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The first curated releases from the Marvel Cinematic Universe outside of the main Legends waves came in 2018. The ‘First Ten Years’ sets marked the 10th Anniversary of the MCU and went on to fill several gaps in our collections with figures like Red Skull, Yellow Jacket, Crossbones, and more. The series was then renamed the 80th Anniversary series in 2019 and here, alongside comic book releases, we saw more new releases including Skurge, Ghost, and Peggy Carter. 2020's releases saw a switch to the Fox movies and a set of releases celebrating both the original X-Men movies and Deadpool. And then finally in 2021, these annual releases evolved again into the Infinity Saga collection, a series of figures celebrating the first three phases of the MCU and including a mix of re-releases, and new characters such as Quicksilver, Odin, and Obadiah Stane.
The Infinity Saga would go on to skip 2022 but returned in 2023 with a set of 8 figures from the first full arc of the MCU. The packaging’s square box shape is consistent with all the movie releases dating back to 2018, while the design for the Infinity Saga established in 2021 is continued with a black window box, reflective side artwork - which is the same on every released - and the use of the movie logo on the box front, and the movie poster on the rear alongside a small piece of supporting text.
The Mk2 Iron-Man suit is a full repaint of the Mk3 suit released in 2021’s Infinity Saga series. This is of course perfectly accurate to the Iron-Man movie of 2008 taking the silver Mk2 and updating the metal and therefore colouring it to red and gold for the Mk3 replacement. Despite its short tenure in the movie, the Mk2 would of course go on to be the basis of the War Machine suit, and it is also significant to Iron-Man 2 and the original Hall of Armour, taking us one step closer to a full set.
The body is cast in its entirety in a silver colour, not quite metallic but shiny enough to pass and we know this is probably as good as we are going to get in the Legends line with the budget ceiling stopping any vac metal finishes or metal components. There is therefore limited decor to discuss, other than a very clever application of visible rivets across the chest arms, and legs. I am going to assume these may be photo-printed considering the size and accuracy of their application. The body is finished with the arc reactor, a blue sticker that fades to a central white spot in the middle to replicate the glow of the reactor. Proportions are good and while some early Iron-Man figures were on the small size, the Mk2 scales well with the rest of the MCU Legends.
The Mk2 has two head options, starting with a full helmet that uses the same silver plastic as the body across the helmet and the faceplate. Like the other Iron-Man releases, the eyes in the faceplate are sculpted, and then a blue hue is used to create the light-up effect. The other helmet, again taken from the Mk3 release and converted, is the unmasked Tony Stark head. This head features the faceplate raised with Tony’s face visible beneath. The likeness to Robert Downey Jr. in this head sculpt is excellent, considering the limited view, with facial printing tech applied beneath the visor to the face to get more detailing into the eyes and moustache in particular. Both heads are easy to interchange with a small amount of force required to pop them on or off in the usual fashion.
The set also featured a second pair of hands for our Mk2 Iron-Man giving you access to a pair of clenched fists, and a pair of open ‘repulsor blast’ hands. This second pair are not articulated at the wrist so are fixed in the palm up and out position once engaged into the wrist joint.
We are also given a pair of repulsor blast effects. These are the same set that have been doing the rounds since at least 2016 and the Civil War figures. The blasts are a blue translucent design and feature an outward blast and a second ring of blast effect near the base. Interestingly the repulsor blast hands do not have a socket for these blasts so they are only useable in the peg holes on the feet which then means you can only display them with the Mk2 in a flight position using an after-market stand. The effects do warp easily and often arrive misshapen - so very much a personal preference as to whether these get used, or go into a parts box.
Articulation is quite extensive for an Iron-Man release with 18 points of articulation in total. The legs remain very mobile with dual-jointed knees, thigh swivels, and a wide-ranging hip joint. These allow Iron-Man to kneel if needed, but not quite do that iconic landing pose. The arms are held back a little, but not by the shoulder armour which is hinged so moves with the shoulder joints. Instead, the restriction appears to be in the shoulder joint itself which can raise to the 90-degree position, but no further - and it can't be rotated either to move the arm any further upwards. This being said the Mk2 has plenty of display options, including the use of a flight stand to have him flying or hovering.
While this is a repainted release that offers nothing new, the inclusion of the Mk2 suit into the Marvel Legends collection at the right scale (the old version from the 2008 pre-Legends release is wildly undersized) is a welcome one and puts us another suit closer to having a Hall of Armour setup. The release offers us multiple posing options with the two heads, two sets of hands, and a wide-ranging set of articulation. It also looks the part with sensible use of decor on the glossy silver plastic to get close to a metallic silver finish as is possible in the Legends price point. I would have preferred the option to have the repulsor blasts fit into the hands as well as the feet, and these effects themselves are overused and now limited in their appeal. Out of the 8 figures in the 2023 wave, the Mk2 is perhaps one of the most desirable and that is reflected in the speed of sales vs some of the other releases.
Keep Track of all the Marvel Legends figures from Hasbro at our comprehensive
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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...