Action Figure Planet: Mattel: DCUC Recovery Suit Superman

DCUC Recovery Suit Superman

In my previous post, I touched upon the topic of Superman's death. For this post, I'm going to talk about his spectacular comeback. While DC decided to kill Superman and briefly explored a World without Superman, they also made plans in place on how to bring him back. This powerless Superman in a new suit is Mattel's initial Superman figure for their relaunched DC Universe Classics line. This post will be all about the Recovery Suit Superman.

Superman, Back form the Dead

Mattel must have securely thought that their DCSH Superman would be enough for collectors to own and incorporate in the DC Universe Classics collection. They went for the surprising choice of releasing this Recovery Suit Superman and the Mullet Haired Superman (Post Return of Superman appearance) for their DC Universe Classics toy line. This Recovery Suit Superman served as the variant one. I will be focusing on this figure and will dedicate a separate post for the Mullet Haired Superman. When DC started the Return of Superman storyline, they made it a mystery as to who is the Real Superman by coming up with four new Supermen who had either a resemblance or a common characteristic to the real Superman. The Four Supermen (which will be reviewed in future posts) were The Last Son of Krypton/Eradicator, Steel, Superboy, and The Cyborg Superman. These four for much of the entire run of the storyline were the prominent characters in the four separate Superman comic books namely, Action Comics (Eradicator), Superman: Man of Steel (Steel), The New Adventures of Superman (Superboy), and Superman (Cybrog Superman). It was easily revealed in the storyline that Superboy (which was a clone of Superman) and Steel (A mortal in a powered armor inspired by Superman) were not the real Superman. Readers were forced to choose between Eradicator/The Last Son of Krypton and Cyborg Superman as to who was the real Superman between them. Both possessed Superman's memories and some Kryptonian DNA albeit questionable at times (Back then, I thought that The Last Son of Krypton was the real Superman, though I preferred Cyborg Superman as the new Superman because of the popularity of the Terminator at that time). And as the readers were treated to the mystery of the real Superman, a fifth one emerged during the final quarter of the storyline. This Superman was the real deal, Kal El himself, but the twist was that he was rendered powerless. It was revealed that Eradicator stole Superman's body and put him in a regeneration matrix to resurrect Superman and keep him alive while drawing Superman's powers to himself. Cyborg Superman on the other hand was actually Hank Henshaw, a villain who harbored hatred for Superman because he blames Superman for the death of his wife. More of The Return of Superman storyline will be featured below.

Black Suit and Powerless

The Action Figure: The Recovery Suit Superman is perhaps the most common body mold for male DC Universe Classics figures. What I like about this figure is that Mattel kept a very simplistic approach in producing this figure. The body is mostly made up of black plastics with painted skin color on the neck, painted silver colored S shield on the chest, a sliver colored wrist gauntlet and a silver colored toe. Though some would say that the figure looks nothing special, I like it because it shows the basic anatomy of a DCUC action figure. What I hated about the figure though is the lack of accessories. With The Recovery Suit Superman being powerless, DC armed this Superman with guns. Mattel unfortunately failed to include the guns in this figure. It also does not help that the figure came with a clenched fist, taking out the option to accessorize the figure with guns. Some toy collectors though modified this figure by interchanging this figure's hands with that of Black Lightning. The figure comes with the same articulation with that of other DCUC figures. It features a ball jointed neck, ball hinged shoulders, swivel biceps, wrists, waist, and thighs, pivot torso, hinged elbows, knees, and ankles, and double pivot hips. This figure could have been perfect if only Mattel gave it some guns. But I have no further complaints because this figure is an centerpiece if you want to display him alongside the four replacement Supermen.

The Return of Superman

Defining Comic Book in my collection featuring this figure: Of course, this version of Superman only appeared in The Return of Superman story arc. After the Death of Superman, DC had an almost a year long story arc featuring a world without Superman. This story arc dealt with the fallout of Superman's Death as various co-Superheroes, friends, and family dealt with the loss of Superman in their own respective capacities. The last issue of this story arc featured a story of how Jonathan Kent (Superman's adoptive father) suffered a heart attack while dealing with depression due to his son's death. He traversed the afterlife seeing Superman and convinces him to come back. In the ensuing encounter, Pa Kent pulls Superman back with him as he was brought to life by the attending doctors. He wakes up from the coma proclaiming that Clark Kent/Superman is alive. After this event, DC put in place four new Supermen to take over the Superman titles. The four featured the various characteristics of Superman with Steel being the most grounded version in terms of Superman's traits. Superboy was more arrogant and reckless, The Last Son of Krypton was more ruthless and aggressive in dealing with crime, and the Cyborg Superman was the most reserved and mysterious one. For the most part of the year, each of these new Supermen dealt with their own adventures. It was quickly established that Steel and Superboy were not the real Superman. Steel was John Henry Irons, who Superman saved in one of his earlier adventures. He was inspired to take on the identity of Steel after Superman's death to help battle crime. Superboy on the other hand in actuality was a clone of Superman. A creation of the underground scientific lab Cadmus Project, Superboy was prematurely set free during his cloning process, thus stunting him from developing into a full grown Superman clone. The Last Son of Krypton meanwhile was revealed to be the Eradicator, a reformed Superman villain whose task was to preserve the last remaining Kryptonian life form. He stole Superman's body from the mausoleum and put him in a regeneration matrix in the Fortress of Solitude to heal and keep Superman alive from the fatal wounds that he suffered against Doomsday. The Cyborg Superman was then finally revealed as Hank Henshaw, a distressed former astronaut who turned villain that blames Superman for the death of his wife after a rescue mission that went awry.

Reign of the Supermen

Henshaw would then collude with the intergalactic warlord, Mongul, to create engine cities all over Earth. Coast City (the home of Green Lantern Hal Jordan) was the first casualty of this attack. Henshaw put in place a plan in eliminating the other Supermen by first framing the Last Son of Krypton/Eradicator as the main culprit for the destruction of Coast City. He first defeats the Last son of Krypton by betraying him. He also does the same to Superboy and captures him. As the story picked up steam, a fifth Superman appeared, this time the real deal. Superman was kept alive through Eradicator's effort by putting him in a regeneration matrix in the Fortress of Solitude but without his powers because Eradicator siphoned it for himself. Superman monitors the recurring events of the four Supermen and decides to head off to Metropolis using a Kryptonian Battle Suit. Superboy meanwhile escapes from the Engine City prison and heads off to Metropolis to warn the city of Henshaw's plan of transforming it into another Engine City. As Superboy arrives in Metropolis, both him and Steel (along with Supergirl) faced off a huge Battle Robot who is actually piloted by Superman (now sporting a mullet hair). When Superboy finally revealed Cybrog's plans, Superman, Steel, Superboy, and Supergirl heads off to Engine City to thwart The Cyborg's plan. A badly beaten Eradicator on the other hand returns to the Fortress of Solitude to recharge, only to discover that Superman and the Kryptonian Battle Suit is gone. He funnels all of The Fortress of Solitude's powers for himself leaving it destroyed but with his powers recharged as he heads off to the Engine City. During the heroes' final stand, they are joined by Green Lantern as he discovers that his Coast City is no more. Cyborg launches a huge missile towards Metropolis, with Superboy chasing it and dismantling it before it reaches Metropolis. The other heroes on the other hand faces off against Cyborg and Mongul with Superman and Eradicator sealed off from the others as both faced the Cyborg/Henshaw. Cyborg blasts Superman with Kryptonite energies which was powering the Engine City but the Eradicator shields Superman, killing him but not before transferring Superman's power back to Superman himself. Superman defeats the Cyborg in the final battle. In the epilogue of the story arc, Clark Kent was revealed to be alive during the tussle with Doomsday as he was trapped in a rubble. This Clark Kent was actually a disguised Supergirl/Matrix who shape shifts into Clark to come up with an alibi that Clark is still alive after all those months of being missing. I'm reenacting some of the major events of the Return of Superman story arc below: