Marvel Legends Iron Fist and Luke Cage review
Iron Fist and Luke Cage are arguably the top duo in Marvel Comics. They’re two heroes where it’s weird to see one and not consider the other. And with the real life being disappointingly divisive, it’s very cool to see two of Marvel’s BFFs being a black and a white guy.
Hasbro recently released an updated and long overdue Power Man figure. Immediately after the figure was shown, collectors started questioning when we’d see Iron Fist. It wasn’t until the rollout of the Marvel Comics 85th anniversary would we get the Heroes for Hire reunited.
This 85th anniversary line has strong contenders for Best of the Year honors, but I was most anticipating this set. Let’s see if this set was worth the wait or if I need to demand a refund.
Packaging: As part of the Marvel Comics 85th Anniversary wave, Iron Fist and Luke Cage are presented in a streamlined and skinner box. It’s got a black and copper color scheme with some random tech piping.
Hasbro should add a line on the box to cite the artist and comic referenced for the character art. This art was interesting as there were plenty of reference art of Iron Fist and Luke Cage together. There’s no bio in this 85th anniversary packaging either.
Likeness: There’s all kinds of unwarranted criticism of this set due to Iron Fist’s costume. Some collectors incorrectly assumed that the ML team messed up Iron Fist’s design in going with a modern tweaked version of his classic costume and mistakenly pairing him with a modern Cage.
This set is correctly based on their appearance in New Avengers. After Secret Invasion, Luke Cage reformed the New Avengers and called in his buddy Iron Fist to join the team.
Iron Fist largely uses the Renew Your Vows Spider-Man body with some new sculpted elements specifically the piping from his collar along his chest.
The main difference from this NA look and Iron Fist’s classic attire is his exposed chest area continues down past his sash. With the classic attire, it ends in a V-shape above the belt. Other costume aspects like the yellow slippers instead of boots and the sleeves and pants ending at the forearms and shins are intact.
Iron Fist gets a nice high collar with a dramatic flair so as to not impede Danny’s head movement. His iconic half mask has a long adjustable knot. And his hair accurately peeks out from the bottom. The default head sculpt is neutral though Danny does look pretty intense like the fight is about to start.
Hasbro has released a few versions of Luke Cage in his yellow shirt attire. Ironically always in a two- or multi-pack like the Defenders set. This is the best version of this look for Cage by far. He’s aided by a new sculpt that shows off his musculature very well. Check out the veins in his arm.
Cage’s head sculpt is very good sporting an intense expression. He’s not really a character know for constantly smiling so this portrait makes sense.
The texture on his jeans is solid as well. His default right hand is an open gripping one, which is a good choice for Cage. The left hand features a Cage brass knuckle-armed fist.
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Paint: Iron Fist benefits greatly from Hasbro sculpting his costume details. Even tricky areas like the lining of his collar down to his waist is clean. Maybe the teeny tiny strip at the bottom right section could have used another hit of paint it doesn’t look bad. The dragon on his chest is nicely applied and the black around his eyes is very sharp.
The only thing off with the paintjob is his hair is brown instead of blonde. Even a dirty blonde would have been fine compared to this stark brown.
Luke Cage’s lemon-yellow shirt is strong enough to prevent any bleed through. There is some minor slop around the sleeves.
His Cage belt buckle has a terrific blend of black and silver, which came out very clean.
Scale: Cage is appropriately taller than Iron Fist. He’s the tallest of the New Avengers until you bring in The Thing. That was when Brian Michael Bendis started losing his way on the title and is best left forgotten.
Anyway, Cage scales in perfectly with Iron Fist and his earlier New Avengers teammates like Captain America and Wolverine.
Articulation: Iron Fist is a character like Spider-Man, Daredevil, Nightcrawler and Shang-Chi that needs a high level of articulation.
The RYV Spider-Man allows Iron Fist to have a fantastic range with his butterfly shoulders and back and forth articulation. He’s able to strike numerous martial arts stances with punches, chops and kicks.
It’s nice to get a figure matched up with the ideal articulation scheme and mold to best pull off his moves.
Cage is far more of a bruiser, so he doesn’t need the same level of hyper articulation as Iron Fist. On that bruiser front, Cage features very fluid articulation and he’s well-positioned to be a shield for smaller figures and take those big defensive poses.
Iron Fist and Luke Cage have:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders
- butterfly shoulders
- bicep
- elbow (double-jointed)
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- torso
- waist [Cage only]
- hip
- thigh
- knee (double-jointed)
- ankle
Accessories: This set offers plenty of worthwhile accessories.
Iron Fist gets a strong accessory rollout. He’s got a right chop hand and left fist to match the default hand setup. He’s also got semi-gripping poses and grasping hands.
To simulate his power, Iron Fist gets the translucent red, yellow and orange fireball effects typically used with flame-based characters.
Finally, he’s got an alternate head with an open mouth yelling expression. The detail work here is very strong with clean paint on his teeth and tongue.
Cage doesn’t have as many accessories. He’s got the matching right brass knuckle fist as well as that reads ‘Luke.’
His final accessory is the yelling head sculpt. Like Iron Fist, the row of teeth is very well sculpted and the paintwork is impeccable.
Worth it? The set is priced at $49.99, what’d you pay for two standalone figures. Ideally, Hasbro would offer these at a slight discount, say $44.99, considering Cage isn’t overflowing with accessories. It’s not a bad value though.
Rating: 10 out of 10
I don’t have any complaints with this set. Hasbro’s been on a roll with these two-packs, but this might be one of my favorites.
Where to get it? This set isn’t exclusive to any one retailer so you can get Iron Fist and Luke Cage at Amazon and Entertainment Earth.
As an Amazon Associate and Entertainment Earth affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.