Marvel Masterpieces was the name of several subsequent sets of trading cards depicting characters and events from Marvel Comics. Featuring large, vividly drawn card fronts and backs detailing trivia, each card showcased a different personality from Marvel's body of work.

The art from the first two Masterpieces sets were used, without authorization, as the artwork for the type of vinyl stickers that can found at the entrance to Pizza Huts and grocery stores throughout America.[citation needed]

There was also a set of pop-up cards, distributed in sets of six with the Marvel Activity Sets. They measured about 1 1/4" by 1 1/2".

The first set, which came out in 1992, entirely consisted of portraits painted by Joe Jusko and was published by Skybox. The set included 100 standard cards, and 5 "Battle" Spectra Cards. There was a factory-tin set of the cards which also contained 5 "Lost Marvel" cards that could only be found in those tins.

The artwork from series 1 was also released by Marvel as 4 collections printed at standard comic size, allowing it to be seen in greater detail.

[edit] Battle Spectra Cards
1-D: Thing vs. Hulk
2-D: Silver Surfer vs. Thanos
3-D: Wolverine vs. Sabretooth
4-D: Spider-Man vs. Venom
5-D: Captain America vs. Red Skull

[edit] "Lost Marvel" Cards
LM-1: Scarlet Witch
LM-2: Feral
LM-3: Deathbird
LM-4: Typhoid Mary
LM-5: Jubilee

[edit] Series 2 - 1993
The set included 90 cards, along with 8 X-Men 2099 "Dyna-Etch" Cards randomly inserted throughout packs.

[edit] Dyna Etch cards
S1: Meanstreak
S2: Cerebra
S3: Krystalin
S4: Metalhead
S5: Serpentina
S6: Bloodhawk
S7: Skullfire
S8: Xi'an

[edit] Series 3 - 1994
This set was drawn entirely by Greg and Tim Hildebrandt. It contained two subsets: 10 Holofoils which came in silver, gold and bronze variations depending on where they were purchased. And 9 PowerBlast cards. This set was also the first to introduce "parallel sets" to the series. All 140 base cards came with a parallel gold-foil "Signature" card which came 1 to a pack. This concept was also used in other Marvel card sets.

[edit] Holofoil Cards
1: Captain America
2: Carnage
3: Daredevil
4: Hulk
5: Iron Man
6: Punisher
7: Scarlet Witch
8: Spider-Man
9: Venom
10: War Machine

[edit] PowerBlast Cards
PB1: Apocalypse
PB2: Archangel
PB3: Cable
PB4: Cyclops
PB5: Gambit
PB6: Magneto
PB7: Rogue
PB8: Sabretooth
PB9: Wolverine

[edit] Series 4 - 1995
This set consisted of 151 standard cards, 22 "Canvas" Cards, 8 "Holoflash" Cards, and 2 "Mirage" Cards. Artwork for the set was done by four artists: Dave Devries, Dimitrios Patelis, Peter Scanlan and Nelson. Continuing from the previous set, these cards came with parallel cards this time in the form of “E-Motion” signatures. Once again these were inserted one to a pack. The two mirage cards were particularly rare coming one to every three hundred sixty packs. They are highly sought after and have gone for hundreds of dollars on auction sites.

[edit] Canvas Cards
1: Archangel
2: Beast
3: Bishop
4: Cable
5: Daredevil
6: Galactus
7: Gambit
8: Ghost Rider
9: Human Torch
10: Ice Man
11: Invisible Woman
12: Jubilee
13: Magneto
14: Namor
15: Professor X
16: Psylocke
17: Punisher
18: Rogue
19: Silver Surfer
20: Spider-Man
21: Thing
22: War Machine

[edit] Holoflash Cards
1: Apocalypse
2: Carnage
3: Dr. Doom
4: Mandarin
5: Mr. Sinister
6: Sabretooth
7: Thanos
8: Venom

[edit] Mirage Cards
1: Classic Avengers: Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, and Thor
2: X-Men: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, and Wolverine

[edit] Series 5 - 1996
This set included 100 standard cards, 6 "Gallery" cars, 6 "Double Impact" cards, and 9 artwork redemption cards. The artwork redemption cards were extremely rare and bore the text "Congratulations! You have just won an original piece of painted art from the Marvel Masterpieces 1996 set!" This series was drawn entirely by Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell. It saw extremely limited distribution and therefore is one of the most expensive marvel card sets to date, with single common cards fetching around $5 on ebay, and the entire set consequently selling for hundreds of dollars.

[edit] Gallery Cards
1: Cyclops
2: Hulk
3: Magneto
4: Sabretooth
5: Spider-Man
6: Wolverine

[edit] Double Impact Cards
1: Bishop/Beast
2: Punisher/Psylocke
3: Rogue/Human Torch
4: Silver Surfer/Captain America
5: Storm/Spider-Man
6: Wolverine/Venom

[edit] Artwork Redemption Cards
1: Beast
2: Elektra
3: Gambit
4: Human Torch
5: Silver Surfer
6: Spider-Man
7: Storm
8: Venom
9: Wolverine

[edit] Series 6 - Oct 2007
A new series bearing the name Marvel Masterpieces will be released by UpperDeck in October 2007. Previews have shown that much (if not all) the art will be that which UDE already owns and has used in its Vs. System TCG.

This set consists of 90 base cards, 9 Spider-Man subset inserts, 9 X-Men subset inserts, 3 artist splash pasge subsets (triptychs)featuring Art by Alex Ross, Art Adams, and Drew Struzan

Each base card in the set has two parallel versions a "holo-foil" version, and a gold foil border version. Each of the Spider-Man and X-Men subsets has a "holo-foil" subset version.

Additionally, there are randomly inserted "Artist Sketch Cards" each featuring an original sketch by a noted artist. these are all one of a kind, and it is not clear how many sketch cards were put into circulation. The odds on finding one is approximately 1:36 packs, or 1 per box. More information about the sketch cards can be found at [1] Also, The art from the Alex Ross splash subset was made into ashcan box-toppers(black and white versions) and inserted randomly 1 per box, not in a pack. And, the artwork from the Art Adams splash subset was made into ashcan case-toppers, one included per factory case.

Each Hobby pack (packs bought from hobby/comic shops) contains a card with a code for 100 UDE points which can be redeemed at and then spent on various items in the ude points store

[edit] Series 7 - July 2008
After the successful re-launch of the Marvel Masterpieces set in 2007, Upper Deck decided to release another set. The second set, Marvel Masterpieces 2 came out in July 2008. This set consisted of a 90-card base set, 9 Marvel Heroines Chase Set, 9 Avengers Chase Set, 5 Fantastic Four Movie Memorabilia Chase Set, and 3 Hulk Chase Cards and 3 Iron Man Chase Cards. Also available one per box was a hand-drawn sketch card drawn by an artist. There were more sketch cards with this set then the 2007 set because this saw a release of 18,000 boxes as opposed to 13,000 in 2007. Upper Deck plans on releasing Marvel Masterpieces 3 on December 9th, 2008.