Marvel Legends
Infamous Iron Man
He’s Infamous. He’s Iron Man. But really, he is Dr. Doom.
As a Fantastic Four fan, with the release of the Thing last year, I am still riding pretty high. Hasbro and Walgreens got us a pretty damned wonderful set of the actual Four via their combined efforts, and that is something I had resigned myself to possibly never seeing. Now, a LOT has changed, and the Disney acquisition of 20th Century Fox (now complete) should blow the doors off of any past character intricacies, but even if it didn’t, I would be happy with the F4 set I have now.
With that Walgreens pattern of release, I think everyone was expecting more Fantastic Four figure exclusives to the chain, and while there have been a few (awesome) X-Men figures released in the past few slots, we have circled back to the Fantastic Four in the form of Dr. Doom. Well, kinda. I was, of course, personally jonesing for a new classic Doom, but this makes for an interesting release. I will admit, I have not read the comics where this look is featured, but turning the (arguably) greatest villain in the Marvel Universe into a good guy is something I am not sure I am completely onboard with, not that it matters. However, from a design standpoint, the chance to mash up the two most famous suits of armor in the MU is certainly interesting.
Now, this is Dr. Doom, but since he is called Iron Man in this iteration, this is being marketed as an Avengers release, and considering the timing, it makes total sense. Now, I *think* this figure is mostly comprised of the ML Invisible Iron Man figure base (from the Okoye series), which again makes sense, but there are certainly some new pieces as well. This has been common with most of the Walgreens releases and it helps to support my feeling that, when it comes to exclusive outlets, they are leading the pack in terms of dollars they are willing to spend to do proper justice to their releases. Now, this isn’t like the Thing where every friggin’ piece is new, but there is a good blend here that makes me like this figure a lot more than I thought I would.
As I said, most of the figure is reused Invincible Iron Man, but the helmet and cape/hood are most certainly unique to this release. Obviously, the darker grey and green color combination gives this a distinctly “Doom” feeling, and the Iron Man armor almost feels just as much as a modern update of the Doom armor as it is a combination of Doom and IM. The hood and cape is what distinctly makes this Victor, though, and I rather like the way these pieces have been handled here. The hood is attached to the helmet and the cape rests on the shoulders without any other connection, but it actually holds well. There is texturing to the outside of the hood and cape, so it provides a bit more added detail. I would imagine that, if they do make a new classic Doom in the not too distant future, this hood and cape would be used, but I am not 100% sure if I would like that. It works well here, but the hood shape is a bit flat, and the portion of the cape the lays over the shoulders isn’t quite dynamic enough for when I picture classic Victor.
Even with all that though, I think my favorite part of this entire release is the unmasked Victor head, because it is awesome. This likeness is handsome, chiseled, and even somewhat invoking of an Eastern European lineage, which is everything you want in a Victor Von Doom portrait. There is no noticeable scar or anything, so I don’t know if that was solved for in the Infamous Iron Man storyline, but man, it looks great. It sounds weird, but there is a mid-century quality to the look and hair style which is perfect for an association with a team that is so deeply rooted in the 1960s, and I think this might be one of the best ML heads ever. Seriously. He even matches against the Walgreens Reed quite well, which you can hopefully see in the pictures.
Aside from that, the standard Iron Man energy blasts are included, as are the lightning effects that were originally included with Storm, both cast in a magenta color this time around. The color is about damned perfect for Doom, and it offsets the drab green and grey quite well. I know we see the basic run of ML accessory pieces reoccur with regular frequency, but when they work, they work, and I like them here for sure.
As is common with ML these days, I have ended up liking this figure so much more than I thought I would. Yeah, there is a tinge of it not being a CLASSIC Doom that sticks in my craw (whatever that is), but I am not overly fussed because the likelihood of that happening is stronger than ever now. Walgreens is pivoting back to X-Men for their next release with Emma Frost. She is in a black costume, but the figure looks great, so I will be on the lookout. Past that, we don’t know what the rest of the year holds, so I am looking forward to finding out at SDCC. I have faith because Walgreens brings the goods, and this Infamous Iron Man is most certainly the goods.
