In contrast to real American history, for Captain America, his Civil War actually happened after the Cold War.
I know, Cap fighting Iron Man is totally en vogue right now, but before all of this in-fighting, Steve Rogers took on all kinds of enemies from unfriendly states across the globe. The Red Skull, Baron Zemo, Strucker, and others might have a bit more notoriety, but for the US’s longest “war,” the Soviet Union looked to contrast Captain America with their own super-powered soldier: Red Guardian.
I am actually a fan of Cold War politics playing out in comic books, and like the Superman:Red Son story, Red Guardian helps give a more tactile feel to an ideology-based stalemate touted as a “war.” The tense times spanned decades and there was always the fear that the “button” could be pushed and the entire world would go down in flames. Well, the US already had a hero who could embody their ideals in Captain America, so having a Soviet counterpart made so much sense. Now, this is obviously the second iteration of Red Guardian (Shostakov), so not only is he a nice mirror of Cap, but he can also cause some nice awkwardness on the shelf with his ex-wife, the Black Widow. Talk about Civil War! Am I right, folks? Am I right?
Anyhow, all of that history and all of the newly relevant politics makes Red Guardian a perfect entrant into a Marvel Legends Civil War series, so having him included here makes a lot of sense. Being a part of a Build-a-Figure assortment helps get these non-top line characters into our collection, but as you will see, the figure’s overall construction certainly helped as well. As plainly as I can say it: Red Guardian is a straight-up repaint of the comic Captain America released in the previous assortment, but with a new head.
If you think about it, though, it kind of makes sense that the figure would be the spitting-image of Captain America, but with Soviet raiment. Red, white, and blue have been changed to just red and white, but the star insignia and shield as weapon and symbol remain intact. Even the shield and belt has been repainted to suit the character, and, in a cute twist, the belt has been put on upside down from before, so it looks like it is buckled opposite of Cap. Pretty sneaky, comrade.
So, if you have Civil War ML comic Captain America figure, you pretty much know what you are getting here. All of the plastic is the same, and the articulation is strong, but fluid. That leaves paint the main focus for comment here, and overall, the paint on Red is not as good as it was on Cap. My Captain America was pretty flawless, and while the paint on this new figure isn’t terrible, since it is mostly in high-contrast spots, the imperfections become pretty obvious. The star on the chest has a couple of problem areas, so those really mess with what should be a clean white star right on the middle of the chest. So I would certainly advise checking the paint applications on these figures once they start showing up en masse.
The biggest difference from figure to figure, though, is that Red Guardian appropriately features a new head sculpt. This is where Mr. Red certainly has it over on Cap, and I much prefer the overall sculpt here. I don’t know, the Cap head did not come through production perfectly, so it is a bit big and definitely wide; this one, though, is pretty perfect. I mean, I don’t have an image ingrained in my head of what Red Guardian’s masked head should look like in terms of shape, but this one just feels more realistic and natural than the American counterpart. Actually, I like the “face” and the jaw line for Captain America even more than what we actually got, so I am curious it anyone does some customizing to make the switch.
For me, Red Guardian closes out a group of three comic-based figures in the Giant Man assortment, and I am quite happy to add them all to my shelf. While he is probably my least favorite of the three (Nick Fury and Nuke being the others), he is a great universe-builder, a nice reflection of Cap, and a reminder to Black Widow of her less-than-glamorous past. He fits right into the theme of this assortment, and since he has a clean design and good construction, if you find one with good paint job, he makes for a great figure. You will, at the very least, need him to complete Giant Man, but like his assortment mates, he is a great addition in his own right.
