Marvel Legends Ultimate Captain America review
Every year there’s a figure or two I wasn’t looking forward to and had very minimal expectations about that blow me away. The Marvel Legends Ultimate Captain America is definitely the 2023 winner. This guy was such a pleasant surprise he just might end up in my overall Top 10 Marvel Legends of 2023 list.
I wasn’t a huge fan of The Ultimates, which was fine as that sub-universe wasn’t mean to and didn’t replace “my” Avengers. Ultimate Captain America lost a lot of the charm that made his 616 counterpart so endearing and he was kind of a jerk. That hasn’t stopped him from getting multiple Marvel Legends figures include an earlier one from Hasbro.
Let’s take a look at this ultimate patriot to see if this marks a consecutive year when a Captain America is one of the best Marvel Legends figures.
Packaging: The Build-A-Figure Puff Adder wave is one of the last few waves I’m reviewing with the infamous closed front. There was something so dull about this packaging. Maybe it was the abundance of darker colors? The Avengers Beyond Earth’s Mightiest color scheme was nice and bright, which worked better with this presentation.
The artwork featured here is from Bryan Hitch, arguably the artist most synonymous with The Ultimates. That was a good call from the design team. With no bio, the back is also uneventful with another picture of the figure, the BAF piece he contains and a window with the accessories.
Likeness: What immediately stood out was how solidly this figure was put together. The thing I think most Marvel Legends criticism stems from is seeing lackluster figures and comparing to a figure like Ultimate Captain America. When motivated, the ML team can really deliver an outstanding figure.
Nothing is shortchanged here. From the thin mesh material in the cowl, neckpiece and underarm sections to the texture of the white portions of the costume.
Right down to the detailed sculpting of the chainmail and pouches on the gloves and belt. Everything is done with such precision and care. The circles with the stars on each shoulder are also sculpted.
Like we should expect, this is a major improvement from the Ultimate Captain America in the three pack with Warbird and Radioactive Man.
His default head is the intense gritted teeth expression. Hasbro wisely provided a neutral head sculpt option as well. That portrait is exceptionally done as well. And special bonus, he’s sporting pinless joints, which makes the figure look more seamless and realistic.
Paint: Hasbro did some tinkering with its usual formula for skin tones adding some inkjet freckling of the skin. This gives it a less toy-like appearance and is used sparingly enough that it turned out nice. Besides the chest star, there’s not much bleeding through in the white portions of the costume.
Most of the paintwork is very clean with just a few random stray spots where the blues narrowly spilled over the sculpted lines. Definitely a minor issue.
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Scale: Ideally, you’d have an Ultimate Thor and Ultimate Iron Man to match up with Ultimate Captain America. He’s right around the same height as the MCU Nick Fury, which was inspired by the Samuel L. Jackson-comic cast for The Ultimates. So he’s got at least one ally in Marvel Legends form already.
Articulation: Like the 20th anniversary figure, Ultimate Cap’s articulation is stellar. His joints are nice and tight, so he doesn’t have issues holding poses. I really wish he had more of a barbell neck joint as this figure has so much personality it would benefit from that extra range of movement.
Still, this figure was really fun to maneuver and try out various poses.
Ultimate Captain America has:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders
- bicep
- elbow (double-jointed)
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- torso
- waist
- hip
- thigh
- knee (double-jointed)
- ankle
Accessories: Cap doesn’t need a ton of accessories for a standard release. What we get is the essential ones. I’ve mentioned the alternate head, which is always important when the default head is angry/intense.
He also has two swappable fists.
The best accessory though is his shield, which is nice and big. The reds are sharp and the white is a stark white instead of silver.
Finally, Cap comes with the head for the Build-A-Figure Puff Adder. The final piece I needed to complete him. Woo-hoo.
Worth it? Ultimate Captain America retailed for $25. I was able to snag him through a Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale at Amazon so that worked out pretty well to get him for $17.
Rating: 10 out of 10
The biggest compliment I can pay this Ultimate Captain America figure is if the others are of this quality I wouldn’t be upset getting more of The Ultimates.
Where to get it? You can grab Ultimate Cap from Amazon. Also, Entertainment Earth has a Buy One Get One sale, which you can use for him as well.
As an Amazon Associate and Entertainment Earth affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.