), Phoenix (Common, 1,975 editions), and Secret Wars 1985 (Ultra Rare, 475 editions), totaling 2,525 editions.
Storm's figure released November 20, 2021. The comic that introduced both characters, Giant-Size X-Men #1, followed on February 28, 2023. Colossus's own digital collectible did not arrive until July 19, 2026, nearly five years after Storm.
The Uncanny X-Men 1975 Special Edition, at 75 editions and pull odds around 1 in 36.55, despite carrying a Common rarity label. It is also the tightest variant across all three releases covered here.
Yes. All three releases are available from other collectors on the VeVe secondary market, sometimes below what they originally listed at.
