MAFEX Knightfall Batman Azrael review

Knightfall was one of my favorite Batman stories. It teased the disappearance of Batman at the hands of the mysterious Bane and had extra credibility after the Death of Superman arc. By the end of the arc, Batman did go away only to be replaced by his protege, Jean-Paul Valley, who would go on to be a very different Batman — The Knightfall Batman.

Mafex kicks off its foray into the Knightfall arc with Jean-Paul Valley’s Knightfall Batman. While there’s still some characters from Hush that I need to complete that collection, I’m not mad at Mafex for going into Knightfall. It features some of the definitive looks for a lot of my favorite Batman characters.

That checklist can wait though. Let’s see if Knightfall Batman is ready to take up the mantle of the featured Batman on my Mafex shelf or deserves to get broken by Bane all over again.

Packaging: Mafex doesn’t get too creative with its packaging. Knightfall Batman comes in a dark red setup, which I’m wondering was meant to reference the eclipsed Batman logo as Knightfall played out.

The front feature a wide window with a good look at the figure and accessories while the sides feature different action shots of the figure. On the back, there’s more shots of the figure showcasing most of the accessories. I do wish this line had a bio write up as that’s the one thing missing from the packaging.

Likeness: Knightfall Batman has one of the more complex designs Mafex has handled with the DC Comics line. This costume was very much a product of its time and it reflects all the excess of the 90s.

The head sculpt is fantastic with a completely covered mask. Under his programming by The Order of St. Dumas, Jean-Paul whipped up a Batman costume better suited for his fighting style that merged his Batman and Azrael personas.

In this initial iteration, Jean-Paul’s attire was a hybrid of armor and the standard spandex costume with some more aggressive accouterments. The gauntlets have claws, the cape has points at each shoulder while the shins have edged cuffs.

This attire is more too heavy with the shelled, layered armor upper torso/cape combination. Jean-Paul forgoes the standard utility belt replacing it with one that lacks the center piece. His left thigh has two rows of pouches to contain his shuriken.

Unlike the Hush Batman, Knightfall Batman’s cloth cape never gets too unwieldy. It’s sized right and isn’t oversized and massive.

Paint:  Mafex hasn’t let me down with the paint work yet. Knightfall Batman is no difference. To convey the metallic armored look, Mafex used a pearlescent bright blue to make the cape harness and gauntlets pop.

His mid-section and top section of the gauntlet have a more turquoise shade, which also has a metallic sheen to it.

The yellow sections are a rich, vibrant hue that plays sharply against the blue. Mafex added a wash and detailed line work for the pouch and interior gauntlet lining. Both yellow and blue play off well contrasting with the darker grey spandex portions.

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Scale: Knightfall Batman only needs to be taller than the still MIA Tim Drake Robin (hint hint) and shorter than Bane. Bane is in the works so we’ll see how they match up soon. For now, the DC Classics Bane matches up nicely against him.

Articulation: Jean-Paul took a more aggressive stance against Gotham’s criminals and had no problem getting up close and personal when fighting.

Even with the larger cape setup, Knightfall Batman’s articulation isn’t restricted and he can pull off most of the moves you’d want from him.

Knightfall Batman has:

• neck
• ball-jointed shoulders
• elbow
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• torso
• hip
• knee (double-jointed)
• ankle

Accessories: As usual, Mafex includes a nice array of accessories.

My favorite is easily the alternate Jean-Paul Valley head sculpt with the dead-on likeness to Batman artist Jim Aparo.

I’d be on board with Mafex using comic artist likenesses for the characters.

He also has three swappable sets of alternate hands — gripping, wide open claw hands and slashing claw hands. These swap in and out easily.

Additionally, Knightfall Batman comes with a grapple hook and and two trails of shuriken to simulate him shooting them 40 times a night.

Worth it? You can get Knighfall Batman for $110. That doesn’t sound like a great deal until you look at figures out of rotation and the price they go for on the aftermarket.

Rating: 10 out of 10

This version of the Knightfall Azrael Batman is my definitive take with superior articulation, a great color scheme and a ton of accessories with an exact comic likeness. It’s pricey, but it’s absolutely worth grabbing for any MAFEX fans.

Where to get it? Amazon has him available now.