Marvel Legends has to be a couple of different things, so there are only so many spaces. Of course, nowadays we seem to be getting a new wave every other week, so at this rate most of Planet earth will be covered in Marvel Legends. Our streets will be paved in them. New directions will be “Take Gwenpool avenue and you’ll find the barbershop at the corner of Wasp and Paladin.” As always, that was a sentence that made way more sense in my head, but I’m not backspacing. I’m just not.
With waves splitting themselves between comic and MCU, and with waves having to balance modern and classic, and with waves having to fit into budget, and with so many parameters here and there, there’s a lot of characters that still need to be made from all corners. Will they eventually make everyone? I don’t know, but I’m going to be here until they do. Waiting. Watching.
So far, Hasbro has done a good job of hitting the hot characters when they are somewhere around the peak of their popularity. Despite having classic-leaning predilections, I’ve been enjoying getting characters like Kamala Khan, Gwenpool, the Sam Alexander Nova, Jane Foster Thor and even the maligned Red Goblin, because despite wanting a ton of classics, no line can be all classics, and newer characters deserve some plastic love also. Admittedly, I used to be a lot less tolerant of those newfangled characters getting in the way of characters I wanted more, but I’ve either mellowed or am too damn old to muster up the fist-shaking I used to. Probably some of both. Also, when you’re exposed to vehement rants about how classic is better than modern or modern is better than classic about one toyzillion times, you start to get tired of the entire fight and just embrace things.
It ain’t wisdom, but it’s close, I suppose.
Having said all that, the following are the top five newish characters that I’d like to be made asap in Marvel Legends. There are, of course, numerous figures that aren’t on this list. These are the ones that I either dig a lot of think would make excellent-looking toys.
Blue Marvel
Blue Marvel isn’t “new” new, but he’s newish. He debuted in 2008 but was really used to great effect in Al Ewing’s Ultimates title, which was a breath of fresh air and turned me into an immediate fan and made me follow anything and everything he’s doing at Marvel. Blue Marvel is an extremely toyetic design whether he’s in the more traditional superhero costume with cape or his other costume, which was less “superhero” and more “adventurer.” I kind of like them both, so I really don’t have a preference. He’s been on my radar for a while, so it would be nice to finally get one.
Mr. Negative
Mr. Negative is about as old a character as Blue Marvel but has, I think, a bit more clout, being the central antagonist to a bunch of stories and being one of the major bad guys in the recent Playstation Spider-Man game. He got a Marvel Universe figure, so it’s pretty surprising he hasn’t shown up in a spidey wave yet. He’s just a business suit and a funky color scheme, so they already have most of him made. I’d guess that he’s on a list somewhere and he just hasn’t found a slot yet. Gotta fit in literally every symbiote character, you know? Visually distinctive and a compelling entry into spider-man’s villain camp, Mr. Negative seems destined to be show off somewhere.
Ironheart
I have never read anything with Ironheart, but that’s because I’m allergic to anything Bendis does and can’t bring myself to read his stuff. That said, much like previous Bendis-creation that I now like Miles Morales, a character grows past their creator, and with a new writer taking over her stories, I’m looking forward to seeing what her deal is. With Eve Ewing taking over writing duties, I have the trade ordered, so I’ll be getting educated on what this super-smart teens deal is. Regardless of the character, it’s the armor that has grabbed my attention. Moving past the obvious Iron Man color echoes, I love the look of it and think it would make an extremely eye-catching action figure.
Honey Badger
Who the f**k is Honey Badger? That’s what I said when her name popped up on Fwoosh. I can’t stay on top of everything Marvel does. With a little research I found out she’s yet another clone of the X-23 variety, and hangs around with Deadpool or something. I don’t know, man, I read some stuff and I still don’t know what’s going on. I’ll have to find some reading material. But regardless of all that, the overall look…if this is what she’s wearing, looks like it would make a fun toy. Besides, something named “Honey Badger” on the pegs is…well, it’s something, you know?
Maker
So he’s not really new, in that he’s Reed Richards, but he is newish, because he’s the Ultimate version, and also he’s evil, so that’s new, so he’s not the same Reed Richards from our universe and as a villain he’s pretty new so….IT TOTALLY COUNTS, OK? Basically the idea of an evil Reed Richards that has stretched his brain to be even smarter and is all evil and stuff really tweaks my buds. We’ve finally (finally!) got a decent Fantastic Four so having an evil version of Reed doing…evil things would be cool.
But if you don’t like that one as the fifth option then fill it in with someone else. Maybe someone from the Avengers Academy book, or one of the newer mutants, or Viv Vision or on and on and on.