Mattel: Injustice Gods Among Us Superman and Batman

Injustice Superman

I'll be doing this quick review in place of the past chronological order of the Superman figures that I reviewed because I'm so excited to be able to own this figure. Press photos of this figure didn't do this figure justice, I actually decided to skip this one but when I finally saw it in person, I was so amazed by it that I had to buy one. Anyway, on to the review.

Injustice Superman and Batman

Let's have a little backgrounder first for the uninitiated. Injustice: Gods Among Us is actually a video game that was developed and created by the creators of the hit arcade fighting game Mortal Kombat. They first experienced success with a DC Comics based franchise via their Mortal Kombat v.s. DC Universe fighting game and eventually followed it up with this new fighting game, Injustice: Gods Among Us. The game's story revolves around Superman's mission to start a new world order after the death of Lois and their unborn child. Superman was tricked by Joker (utilizing Scarecrow's fear toxin laced with Kryptonite particles) into believing that he was trying to save Lois from Doomsday, but instead found out that it was Lois who he was fighting all along. Joker also rigged Lois' heart, attaching a trigger that would send a missile to Metropolis upon Lois death (when her heart no longer beats). These events (the death of Lois and the destruction of Metropolis) would send Superman to rethink his existence on Earth. From being a reporter (as Clark Kent) and taking a reactionary (as Superman) approach towards crime and evil, he decides to take a more pro active role against crime and evil. Superman emerged from this tragedy to establish his own utopia, a world without crime and evil under his regime. The U.S. government enlists Batman's help and an epic war between Superman and his meta human allies against Batman's allies begins. There is actually an ongoing digitally released comic book to support this game's story. I'm following the developments of the story as I am curious about the fate of this Superman. I think stories like this are not new, as this was already explored before (more on that below). But without much further ado, on to the action figure.  

Injustice Superman

The Action Figures: The Superman figure's press photos didn't actually look that good. But I'm thankful that I was able to find this in person because I really like this figure very much. Though let me caution you that this figure is not that perfect. But there are many reasons why Superman collectors would love this figure, and the first of those many reasons is that this figure features new set of articulations. Mattel has been utilizing the articulations of their DCSH toy line for many years now and DCSH/DCUC collectors have always love those articulation but I'm actually happy to know that Mattel has experimented on this toy line. There are articulation features here that they took from the Green Lantern Movie Masters toy line and some new ones. This figure sports a whooping 26 points of articulation, which is two more than your standard DCUC action figure. The figure features a ball jointed head that could actually be tilted up and down (way better than the DCUC's almost non existent up and down head movement), ball hinged shoulders, swivel waist, ball hinged elbows, ball hinged wrists, double pivot hips, swivel thighs, hinged knees, swivel boots, and pivot ankles. While the figure features more articulations (most notably on the elbows, wrists and boots), sadly the swivel biceps and hinged torso did not make it to this figure. And that is my only complain because without the swivel biceps, the articulations on the arms would be limited. It can't even do the Superman pose (Superman's wrists/hands on his hips and with his chest out). Another down side of this figure is that it is not in scale with DCUC and is more slightly in scale with the Green Lantern Movie Masters (see photo below). I actually thought that this figure would be larger and would stand around 7 inch when I first saw it in press photos, but I was wrong. The scale is just a minor qualm for me though, as I could live with it.

From Left to Right: Movie Masters Green Lantern, Injustice Superman, and DCUC style DC Unlimited New 52 Superman

The paint apps of the figure looks good, if not great, with the S shield having a strong red border, making it look large. The highly detailed sculpts and lines on the costume also makes this Superman un-Mattel like and more DC Direct/DC Collectibles like (that being this body is not a reuse of a previous body mold and might have been produced exclusively for this figure alone). If that is Mattel's new direction, then I guess they could really give DC Collectibles a run for their money. More photos below.  

Superman

Head can be tilted way down likr this

Without the swivel biceps, the figure can only do this

But overall, this is still a great figure

Injustice Batman

Batman: Batman guests stars in this review because I got him for my brother. Though I'm not that much of a Batman fan but this Batman figure looks awesome because of his metallic armor. Of course when fighting Superman, Batman should be wearing something like this in place of his kevlar/spandex suit. The figure is sculpted nicely with awesome attention to detail given to its armor. The paint apps has some hits and misses, but is nevertheless forgivable. I guess Mattel is not used to painting figures with this much details. This Batman figure shares the same articulation with Superman except that it sports a swivel torso instead of a swivel waist. And just like Superman, the lack of the swivel biceps makes Batman's fighting poses limited. I also hated the fact that this figure can't do a sitting pose as you can't actually bend the hips forward to do a sitting position (same goes for Superman). There's actually a variant colored one of this figure which sports a metallic violet colored armor. Personally, it looks better compared to this one because it made the figure look darker and more menacing. But I eventually picked this one over the other because the blue and metallic colors blends nicely with each other and is more faithful to the game's Batman colors. I'm not quite sure if there are more Injustice figures that Mattel has planned, but DC Collectibles is maximizing these versions of their heroes in action figure form by coming up with more Injustice figures but in 4 inch form.

Fear the Batman

Superman Annual No. 3

  
Defining Comic book in my collection featuring this figure: I actually couldn't find a print released copy of Injustice, so I'll have to settle for a comic book that shared the same premise with Injustice. I dug up my comic book collection and found this, Superman Annual no. 3, which was part of the Armageddon 2001 event. The Armageddon 2001 event tells of a story where one of the DC Superheroes turned bad in the year 2001 and set out to rule the world. The main character was Waverider, a time traveling Superhero in search of the identity of that rogue Superhero (which originally was supposed to be Captain Atom but was replaced in favor of Hawk of Hawk and Dove). In one of his travels, Waverider would come across Superman and laid his hand on Superman in order for him to see Superman's possible future. And in that future, Waverider saw a Superman who has declared war against nuclear weapons. In the time span between the present and the year 2001, Superman had married Lois Lane only to lose her when she was killed along with the citizens of Metropolis when criminal organization Intergang set off a nuclear bomb in the heart of the city, destroying the city and killing everyone on it. Superman seeks out childhood friend Lana Lang and found a new comfort with her but also vowed to rid the world of nuclear weapons. This irked the U.S. Government and the other countries and vowed to stop Superman at all cost. Initially, the majority of the people rallied behind Superman before a freak accident happened. Superman had accidentally killed off a half dozen men aboard a nuclear submarine. This urged the U.S. government to ask for Batman's help in neutralizing Superman swiftly and quietly, or else they would have to turn to the Justice League of America for help and would do the neutralizing of Superman publicly. Batman refuses to believe that Superman had killed those men and declines the request, but with the promise that he'll investigate the case further.  

Superman v.s. Batman in Injustice

Superman at that point has slowly detached his self from his humanity as he has lingering issues with his powers and how he can't save his love ones (Superman's father Pa kent is dead while Ma Kent is suffering Alzheimer's disease). Batman tries to convince Superman to rethink his actions only for him to be turned down by Superman. Superman went on to continue dismantling nuclear weapons but was ambushed by the Justice League (which is composed of Martian Manhunter, Booster Gold, and Fire). Superman makes quick work of the league and accidentally kills Martian Manhunter. This led Superman to migrate his family from Smallville to his Fortress of Solitude to protect them in the event that Superman's enemies would use them as pawns against him. Meanwhile Batman (with the help of Robin) finds proof that Superman had indeed killed those men on the nuclear sub. This convinces Batman to find Superman and neutralize him before he becomes even more dangerous to the world at large. Batman (again, with Robin's help) eventually kills Superman by using the Kryptonite ring (which was given to him earlier by Superman in this story). This effectively proves that Superman is not the rogue DC Superhero that Waverider was looking for as Superman dies in this timeline. I don't know if Injustice's story would end like this but their premise definitely is quite similar.

Will Superman kill Batman in Injustice?

One last look at Injustice Superman

That's it for now. I'm eagerly waiting for the Man of Steel Movie Masters. They should be out this April. But for the next post, I'll be back with my regular programming.

Mattel: DC Superheroes KAL EL Superman

DCSH Kal El

For this entry, I'm gonna back track on Mattel's chronological release of their toy line by featuring an action figure from their DC Superheroes toy line. Released as part of this toy line, this Superman variation is simply called Kal El in the packaging. I don't recall seeing this version in the comic books but the closest I could remember is the Hunter/Prey Superman from the Superman/Doomsday Hunter Prey mini series. We can also make a case for the Birthright Jor El version as the inspiration for this figure. More about this figure below.

DCSH Kal El Superman

Mattel's DC Superheroes was notorious for their Superman costume variations and repaints, but despite this notoriety, they managed to come up with great representations of the various Superman costume changes in the 2000s. Chief among them was the Post Our World's at War Superman costume which featured Superman sporting a darker red S insignia with a black background (in exchange of the yellow one). Unfortunately I don't own that figure. That figure is an awesome figure because it got the right suit colors that is very much faithful to the comic books (unlike the regular Superman.). Mattel also released an Emperor Joker Superman in this toy line which features Superman sporting a black suit with silver colors in exchange of the red colors of his costume. Their last repaint was this one, which they simply named as Kal El. I don't really recall seeing this version in the comic books, though there were instances in the comic books where Superman acted more kryptonian than human (see Krypton Man). I do have my reasons why I purchased this figure even though this is just a repaint with a new a head sculpt. I'll reveal it a little later. But honestly, the figure looks great. He can actually work well as an Elseworlds Superman in your display or something.

Kal El Superman

The Action Figure: This is a straight repaint from the basic DCSH Superman figure. The only difference is that it sports a newly sculpted head. The new head sports a head suit that makes this figure look like a space man. The face is sculpted better when compared to the DCSH Superman figure as it features a less angular/chiseled look and is more proportionate and smoother. The articulation is your standard Mattel DCSH fare. This figure features a ball jointed neck, ball hinged shoulders, swivel biceps, wrists, waist, and thighs, pivot torso, hinged elbows and knees, double pivot hips and ankles. I also love the metallic paint wash that this figure sports, it looks like Kal is in a suit of metallic armor. He's actually a great figure in my opinion. Though it would be hard pressed to see where they derived this costume design from but the closest I could find is from that of the Kenner Hunter/Prey Superman way back when Kenner/Hasbro still owned the merchandising rights to Superman. As seen in the photo below, the closest similarities between the two figures is the head suit. But apart from that, nothing else. The Hunter/Prey Superman sported multiple belts, pouches, hand gloves, and others. This one appears to be a trimmed down version of that suit.

Kenner Hunter/Prey Superman and DCSH Kal El

Jor El, Lara, and baby Kal

But really, who am I fooling? This can't be the Hunter/Prey Superman. I don't treat him as such in my collection, and I also don't call him as Kal El (as my Kal El is the one from the DC Direct New Krypton Kal El). In my collection, he stands as Jor El, Superman's biological kryptonian father. As a huge Superman action figure collector, I want to own the entire Superman cast of characters from Jor El down to the most obscure villain. But unfortunately, chances of seeing that happen is close to nil. But this Kal El figure is a perfect stand in for Jor El because of the kryptonian feel to it and looks very similar to the Birthright Jor El design. Though I do have the Marlon Brando Jor El figure from the Superman Returns toy line, but that figure only stands at five inches. I needed a 6 inch Jor El figure so this one fitted the bill. Of course as seen on the left, that Silver Age Super Lois figure stands in as Lara Lor-Van, Jor El's wife and Superman's mother. Personally they look good together. I also purchased a miniature baby figurine which will represent baby Kal. The three of them are my default El family.    

Kenner Superman free comic book and Superman Hunter/Prey

Defining Comic book in my collection featuring this figure: Though there's no clear indication where this figure is based from, I'm picking the story line Superman/Doomsday Hunter/Prey as the story feature because it runs compatible with the story order of my past comic book features. This story line is the return bout of Superman and Doomsday since Superman's resurrection from death. Doomsday was last seen in the early adventures of the impostor Cyborg Superman (Henshaw) during the Return of Superman story line. Henshaw hauled Doomsday off from planet Earth and threw him in the vast reaches of outer space. In this story, Doomsday reaches the Planet Apokolips, home of the New God Darkseid. He begins a path of destruction, facing Darkseid for the first time. Doomsday injures Darkseid as Henshaw plans to takeover Apokolips during Doomsday's rampage. Meanwhile, Superman goes to Apokolips to investigate Doomsday's attacks. This sets the stage for their return bout, with Superman now armed with the Mother Box (a sentient computer), which gave him weapons in battling Doomsday. But despite the help of the Mother Box, Superman fails to beat Doomsday as it is revealed that every time Doomsday is beaten, he just comes back better and stronger. Superman was only able to beat Doomsday by returning to the past and trapping Doomsday in the end of time. It is also in this storyline where Doomsday's origin story is finally revealed. This storyline also featured the return appearance of Henshaw since his defeat from Superman's hands in the Return of Superman story line. I'm still looking for issue number 1 and 2 of this mini series though. I'm hoping I could find one soon. More photos of the Kal El figure below.  

Hunter/Prey Superman

Off to Apokolips

Superman v.s. Darkseid

Superman v.s. Henshaw

Superman v.s. Doomsday the rematch

Superman v.s. a stronger and smarter Doomsday

Superman sends Doomsday to the end of time

That's it for now. As for my next post, the mullet haired Superman of the 90's will be featured. Hope to see you guys soon.