We all accept an Iron Man-ish Batman as commonplace these days.
*places old man cap gently on head*
There was a time when we had never seen such a thing. I watched a lot of the Adam West Batman… but he never had armor. He had a chopper, a car, and a motorcycle, a butler, and a FIREPOLE (!!!) but no armor.
In the comics on the spinner rack back then all had a very similar vision of Batman, and that vision was Neal Adam‘s Batman.
Like many lines of awesome in my childhood that all seem to intermingle in the same year, 1986 happened.
You probably already know where I’m going with this, but if you’re younger (STAY YOUNG, GETTING OLD IS SO GROSS!!!), I’ll catch you up. This was the year Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns dropped into our lives. I won’t rehash the plot, my guess is if you’re on this page, you are probably already familiar with it. If you’re not, and you’re a fan of the medium or the character, PLEASE read it. Even if you don’t purchase it from my amazon affiliate link above.
I don’t know why you’d do that to me, but even IF… just read it.
The story ends (I am not going to warn you about spoilers because it’s been 35 years) with a “final” confrontation between Batman and Superman. Superman, of course, represented everything Frank Miller (professional curmudgeon/writer) hated about the United States. Bloated, jingoistic, arrogant. Wave a flag, people fall in line, that sorta thing.
Batman was… not.
I would bet many Gen Xers like myself (ok, Boomer</my kids>), this was your first memory of Batman showing up in armor.
Up until that point, everyone kinda stayed in their lanes. Except for Superman. Silver Age Superman was kind of a jerk.
Oh, you’re strong? I’m SUPER strong. You’re smart? I’m SUPER smart. Do you read minds? I SUPER read minds. Whatever.
Anyway, my point is Batman was more “detective” with a heaping side of “ass-kicking.”
What he was not, was the guy who’d figure out a way to punch Darkseid in the face. Or a Kryptonian. Mostly because everyone got along back then (most of the time, Satellite era ending/Outsiders notwithstanding).
You know, before The Dark Knight Returns. The story built up to it, and it delivered.
Superman showed up wanting to talk.
Batman showed up in Wayne Tech Armor, a one-armed Green Arrow with a Kryptonite arrow, and a child in a Wayne Tech Tank.
From that point forward, Batman was the guy who could beat any foe, if given enough time and preparation.
And thus, was born decades of internet nerd arguments regarding that very subject.
I’ve participated. No regerts. (sic)
McFarlane is releasing an actual Dark Knight Returns wave, so to me, it’s kind of weird that he flirted with this take. More on that later.
What’s in the DC Multiverse Armored Batman box?
Pretty straightforward here. We get the figure. Two sets of hands. Finally, we get the standard display stand and a collectible card (THAT NOW NO LONGER HAS COMIC ART OMG SERIOUSLY?!?!??!). He also has two alternative hands.
What doesn’t work with the DC Multiverse Armored Batman figure?
Time for the “more on that later” part. I say “flirted” with, because it’s not quite the Armored Batman from The Dark Knight Returns. Released right before TDKR wave is released.
It’s also not quite the BvS Armored Batman look either.
It’s an amalgam of both, and no one really asked for it.
He has four hands total. He has two relaxed hands, one fist, and a trigger finger. No sonic gun. I used one of Cable’s ridiculously oversized guns for a few pics.
I love the options, so I am not saying I don’t want these, but there needs to be some hard action figure rules, and I am going to drop one now:
Batman always has to have two fists. Give him gripping hands, palm strike hands, karate hands, whatever else you want, but Batman always needs two fists.
Finally, the paint apps left a lot to be desired. I opted to fix that myself.
What works with the DC Multiverse Armored Batman figure?
I can’t believe I’m about to Stan McFarlane’s lack of paint, but honestly, I’ve come to realize it scratches an itch I didn’t realize I had. I’m sure I’ve mentioned I used to make Fine Scale Models, and I guess I didn’t realize how much I missed pushing around paint.
It gives me a chance to create a cool-looking figure and really bring out the details on what is usually an exceptional sculpt.
Yuck. I hate that I had to say that. But it’s true. I know I sound like some kind of shill, but for me, I don’t mind adding a little paint. I could see how someone else would be annoyed about it. Trust me, I can see it.
Despite this figure being neither comic nor DCEU accurate, it’s still a REALLY cool-looking figure. If this is what Todd plans on passing off as TDKR Armored Batman, so be it, I can be ok with that. The extra set of hands was nice. I know I complained a few paragraphs above, but really, no action figure maker ever HAS to give us any extra hands.
It’s nice to be nice, b!%^$3s.
Should you purchase the DC Multiverse Armored Batman figure?
Before I answer that, let me point out something I think is interesting. When we were younger, there would be Elseworld stories (What if?) for Marvel, and they were one-off, one-issue stories.
We just accepted it for what it was.. .a cool story. We had no expectations to ever see that universe/timeline again.
Now though, all of those things actually happened, on their OWN earth, and somewhere in the DC landscape is an old Bruce Wayne leading a new generation of underground heroes.
It’s neither a complaint nor praise, simply an observation. My initial thought was, “Why are they recycling these old stories” but then I realized it’s because my generation still remembers them, and if I had to guess, I’d say comic publishers understand the children of the 70’s and 80’s now have more disposable cash, so hey, here’s a story about Captain Carrot saving the multiverse. SOLD!
Back to the question at hand: Should you buy him?
If you like Batman, or the DC Multiverse line, yes. Better news, his price has dropped significantly since I bought him. I’ve actually seen him as low as $13.99 in some places.
If you can’t find him, you can always check here:
Here are a few other pics!
For those curious, all I did to him was give him a silver wash on his armor, and a blue wash on his uniform. Primered and the belt and painted yellow and gun metal. Dry brushed the armor with gun metal and gave his face a black wash. nothing hard, but made him so much more pleasing to look at in my opinion.
Also, a shout out to my friend Rachel, who, when asked about which edit of a photo I should use (in reference to the pic with him next to the trashcan), she said:
“I love the balance between hues, the warmth of the red against the cool blue. It frames the figure in more of a dramatic way. It also looks like you have raise the exposure to reveal more detail in the half brick wall and chest. It also successfully lightened the sky bringing in more cool tones and creating an ambient light city night sky.”
Since she’s much smarter than me, I took her word for it and used the 2nd picture!
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