Marvel Legends Beyond Earth’s Mightiest Black Widow review

It took me longer than anticipated to get a second crack at a figure a lot of collectors have hailed as the Marvel Legends figure of the year. Let’s see if the Marvel Legends Beyond Earth’s Mightiest Black Widow is really worth all the hype.

Packaging:  I always dig when Hasbro does some color changing to the standard packaging. Even more so with the closed box presentation. Like the other figures in this subset the Black Widow Beyond Earth’s Mightiest figure has the eye catching white and light blue color scheme.

The front features Black Widow with her classic beehive hairstyle. Along the sides are artwork from JG Jones and another render/shot of the figure.

On the back we get the rollout of her slew of accessories. This kind of definitive take on a figure and it would have been nice to get a bio summarizing her history as an Avenger.

Likeness:  I’ve grabbed quite a few Hasbro Marvel Legends Black Widow figures over the years. The idea was to cobble together the perfect version. Hasbro did the work for me so I can save my Frankenstein efforts for another character. She’s not noticeably broader than previous female figures, but her legs are thicker and don’t look like they’d warp after a few months on the display.

All of the necessary detail is included from the slightly raised collar and extremely well-done zipper. Detailed work like the outfit seams are nicely done as well.

As standard for BL figures, she’s got the circular belt and bracelets. She comes with three head sculpts.

The default one is a shorter hair version with her hair kind of flowing in air. This is the one a lot of collectors have swapped out to use for the GI Joe Classified Series Cover Girl. That seems like the right move for me as well as it’s a fantastic alternate portrait that would likely be the third choice for my Black Widow.

Next up is the classic beehive hairstyle that she rocked for most of the 70s and early 80s. The face printing on the head sculpts are outstanding with excellent work around the eyes and subtle makeup applications. This expression reads a tad overconfident.

The third head sculpt is a semi-modern look with longer flowing hair. All three hair sculpts have terrific detailing capturing more hair strands than normal. This expression is much more intense and kind of reminds of me of how Black Widow frequently appeared on Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. I’m realizing it’s going to be harder than I anticipated choosing a favorite portrait.

Paint: Black Widow’s face paint jobs are reference quality setting a new standard for Marvel Legends head sculpts. It’s flawless for all three portraits, which seems impossible based on some other ML figures. I’m very impressed.

There’s a subtle brown/black wash in the hair to bring out more details. That’s an appreciated touch.

For the rest of the figure there’s not much in terms of focused paint applications. The silver lining for the zipper is stellar while the good sheen used for the belt and bracelets really pops.

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Scale: Black Widow is typically drawn about the same height as a regular guy like Hawkeye or Black Panther. She should and is shorter than Captain America and Iron Man.

Articulation:  Black Widow’s articulation is superb. It’s absolutely the best articulated female Marvel Legends figure that Hasbro has cranked out yet. There’s just no signature Black Widow pose this figure can’t achieve.

My biggest knock might be her belt as it rides up when I moved Natasha around to hit a pose. Her neck joint allows for a reasonable up and down range of movement. There’s no trouble on the side-to-side range.

Finally, a Marvel Legends female figure gets butterfly joints. This adds so much to Natasha’s poseability. Ditto for the mid-torso joint and torso hinge joint near the waist. Hasbro just needs to design a blank zipper-less chest piece and smooth out the seam in the lower torso.

There’s really no need to redesign a new female figure. This is the base Hasbro should be using going forward. I’d happily buy a new Invisible Woman, Jean Grey/Phoenix, Psylocke, Vindicator, etc. using this mold.

Black Widow Beyond Earth’s Mightiest has:

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

Accessories: Black Widow Beyond Earth’s Mightiest has a ton of accessories. She has way more than the modern-day Marvel Legends and helps make a standard card figure feel like a premium release.

Natasha gets two alternate sets of swappable hands with fists and gripping hands.

She’s got two sets of her bracelets for her Widow’s Sting. One features a translucent red energy blast. The second set features a translucent vapor trail that’s attached to the bracelets.

These are repurposed from the grey Black Widow figure. The big change is the yellow blast is now red, which is a nice switch.

To boost her firepower, Natasha gets the smaller pistol and larger blaster from the BAF Puff Adder Yelena Belova figure. Additionally, she’s got the small and larger translucent red firing effect pieces as well.

Finally, she’s got the thicker and thinner vapor trail that also plug into the guns.

Worth it?  Black Widow was originally $27.99. Like the Deluxe War Machine, Natasha comes with enough to set the bar for this price point. Fortunately, I grabbed her when she came back in stock just in time for the great early fall clearance and nabbed her for $13.99, which was an excellent price for this top tier figure.

Rating: 10 out of 10

A Bonafide figure of the year candidate for less than $15? It’s hard for this figure to not surpass a 10. The excellent alternate head sculpts allow for some fun display variety. The plethora of accessories really do make this the no need for another Marvel Legends Black Widow for a very long time.

Where to get it?  The Beyond Earth’s Mightiest Black Widow figure was exclusive to Target. She was in stores for a second and then was gone for more than a month. She then came back on shelves just in time to get clearanced so now you’re gonna have to find her from secondary retailers at Amazon.