PRESENTING: The Man Without Fear Daredevil from the Marvel Universe Marvel’s Greatest Battles Comic Pack
I have to admit that I’m on a Marvel induced high! On April 22 I got to watch Avengers: Age of Ultron here in the Philippines. The Avengers: Age of Ultron movie could not come at a better time because I’ve sat through all 13 Netflix episodes of Marvel’s Daredevil and I need more (good thing they ordered series two)! The Avengers: Age of Ultron movie will have to do as a substitute - for now. So what we have here is one of my most favourite Marvel Universe figures: Daredevil from the two-pack that includes his nemesis Bullseye.
The blind lawyer by day/brutal vigilante by night Daredevil was actually one of the first Marvel Universe figures to be made – and he looked horrible! The original Daredevil figure came with very poor articulation; a roughly detailed facial sculpt highlighted by an uneven paint job; carried a pair of inflexible nunchucks, and; he came in a nice bright cherry-red. He was even described in a forum as “fat”
So we’re really glad that Marvel decided to retool him and do him some real justice.
PROS
FIRST: Marvel completely rebuilt Matt Murdock. They gave him a stronger, more intimidating jaw. I love how they painted his eyes a different red color than the rest of his body – you can almost see them glow in the dark – note that the cherry-red paint is gone by the way, replaced with a blood-red accented with a black that looks like coagulated blood. And check out the black-accents on his mask. That has to be done by hand.
SECOND: The Marvel Universe Daredevil comes with a new pair of billy-clubs that can be combined to form a short-staff and can be stored in a holster around his left leg. Personally I prefer to have him posed with a billy-club in each hand.
THIRD: The Marvel Universe Daredevil comes with excellent articulation! He’s one of the first characters of Marvel to have this level of movement and with the proper equipment; he’s a joy to pose.
ARTICULATION BREAKDOWN:
Head is mounted on a ball joint on a neck hinge
Upper torso is also on a ball joint allowing it to swivel and tilt.
Ball jointed shoulders with bicep swivel
Single direction elbows, no forearm swivel
360° wrists
Waist swivel
Ball jointed legs with upper leg swivel
Double jointed, single-direction knees
Boot/ankle tilt and swivel
The Marvel Universe Greatest Battles Daredevil can wield a billy-club in each hand with no problem whatsoever.
CONS
FIRST: The logo on his chest. While it bears a different shade of crimson, it is buried in all the…. muscles – literally – on Daredevil’s chest. I believe that this was rectified though by Marvel who recently re-released this exact figure as a chase figure in the Marvel Universe Infinite series. That figure has a brighter Daredevil logo proudly emblazoned on his chest.
SECOND: The Marvel Universe Greatest Comic Battles Daredevil’s left-leg articulation is hampered by the rigidness of his billy-club holster. So while Daredevil can kneel, it’s not as refined a “kneel” as any similar figure would be capable of.
BUYER/COLLECTOR RECOMMENDATION: In my opinion, the Marvel Universe Greatest Comic Battles Daredevil is one of the best action figures ever sculpted by Marvel. I dare say that he is even better than his larger Marvel Legends versions – not counting the recently released Marvel Legends Infinite Series Hobgoblin BAF Daredevil which is also awesome!
So if you are a Daredevil fan and you need to find that fix 'til the next season of Daredevil is released on Netflix, you can’t go wrong with this figure. You can pursue the Marvel Universe Greatest Comic Book Battles 2-pack featuring Daredevil squaring off against Bullseye which will set you back around $24.95 USD OR you can seek him out as an individual as a part of the Marvel Universe Infinite series which will set you back around $14.95 USD.