McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Knightfall Batman review
Knightfall is not just one of my favorite Batman stories, but all-time comic stories. The tale of Batman gradually being broken before his confrontation with Bane made The Dark Knight more vulnerable than he’s ever been portrayed before or since.
McFarlane Toys has done numerous Batman variants, but this classic yellow oval, blue and grey attire was long overdue for a figure. Todd McFarlane already upped the ante with a San Diego Comic Con exclusive with a darker color scheme, but let’s see if this is going to be my new featured McF Batman or merely a broken bat…
Packaging: McFarlane is still sticking with its basic packaging with the predominantly black with white and blue accents. For the MOC crowd, this level of consistency is appreciated.
With no cool bios there’s not much worth holding onto for me. The back does feature a cool shot from Batman #492, the first chapter of Knightfall.
Likeness: I like this look of Batman a lot. He’s not ridiculously muscled-out and has much more of that 70s-80s style physique. He’s slender, but certainly is in shape though I wouldn’t be upset if his biceps were just a tiny bit bigger. His outfit has creases and wrinkles without reaching an excessive point.
Batman’s head sculpt is fantastic and a major improvement from the Detective Comics #1000 figure. It’s focused without looking too intense allowing it to read as Batman concentrating on a riddle, sizing up a villain or remembering why he left the Justice League to form The Outsiders. And in a win over the MAFEX version, there’s no visible ear mold getting the accurate look down of this era.
All of the signature aspects of this attire are intact from the three points on the gloves, the capsule style utility belt and the singular point of the boots.
The ears aren’t too high either coming at just the right height for the time period. In another nice plus, the oval and Bat logo are sculpted pieces so it’s not reliant on the paint to get down properly.
The cape flows slightly askew on the right side, but it’s enough to convey just a bit of movement without being too dramatic.
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Scale: This less bulky mold allows Batman to look better scaled with Superman. I’ve never been a fan of Superman and Batman having the exact same physique and this figure shows a welcome distinction between the two. His height is fine as the lack of bulk makes him looking Superman eye to eye more fitting.
Paint: This is probably the only category that’s slightly disappointing and that’s mainly because McFarlane “fixed” it with the SDCC version. The grey should be just a shade or two darker.
It’s not so much that the color used is bad, but it’s a little lighter than ideal for a character who operates mostly at night. There’s no issues with the blues, which feel like the appropriate shade.
Another wish that the exclusive did knock out was the shading around the cowl. Part of the distinct comic book look for Batman was the black shading in the blue sections of the outfit. The exclusive has that in the cowl and trunks though I wish the shading were standard and went along through the gloves, boots and cape as well.
Batman’s oval and logo turned out sharp with a nice rich yellow that doesn’t offer any opportunity for bleed through.
Articulation: The Multiverse articulation can be hit or miss with some figures featuring stellar movement while others have some deficiencies that could be improved with a greater focus on posing instead of statue-like stances.
Batman has exceptional range of movement and can easily strike poses with no issues. I had a lot of fun posing him though I really wish I’d grabbed that McFarlane Megafig Bane now…
Knightfall Batman has:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders [with pop up/down point]
- elbow (double-jointed)
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- torso
- waist
- hip
- thigh
- knee (double-jointed)
- ankle
- toe
Accessories: Batman is a character that McFarlane seems OK giving more accessories since there’s no chance his figures won’t sell.
This figure has more than the average McF figure, which kinda suggests they need more accessories in general, but I won’t complain thanks to the price point.
Batman gets a blue Batarang. This one is much better detailed with ridges and doesn’t just look like a thick block of wood.
He’s also got swappable clutching hands so he can hold the Batarang or whatever other object you might want him to operate.
And as always, he’s got the handy small black stand that’s very useful for aiding in some of the more difficult poses you might conceive.
Worth it? GameStop has Knightfall Batman for $20, which is a very solid deal for this figure price tag. And as GameStop rewards member I was able to get the $5 monthly discount and in-store savings to get him for $15. Not a bad deal at all.
Rating: 10 out of 10
I’m curious how The Flashpoint version of The Flash turns out, but for now the Knightfall Batman is easily my favorite McFarlane figure of 2023.
Where to get it? Knightfall Batman is available at Amazon, Entertainment Earth Target.com.