Marvel Legends Thor vs. Destroyer review

Hasbro has been on a quest to render every Toy Biz Marvel Legends obsolete. Some figures it’s taken longer than expected. Toy Biz delivered an excellent version of Thor’s enemy, The Destroyer. And then Marvel Select banged out an impressive version as well. That meant Hasbro had to really to take Best in Class honors.

With 2023 marking The Avengers’ 60th anniversary, it made sense to pack The Destroyer in a set with Thor. Since the 80th Anniversary version is still the best Silver/Bronze Age version, Hasbro used the opportunity to create a welcome Thor variant.

Let’s see if this Thor vs. Destroyer set is worth celebrating or if it’s only third best.

Packaging:  I really dig the more colorful Beyond Earth’s Mightiest color scheme. The predominantly white with light blue background colors and red accents makes for a striking combination. And it makes for a better showcase of the figures. On the front, we get Thor preparing to wallop The Destroyer.

The Thor artwork is from Thor #373 with the iconic Marvel 25th Anniversary character wrap. Destroyer’s artwork is harder to pin down. On the left side, we get an image of the figure and another showing some of the different accessory options. Additionally, there’s the insert box showing the accessories.

Likeness:  For Thor, most of the figure uses the 80th Anniversary mold.  That makes sense seeing as it’s a great Thor base body. The biggest difference here are the trunks and the boots, which feature angled knee coverings and armor plating.

That’s welcome attention to detail to include those parts to distinguish this Thor.

Default base head aside, this is the Eric Masterson incarnation of Thor before he became Thunderstrike. While he’s not a big deal now, the Masterson Thor was involved in some major storylines including The Infinity Gauntlet and Operation Galactic Storm. That’s certainly significant enough to warrant dedicated parts.

While Thor Odinson had six circles on his tunic/trunk, Eric only had them along his shirt portion. It would have been very easy for Hasbro to ignore the design and just use the parts they already had.  The ML Hasbro team deservedly takes some hits for some design choices, but they deserve all the love for making sure this was done correctly.

And since I’m focusing on the Eric version, let’s reference that head sculpt as the main one. A defining trait of the Masterson Thor was the visor/eye piece. While some could miss the boots and trunk circles, this is the telltale that this wasn’t classic Thor. This was drawn as a separate piece from the traditional helmet and the figure captures that properly.

The Destroyer has a pretty consistent look over the years with minor visual changes from artist to artist. All of the important aspects of the design were carried over with this figure. It’s a very impressive behemoth. Hasbro didn’t skimp on doing it right. That meant sculpting all of the lining/plating with the studs and spikes. They’re lined up just so and have a solid uniformity to them.

Destroyer also gets its massive, spiked shoulder pads. Its unique helmet and grate-plated face is also intact. The Toy Biz figure sported the plating but lacked the spikes. It makes a major difference.

The MS version had the spikes though they’re a bit rounder — possibly due to safety regulations. Hasbro’s looks deadlier in that sense.

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Paint: Thor’s paintjob is fairly good. His torso is showing some bleed through where the black plastic is peeking through the flesh painted section. His cape is a brighter shade of red than the previous release.

Thor’s helmet/visor has a strong silver sheen though I wouldn’t be opposed to a dark black wash on his boots.

Destroyer has some darker elements throughout the body that gives the effect that the plating is tarnishing. It’s a subtle way to avoid making it look like a plastic toy. I wish that effect carried over to the head, which is a little too clean.

Hasbro opted to give it bright white eyes. It seems unless powering up, the Destroyer’s eyes should be black. Is it worth painting it myself? Probably not.

Scale: Regardless if Thor is Odinson or Masterson, he’s the tallest of the regular Avengers. That holds true here as well.

Destroyer is even taller dwarfing Thor and Hercules, the only other Thor ally save Hulk (and Namor?) who could do any real damage to the Destroyer.

Articulation:  Thor can hit most poses although his cape does restrict some stances. And its size prevents using a flight stand to aid in posing.

Thanks to the hair, Thor doesn’t get much left/right or back neck movement. You won’t have too much trouble for brawling or unleashing Mjolnir poses.

Thor has:

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

Destroyer has surprisingly great articulation. The floating torso allows for good range to bend down and punch. Its shoulder pads are positioned so you can move them out of the way for wider punching movements. The legs have enough clearance to allow for deep lunges and Destroyer is stable enough to balance easily enough on one leg.

Destroyer has:

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

Accessories: Thor comes with an alternate bearded head, which is useful if you prefer the 80th classic Thor to rock the beard look. I love this option as it adds a bonus to an existing figure providing some additional display options.

He’s also got a left punching hand.

Naturally Thor has Mjolnir. The handle should be a bit longer though the sculpt of the block portion is excellent as it includes the inscription.

Destroyer didn’t need much by way of extra parts and has a clutching right hand and wider clutching left hand. Those are smart choices.

Worth it?  If you timed it right, you could have gotten this excellent set for under $30. I was impressed by the initial cost of $52.99. Destroyer really could have been a deluxe figure around $40 on its own so to get Thor with new parts to provide another character was a great deal.

Rating:  9.5 out of 10

Yes, Mjolnir’s handle could be longer, the gold plating could use a wash and the torso paint could be tighter. And Destroyer’s eyes should be black, but I can’t be worked up about minimal issues like that given such a quality set. This was well worth the money.

Where to get it?  Amazon has it now $51 and it’s in stock at Entertainment Earth has it for restocking.

As an Amazon and Entertainment Earth affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.