Some good things did come out of the Avengers Disassembled mess (no not a fan). One of them was Young Avengers. Billy Kaplan, known at the time as Asgardian, now known as Wiccan, is a core part of the team and has some interesting history in the 616. And the action figure is pretty fantastic as well.
For those of you that don’t know, Young Avengers was a spinoff from Avengers Disassembled, when Bendis decided to kill the Avengers. It was obviously time for a shakeup. Or Bendis was bored or Marvel needed money. Who knows, the result is that there was some interesting stuff spinning off that event. Writer Allan Heinberg and artist Jim Cheung did a great job giving us some new characters a center stage which to shine. And they’ve been doing so ever since.
Billy Kaplan is really one of the Scarlet Witch and Vision’s twins that was reincarnated. If you want to read some really disturbing stuff, read that arc in West Coast Avengers. In time, it is revealed to both Wiccan and the Scarlet Witch who he is and where he came from. And now he goes around galavanting as a super powerful mystic in the 616. In addition, he is one of the few openly homosexual characters in the 616 and is partners with teammate Hulking.
This is still one of my favorite Marvel Legends. It’s an excellent figure, beautifully sculpted and still holds up. I argue that it still looks good even with Hasbro’s Marvel Legends of today. It captures Cheung’s art and face, it’s got this fantastic texturing, and the overall sculpt is incredibly detailed.
Even the articulation holds up. The only gripe collectors might have is that the hips use the 45-degree angle pinning and not the 90-degree. It’s a point of discussion for many, and it comes down to 45 being better for vanilla shelf posing, and 90 being easier to play with and pose. There are merits to both sides. But for me, it works. All the articulation is there and it all functions as designed.
The figure comes with two accessories: a base and a staff. I lost my staff and had to break off a twig from willow tree in the backyard. I asked the tree if it was okay and then gave it a big hug afterwards. As you can see my twig fits after some shaving and the exposed green makes it look all magic like. The base is a simple base with two foot pegs and a sticker of the comic art. Simple. I still think the Generic Marvel “M” would be cooler.
How much do you need this figure? For the most part, you don’t. Despite the cool sculpt and loads of articulation, Wiccan might still be a niche character. Although with Hasbro’s Kate Bishop figure you might want Wiccan to complete that Young Avengers display. You can still get the box set here:
