Marvel Legends Baron Zemo and Arnim Zola review
The original Baron Zemo has long since been a major want for my Hasbro Marvel Legends collection. Toy Biz released one during its final stretch of figures. Hasbro took some time getting the leader of the original Masters of Evil, but the timing couldn’t be better with the HasLab Giant-Man imminent.
And rather than have him take on Captain America by his lonesome, Zemo has some help courtesy of Arnim Zola. Since I’d missed out on both previous takes of the character I was thrilled to get a third crack at him. This would definitely impact the excitement of folks who already had Zola however.
From the moment this set was announced it shot up to one of my most anticipated for 2024. Let’s see if the set delivers or needs to get frozen for a few decades.
Packaging: As Captain America: Brave New World was set to arrive this year, Hasbro had this Captain America theme set ready to go. An MCU production delay can’t hold back Hasbro though so the set just kinda randomly has this under the Captain America branding.
We’re back to windows again, which is somewhat ironic as the Walgreens Baron Zemo had the plastic window as well. This set is an Amazon exclusive, but it is nice to be able to quickly see all the accessories and figures lined up in that familiar plastic tray pattern.
Either side features an image of Zemo or Zola. The back features a larger version of those pictures and a simple sentence bio explaining their mutual loathing of Captain America. It’s not much, but it’s something.
Likeness: Baron Zemo was a pleasant surprise. Initially, I figured Hasbro’s ML team was just going to reuse the Baron Helmut Zemo mold and call it a day.
Instead, Papa Zemo is mostly reusing the Red Skull mold with what I think is a new torso. It’s wider and less athletic i.e. perfect for the original Zemo.
He does reuse the furry boot cuffs like Zemo II. In the original Avengers run, Jack Kirby and Don Heck drew Zemo more with pixie style furry booties. Kirby would frequently switch up Zemo’s look — sometimes he’d have a pattern from the collar to the belt.
Other issues the belt would be like a wrestling title and others it would be segmented more like a utility belt. In Avengers #6, the boots are more like the figure. Given the serious costume inconsistencies, the ML squad did a good job finding a baseline look for Zemo and sticking with it.
One thing that remained standard was the mask. Zemo had a crown of sorts resting just above his eyes. Hasbro’s sculptors did a great job with the mask length and crown but neglected an important aspect of the look.
His eyes were visible with just a tiny piece of his skin visible in the mask’s eye hole. Instead, it’s closed off like a full mask.
Arnim Zola is the same figure initially released as a BAF in 2012. I think I might have a few parts for him, but never came close to completing him. He’s a character that it’s hard to cry foul about with the sculpt and how it needed to be upgraded to be released 12 tears later.
It’s actually one of the rare early-ish Hasbro ML figures that still holds up fine. A lot of that comes from Hasbro putting a ton of effort into the BAFs. Even if the figures used to build the BAF were lackluster, most of the BAFs were well done. If anything, they just needed better paintjobs.
Zola has all the essential elements from the odd rectangular shaped head with the three points and yellow orb in the center. His broader shape is nicely done with an appropriate level of bagginess particularly in the arms. He wore baggy sleeves that mostly covered his long gloves that went up to his elbows.
His skirt piece is well executed with the pattern actually sculpted instead of painted on. Zola’s legs have the accurate plated lining while his boot design is also sculpted. He’s a very impressive looking figure that still holds up just fine by 2024 standards.
Paint: Zemo’s paintjob is mostly fine. The important elements, namely his crown and mask, are very sharp with no flaws. His collar piece has animal prints faded into it though the pattern is busier than necessary. It just needed the stray dots like the Helmut Zemo figure.
While there are some images with white gloves, Zemo typically wore yellow gloves or just had his hands showing so this was an odd choice.
Zola gets a shinier paintjob with a richer orange and purple. Yellow on purple doesn’t make for the easiest paint application so there’s more bleed through, chipping and overspray than most 2024 ML figures.
It does make for a striking color combination.
The Zola monitor image is more in line with a Kirby drawing than the previous figure. The expression is fantastic with a bit of wonder and excitement.
Scale: Zemo was typically drawn to be about the same height as Captain America.
Zola is also around average height compared to Cap. Like most villains, it’s more a matter of who’s drawing him in what particular issue.
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Articulation: Baron Zemo has really solid articulation. The Molecule Man mold is a good base for a fighter like Zemo who favors using a blaster from a distance. Occasionally, he’ll throw down with Cap in a hand-to-hand battle as well.
Baron Zemo has:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders
- bicep
- elbow (double-jointed)
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- torso
- waist
- hip
- thigh
- knee (double-jointed)
- shin
- ankle
Zola is far less of a physical fighter and is more of a posturing and threatening villain. He’s a mad scientist after all.
His open grasping hands to make it possible for him to throttle someone if need be, however.
Arnim Zola has:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders
- elbow
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- waist
- hip
- thigh
- knee (double-jointed)
- shin
- ankle
Accessories: Baron Zemo has two additional sets of hands — fists and open, clutching hands.
He also has the Zemo sword. It’s similar to the Walgreens one with a darker brown hilt to make it look more realistic.
Zemo also has a handgun that I think is a Ruger .22LR. It’s the smaller pistol Hasbro has given previous Dr. Doom figures and makes sense for Zemo.
Finally, he’s got a surprising accessory — the disfigured face showing the effects of the Adhesive X that kept his mask stuck on his face.
It’s a great mangled head sculpt though I don’t know when we would have ever seen it since the mask was stuck on his face. It’s a fun inclusion though and the amount of detail work on it is impressive.
Maybe I could find another figure to put it on to make more use of it?
Zola doesn’t need as many accessories. He’s got an alternate head sculpt with the light bulb-looking eyepiece ESP box.
He’s also got his remote-control device to manipulate his creations. It’s got different colored buttons to show how much effort Hasbro put into making this a pretty definitive version of Arnim Zola.
Worth it? This set is normally the same price you’d pay for two Marvel Legends figures — $50. Fortunately, I caught it on sale during Amazon Prime Day, which knocked it down to $39.99. Anytime I can get Marvel Legends in 2024 for the longtime $20 price point I’m happy. Especially when you factor in that Zola alone tends to come up at $50 on eBay.
Rating: 9.7 out of 10
The glove color choice, the busier than necessary collar coloring and the inaccurate mask execution holds this set back from a perfect score, but it’s another strong addition to the 2024 ML lineup.
Where to get it? Baron Zemo and Arnim Zola are an Amazon exclusive. Maybe you could wait three years for it to possibly show up at Ross or Ollie’s but this is a great price now.
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