“I'm a really good lawyer.”
The 2021 release of Spider-Man: No Way Home was shrouded in a lot of secrecy ahead of its release due to the number of returning characters that appeared in the movie as cameos, or as key characters. This meant that Hasbro was most likely a little restricted by the Marvel Legends figures it could get on shelves to coincide with the December release. That amounted to figures of Doctor Strange, J. Jonah Jameson, and a trio of Spider-Man figures, all pretty much as seen in the trailers. Following the movie, there was a huge clamouring for many more figures from the movie and it has taken a full 2 years to finally bring the next batch of Spider-Man: No Way Home figures to store shelves.
The Marvel Legends ‘No Way Home’ wave is dedicated to movie figures and goes down a similar track as the Across the Spiderverse releases by packing the figures onto blister cards and doing away with a build-a-figure option. The cards themselves are beautiful featuring a deep blue Spider-Suit-inspired backing overlaid with a bright gold panel that acts as the backing colour for the figure in its blister as well as depicting scenes from No Way Home with the three Peter Parkers. The movie logo sits above the blister while the Marvel Legends logo as well as the character name sits bottom left. Round the back is a repeat of the image of the three Peters, expanded now to show them on the scaffold of the Statue of Liberty and headed by the movie logo as though it were a movie poster. The standard Marvel Legends principle of a short character overview is then listed to the left of the card back. The decision to card this wave does mean there is no way of opening the figures without damaging the packaging in some way.
Matt Murdock only appears briefly in No Way Home, but that appearance as Peter Parker’s Lawyer is enough to translate into an action figure. Matt is a suited figure and uses a new pinless suited body rather than rolling out the older suits that we have seen over the years (Coulson, Stark, Fury). The suit looks to be the same base used on The Rose earlier this year, and will likely see further use going into 2024 and beyond. Matt’s suit is grey, with the legs, and arms cast in this base colour. The white-shirted torso is then cast in white with a rubberised plastic black tie sitting over the top and fixed into the collar. The suit is finished with a softer rubber jacket with sculpted lapel and pocket details. There are no paint apps across the suit, just a small amount on Matt’s black belt with silver buckles.
The head sculpt is new and not a re-use of the existing Murdock head we saw in the 2018 Netflix SDCC 5-pack. The likeness to actor Charlie Cox is OK. It is one of those sculpts that looks good from certain angles and then looks really off from others. Facial print tech recreates Matt’s eyes, mouth, and facial stubble really well - and Matt’s look is finished off with the glasses. These glasses are an individual piece with black plastic arms, silver rims, and a pair of translucent red lenses through which the eye detail can be seen. As is often the case with 6-inch scale glasses, they look too big - a compromise made between the look and the longevity of the part, and the level of intricacy to cast it and fix it in place. And these glasses are fixed in place, leaving some level of variances in positioning at the factory which will impact the look of your Matt Murdock figure - mine, for example, has the glasses slightly angled down from right to left.
Articulation is fully pinless, another advantage of finally introducing a new suited body into the line. There are 19 points of articulation across the figure with the usual double joint elbows and knees, ball joints hips and shoulders, and ankle rockers to support stability. The torso is granted extra movement with both waist and chest joints. The articulation all works as intended, and Matt is simple enough to pose and display with the old suited gripe of ankle joints that sit the feet leaning back to far is thankfully not carried into this new figure.
Matt didn’t really get into anything dramatic during No Way Home so his accessories are reflective of the single scene in which he appears. This includes the brick, wrapped in newspaper, that is thrown through Peter’s window. It is well sculpted and well sized, and with a very impressive level of detail so much that the red ink message of ‘We believe Mysterio’ is clearly legible on the front face. It will just about fit into the left hand, but the grip isn’t fully secure. The right hand is a more secure option, but not quite screen-accurate.
The other included piece is Matt’s walking cane. This is a well-sized piece, almost as tall as the figure's body, and made up of a white shaft with a black end foot, and black handle with ribbed grip and wrist strap. It is designed to fit into the gripping right hand and the articulation allows it simply to be held, or to be used as though Matt is walking.
I have nothing against this Matt Murdock figure other than the slightly off head sculpt and those glasses an issue solved by strategic posing so his ‘best side’ is on display. The choice however is odd considering the screen time for Murdock vs someone like Lizard or Electro who were both critical to the story, yet are (at the time of this review) still not getting a figure. We are already seeing this wave sell out of the three Spider-Man figures while Matt is one of the ones that appears to be hanging around on pegs - a situation not helped by the decision not to have a BAF that will drive sales of the lesser desirable figures. I am a huge fan of Charlie Cox’s Daredevil, so am pleased to have this on my display and I would hope the next step will see this head sculpt go forward with a new Daredevil figure as seen in She-Hulk and then onward into the Daredevil: Born Again series when it arrives.
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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...