Investigators Marvel At Mystery Motive Behind Missing 'Iron Man' Suit

PACOIMA (CBSLA) — A $320,000 piece of Marvel memorabilia that went missing from a Pacoima prop storage space is likely too high-profile to go on the black market, so why would someone take it?

Los Angeles police are looking at every possible angle in the deepening mystery of the missing Iron Man suit used in the iconic 2008 superhero film. Investigators said the head, chest, arms and legs worn by Robert Downey Jr. in the movie were last seen in February and have been missing since April.

CBS2 tried to reach out to the owner of the warehouse business but was not successful.

Even comic book experts are at a loss as to why someone would take the recognizable movie memento.

"They're gonna keep it. You'll probably never see hit the market," said Cat Jercan, who runs DJ's Universal Comics in Studio City. "It's worth, what, two- three-hundred-thousand dollars? Nobody's gonna put it on the market 'cause they're gonna go to jail."

People who work near the warehouse where the suit was stored said whatever goes inside there is very secretive, just adding to the mystery.

Jercan had one theory Wednesday.

"It might've been a prepaid price for it. They say, 'Get me this,' or somebody did it just for the sake of doing it, you know? You can have a cosplayer that likes it, and they wanna keep it at home," Jercan hypothesized.

Give that person a hairless cat to pet, and you've got a pretty decent nerd-villain worthy of Stan Lee.