Review: Marvel Legends Captain America from Avengers: Doomsday, Wave 1
"Captain... s? America? Captains America?"
Avengers: Doomsday hits cinemas in the UK on the 16th of December 2026, and ahead of the launch, excitement began to build for the new movie through the release of a first wave of Marvel Legends action figures from Hasbro.
Alongside the exclusive Magneto figure, Wave 1 was made up of six figures split across several factions that we know are part of the movie. Representing The Avengers is Sam Wilson’s Captain America, who arrives in the Doomsday packaging, which uses a dark stonework backing scheme with green hues on the main Doomsday logo and on selected elements of the text. The character name, like Brave New World. Is simply ‘Captain America ’, and this is positioned down the right-hand side of the main window.
The right-hand spine carries a full image of Cap, with matching but not linked images on all the other releases for anyone who wants to display them that way. The left-hand spine includes a wrap-around of the window and a smaller headshot of Sam.
The back of the box includes another picture of the character alongside some text. I expected this text to be generic, but it is specific to Sam’s role in the movie and semi-spoiler-y in content. Under this is a checklist of the main wave and all 6 figures included in it. Captain America is secured inside the box in the standard tray with his shield and backpack sitting to the side. Behind this tray is a card insert - identical in all the releases - with more Laterverian-inspired patterns in green and a glowing magical effect.
The Doomsday launch wave is a mix of brand-new figures like Cyclops and Gambit, and reworked figures from the existing Marvel Legends Cinematic Series like Thor and Shang-Chi. Captain America also falls into this category, perhaps more so, as this is pretty much a repack of the Brave New World Captain America, although without the wingsuit and with the Sam Wilson head from The Falcon & The Winter Soldier; specifically, the two-pack with both Sam Wilson and Steve Rogers.
Like Brave New World, Sam’s suit is a deep blue, and therefore most of the figure is cast in this base colour. Most of the other colours are painted over this blue, most notably the red & white stripes of the midsection. While these are neat in terms of their definition, the coverage is poor, and the area looks weathered, which may or may not be to everyone's liking.
Elsewhere on the suit we have red and grey on the shoulders. Grey panels are included on the arms and again on the top of the thighs. Then the central sculpted stars-and-stripes symbol is picked out in a grey silver slightly brighter in tone to the other greys. Sam's sleeves are rolled up with a small painted flesh section before his silver and red gauntlets and black fingerless gloves (the same gloved hands as used on Magneto). The costume finishes with the red and black boots with silver trim.
The sole headsculpt is a strong likeness to Anthony Mackie, as it was in 2022 when it was first released. This new 2026 version uses facial printing tech and is slightly sharper and slightly more realistic than the older version - not by much, but enough.
vs the 2024 Brave New World Captain America (right) and with its wingsuit (far right)
Sam comes with his backpack, but not the wingsuit, which would have required a Deluxe release. The backpack, cast in grey with blue and silver trim, slots into the back of the main figure and comes with a socket for Sam’s shield. If you do want the wings on display, the 2024 set from Brave New World is a perfect fit
That hole in the back of the flight pack accommodates Sam’s shield. The shield is features the long-running mechanism on the back with a tilting function to present either a wrist clip or a peg forward for attaching the shield to the figure. With the peg facing front, it slots into the backpack, but this does look a bit off in terms of how proud it stands. Slotting it into the rear of the figure looks and feels more natural.
The shield itself is a hard plastic cast in silver with the red and blue sections painted on the front. When you want Sam to hold the shield, the inner pivot can be turned so the wrist clip is present, and this then clips onto either of Cap’s forearms to give a gripped position. The clip works well enough and seems to be a good fit for the wrist; it doesn't feel stretched or stressed when clipped in place, as some often are.
The Captain America Doomsday release has 19 points of pinless articulation and therefore has a pretty wide range of display options. The legs allow full movement, including kneeling, while the arms are expansive in terms of gesturing and hand-to-hand combat positions, with or without the shield.
While older Sam Wilson Caps came with alternative hands, this Doomsday version gives you only the clenched fists fitted on the figure on arrival, which does limit some of the posing to fighting positions with or without the shield clipped to the arm; there are no dynamic shield-throwing options with the lack of a gripping hand able to hold the shield edge as we’ve seen on lots of the Steve Rogers figures.
Despite all the excitement for Doomsday, picking up a figure we’ve already had feels a bit flat, particularly a re-release that is actually somewhat lacking vs. the original release; considering the lack of extra head, hands, or the wingsuit (although I do understand the latter decision). It also offers nothing substantially different apart from a minor likeness upgrade to a 4-year-old head sculpt. Its inclusion was most likely aligned to Sam's role in the movie, as well as being budget balancing when we consider the brand new figures also included.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the execution, and if you don’t have the Brave New World Sam, then this is a great option for display and to represent his role in The Avengers when facing off against Doom.
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's 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 licences - 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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