This initial wave of Marvel Legends Spider-Man figures have been vanishing from the pegs at Target and Toys R Us stores as soon as they’re put out, and, in some cases, even before they’re put out. That’s a great and encouraging sign for the future of 6-inch Marvel figures at retail, and it’s not hard to see why these figures are in such demand. The sculpts, detailing, and paint work are all excellent, resulting in some of the better Marvel Legends we’ve seen in quite some time. Superior Spider-Man is a great example of what can happen when everything comes together in such a satisfying way.
The base body used here is a great fit for the character. It’s not overly buff and it’s not a spindly mess, which are the two pitfalls we often see with Spider-Man figures. It’s also highly poseable — something that is of utmost importance with any Spider-Man figure. It hits all the right notes, and if you can find one with solid paint apps, then this could be one of the most fully realized figures we’re likely to see this year.
But finding good paint apps seems to be the challenge, at least in my case. The issue seems to be the symmetry of the web lines applied to his head. Now, Superior Spider-Man’s web lines are supposed to be slightly askew and off-center, but the key word there is slightly. Often what I was seeing was very off-center paint apps, and in some cases the lines were smeared and blurred, as though the paint wasn’t quite dry when it went into its packaging.
The one you see here is the one I finally settled on after seeing about six of them on the pegs that all looked pretty bad. Even here, the small web circle that should center on his nose is slightly off, but it’s close enough that I can live with it.
This may very well not bother some as much as it bothered me, so your mileage will definitely vary when it comes to the web lines. Thankfully this is the only issue I had with the figure, and everything else is pretty much spot-on.
His design is simple and complex all at the same time. It’s simple in that the only paint applied to the figure is black (well, aside from his feet and eyes). Mainly, he’s cast in just red or black plastic with primarily black paint applied to create his detailing.
The pattern of his spider symbols and his web lines is what make his design so complex, and that may be the case with any Spider-Man figure, but it seems more pronounced here. Having his web lines slightly off adds a level of complexity to what should be a pretty straight forward design scheme, and it adds a lot of personality and character to the figure, just like the character in the comic.
He comes with a pair of swappable hands, and it’s the closed, “gripping” hands that you see here. They look as though they’re meant to hold something, but he has no other accessories (apart from a BAF piece), so I can’t help but think a pair of fists would have been better. These do OK in terms of serving as a pair of fists, and when he’s gut-punching someone like Carnage, they do the job adequately.
They also work well in resting his chin when he’s daydreaming his afternoon away …
… or when he’s being entertained by a friend.
His proportions make for a very stable and easy to balance figure. And with a little creativity, you can find things for him to hold in this pair of hands. (I think I got the idea of using the Avengers/Wolverine stands to balance him from Industrial.)
If you have the web accessories the first Amazing Spider-Man movie figure came with, then those work perfectly with his grippy hands. It’s too bad he didn’t come with a set of these himself because they feel custom-tailored to work with these hands.
I haven’t had this much fun playing with a 6-inch superhero figure in a long time. He’s easily among my new favorite figures in my collection.
He also comes with a pair of “web-shooter” hands. They’re perfect for when he feels like he’s just got to throw up the horns …
… or when he needs to be posed so as to depict his launching his webs. Both sets of hands feature the little claw-like bits on his fingers, which is an awesome little bit of attention to detail that makes the figure feel unique and not a throwaway repaint, which he isn’t anyway, but still — character-specific details like this are always appreciated when they could have been easily ignored or overlooked. Nice work here, Hasbro.
We have no shortage of 6-inch Spider-Man figures available to us, that’s for sure, but this Superior Spider-Man feels like one of the more satisfying versions to come along yet. The old ToyBiz Spider-Man Classics SUperposeable Spider-Man, otherwise known as the McFarlane or Campbell Spider-Man, used to be the figure to which all other Spider-Man figures would be compared, but I think this new figure has raised the bar just a bit, mainly because his proportions are much more realistic. I really do think he trumps everything else so far.
The good news is that Superior here is packed two-to-a-case, so while most collectors are going to be going nuts trying to secure their Black Cat and Carnage figures, this guy should be fairly easy to scoop up — just make sure you check out his paints apps first.
The wave is rolling out very slowly at Target and Toys R Us stores currently, but you can always order the wave by the case at one of the usual online shops like Big Bad Toy Store (who, incidentally, has the figure available as a single for $14.99 — $5 cheaper than retail!). If you’re a Spider-Man fan, then this figure is a must-have, I think. He’ll be worth the trouble it takes to track him down.
I prefer this Spidey fig over the Amazing Spider-Man 2 one to be honest. The pose-ability is a lot better on Superior than Amazing. I chalk this up to a more accurate depiction of Movie Spidey vs. Comic Spidey, where CS can contort a bit more unrealistically.
About those web marks on the head. I also looked through several on the pegs trying to find a decent one, but if you look at the stock photo on the back of the packaging, they’re on there, so it’s clearly a defect with the product on the whole. Not sure why Hasbro let it through with such an obvious issue, but at least we know we can’t do any better by continuing to look.
2099 would be fantastic on this body. Hell, how about a new black suit one while we’re at it? This thing is fun enough to warrant at least a few good repaints.
That black costume Spidey is the one from the Red Hulk wave.
Still hunting for the spidey line. I have only snagged a NOW Cap out of these new marvel infinite legends. Easily see a Black suit/Dark Spidey out of this mold.
Which black Costume Spidey is that?
I wish I could take credit for that bitchin’ Superior Spidey Instagram pic but that was all Robo… I don’t even have this guy yet 🙁
He def looks like a fun figure, I’m just slightly bummed he’s missing his little backpack and the gauntlets that are a part of this costume.
I want this figure repainted as a traditional Spidey, Symbiote Spidey and Spidey 2099 STAT!
Nice review. Love this figure too. He really is a great base figure and I hope we get a black costumed Spidey on it sooner rather than later.