I’ve got a soft spot for the ’70s Marvel, and if you look around, many of those characters still dominate comics today. And our toy shelves. The latest and greatest ’70s character to hit our Marvel Legends shelves is Gladiator, whose first appearance was in issue 107 of Uncanny X-Men in 1977. What great times!
Gladiator was the leader of the Imperial Guard of the Shi’ar and is now the empire’s ruler. He’s a great Superman-like character whose powers are based on his ability to believe that he is powerful. He starts to doubt them, and down he goes — confidence is an amazing power. We’ve seen him in the annals of and most recently in the Galactic Wars in Annihilation Conquest, Guardians of the Galaxy, and recently The Avengers. I think he’s considered an X-Men property, and that means his appearance in Marvel Studios Movies won’t happen anytime soon since he’s tied up with Fox (boo hiss).
Gladiator can make an appearance in Marvel Legends, and this a long overdue appearance! He’s been on top-10 wish lists since before there were top-10 wish lists or Marvel Legends! He’s available as part of the SDCC 2014 Comic-Con Marvel Legends Thanos Imperative exclusive box set. Well, that is until it went up for sale on HasbroToyShop.com and sold out in 30 minutes. We fully expect this to be released at various cons this year and will make further appearances in toy shops down the road. Or not, I’m no psychic.
The figure is amazing! Well, OK, it is a good figure, and we’ve already covered the buck that it is based on when we reviewed Hyperion and Sabertooth, and there isn’t much to add about the body sculpt. The head is a new sculpt and it’s a nice one! I’ve mentioned that I like the newer Marvel Legends head sculpts and this one pops as well. It’s got some good character and it looks like Gladiator. I imagine customizers will enjoy shaving the Mohawk off this head and using it for customs. One thing to note is that this head does sit high on the neck peg. I haven’t investigated it further, but that might be something to consider as I think this is done to make room for the cape.
Articulation is on par with Sabertooth and Hyperion; there are no additions or omissions. Here is the breakdown:
•Rocker ankles
•Hinged ankles
•Shin swivels
•Double knees
•Swivel thighs
•Ball hips
•Swivel waist
•Hinged ab
•Ball shoulders
•Swivel biceps
•Double elbows
•Swivel forearms
•Hinged wrists
•Hinged neck
•Swivel head
I know there is mention of this figure being on a base that is too tall, and it may have benefited from being on a buck between Black Panther and Hyperion. I’d like to disagree — it’s perfect. Gladiator is always depicted as being large and he’s even listed in the 6-foot 6-inch range; this base is perfect for that. It’s what distinguishes him from being Superman. Slightly bigger and taller.
Right now there are no known plans to release this figure in a future box set or as an individual carded figure. You’ll have to hit the aftermarket for this box set or keep trying Hasbro Toy Shop.
