Review: Marvel Legends Black Symbiote Suit Spider-Man from Spider-Man 3
- Mephitsu
- Jun 23
- 5 min read
“Whoa. Buddy, love the new outfit.”
For many years, fans of the original Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies were starved of Marvel Legends releases thanks to the complex relationship between Disney and Sony. Once Maguire made his triumphant return as part of Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021, the door was again opened for Hasbro to create both figures from that new movie, but also to look backwards into Maguire’s Trilogy. The Spider-Man 3 Symbiote Suit release was announced in early 2025 and released in June as a standalone figure outside of any wave, and unusually not exclusive to any particular retailer or channel
The packaging mirrors that used on all Legends releases now, with a base black box with a blue accent colour design across the base panel at the front of the box and incorporated into the side artwork, which features the black-suited Spidey looking out from a position on the side of a building. The rear of the box changes to a white backdrop and it is headed up with a brief piece of background text that talks about Spider-Man’s mind being infected by an alien symbiote. Underneath this is a picture of the figure and an insert panel that shows off the symbiote accessory piece - more on this later. The figure is set against a blue backdrop that has similarities to that used on the No Way Home figures, with a web design, albeit the NWH figures used a yellow base colour.
The figure is based on the scenes in Spider-Man 3 when the Venom symbiote has infected the original Spider-Man suit, turning it black with silver weblines and logo. Cast in black, the weblines and spider logos front and back are sculpted into the suit and then picked out in silver, an application that is both neat and crisp.
The Symbiote Suit is a re-use of the No Way Home release of Tobey Maguire’s Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man, with the red and blue of the suit obviously recoloured to the black and silver this time round. The masked head and hands are similarly carried over, leaving the only new elements the unmasked ‘Bully Maguire’ head and the Symbiote accessory. As the two bodies are exactly the same, the heads can be exchanged.
The Maguire Head appears to be based on the scenes in which Maguire, influenced by the Venom symbiote, goes shopping for a new suit and undertakes that ‘memorable’ dance on the streets of New York. The likeness is impressive, matching the look of the 2007 scenes, including the dark ringed eyes and that slick hair combed over to one side of his forehead. Facial printing enhances the likeness with a sinister look to the eyes in particular.
Spider-Man is shown as unmasked in SM3 when he is trying to separate himself from the Venom symbiote, and to reflect those scenes, the set includes a brand new part. The symbiote piece is made of softer black plastic and is similar to symbiote pieces we’ve seen on other Venom figures. It slots over the figure's head and shoulders with a sculpted Venom head pulling away from the piece on the left-hand side as though separating from his host. The Venom features are clearly visible with white painted teeth and a white metallic look to his eyes.
This accessory is particularly effective sitting on the figure, although perhaps a screaming Maguire head would have been more accurate, the one we get looks a bit too calm considering he is trying to pull away from the Venom symbiote.
The set also features a black masked Spider-Man head, again taken from the NWH release, which can be used as an alternative to the Maguire likeness and still works with the symbiote piece if you want to try out that look. I found that the masked head, like its No Way Home version, was more difficult to fit onto the ball joint head, leaving the articulation gummy and difficult to position.
The set concludes with the inclusion of three different sets of hands, allowing you to choose between a pair of clenched fists, a pair of wall-climbing hands that also work as those used to pull off the Symbiote mask, and a pair of webslingers. These are all taken from the Maguire release in the Spider-Man No Way Home 3-Pack.
Articulation is, of course, the same as the No Way Home release, and therefore a little reduced to what we might expect these days from a Spider-Man release in the Legends series. There are 21 joints in total, which are all pinless and with the key knee and elbow joints double-jointed, with the arms supported by butterfly shoulders to extend their range of motion. The torso is a little less mobile, and while it includes a T-joint ab crunch with an extensive forward & backward range, it doesn’t include a waist swivel, and instead comes with a ball joint torso that is less mobile and, like the head, a little spongy in its movement.
The new Marvel Legends Black Symbiote Spider-Man does come with a bit of a premium price tag, coming in around £29 at most retailers so about £4-£5 higher than a standard release. It does, however, reflect a testing of the water on older Marvel movie figures in a day of age where older movies are being brought into the fold. This one was a fairly safe release, relying only on a new head and symbiote piece. But it does offer potential for further figures from the original Spider-Man movies, to a similar extent that Hasbro cherry picked some key X-Men movie figures back in 2020 to take advantage of the original Deadpool movie success.
The figure brings with it the same minor issues that came with the No Way Home set: a slightly limited range of torso movement and a poorly fitting masked head. It does, however, look awesome, and the new Maguire head is eerily accurate and quite sinister looking. The Venom part works a treat to add further variation to the set, although the purist in me would have liked a second screaming head, or to have adjusted the Maguire piece to look less smug. That smugness will work for custom creators when planted onto a repainted black suit body to reflect the Bully Maguire scenes - it may even be something Hasbro might try in the future as an exclusive or as part of a set.
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About Me : As a child of the '70s and '80s I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force), and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licenses - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who, and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK-focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...
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