McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Hourman action figure review (2025)
Hourman is an important character in the DC Universe as a founding member of the Justice Society of America. He was a regular member of the All-Star Squadron and also helped out Uncle Sam as a member of the Freedom Fighters.
As we near the home stretch of McFarlane Toys’ run with the DC license, there are a few teams I’m hoping get relatively completed. The JSA is a major one so I was thrilled to see Hourman appear on leaked list. When the figure was revealed, my excitement diminished a decent amount due to questionable part reuse.
Let’s see if actually having Hourman will wind back the clock to my earlier excitement or simply crack the hourglass.
Packaging: Hourman has the standard Multiverse packaging with the mostly black color scheme with white accents. He’s a Gold Label figure so he’s got the shiny gold sticker on the top left of the package. Along the side it states this is the JSA version, which is fine if not fully accurate since the 90s team was referred to more as the JSA instead of Justice Society.
Over on the back, Murphy Anderson’s artwork from the Who’s Who Entry is used while the cover of Justice League of America 21 featuring the first meeting of the JLA and JSA is the backdrop art.
Likeness: The biggest issue with Hourman is the wild use of the DC Multiverse Spectre for the base body. As far as molds go, Spectre makes for a solid choice so long as McFarlane sculpted a new head for him and gave him one of the upgraded soft good capes.
Instead, they reused the full Spectre portrait. That’s even wilder considering the sculpt has a new belt, hourglass and even the sculpted lines in his boots.
I really appreciate those touches, which could have made Hourman one of the better 2025 releases if only he’d gotten a new head sculpt and cape. I’m genuinely shocked they bothered to give him the sculpted boot lines instead of leaving that up to the paint.
For Hourman, he’s got one of the more unique mask/hood setups anyway, which is the one aspect that truly warranted a dedicated sculpt. The Spectre mold does give Rex Tyler a wide torso, so he doesn’t look scrawny next to his JSA teammates like previous versions of Hourman.
Scale: Hourman was 5’10” so he should be shorter than the 6′ Alan Scott and 5’11” Jay Garrick. He definitely should be looking up at the 6’2″ Dr. Fate.
Paint: Yellow is a notoriously challenging color to paint onto figures. McFarlane seems to have worked around that by molding his legs in yellow plastic.
Hourman has an unusual paint job with his mask as it has a half circle framing his head. McFarlane opted to paint his head with that half shadow while leaving the hood unpainted. That’s another immediate fix to help improve the likeness.
The other details like the hourglass and the belt are fine. There are some slop and runoff with the red lines in his boots, but that isn’t surprising given the smaller space. His cape should have a red and black trim near the bottom that is absent.
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Articulation: Hourman has solid articulation thanks to the regular 22 points of articulation. He’s a brawler who gains super strength and endurance for an hour so he needs to be able to toss a car or some goons as needed.
This is where the lack of a soft goods, poseable cape really hurts. Hourman doesn’t need the wide windswept cape of Spectre who’s all about the intimidation factor. Hourman just wants to get in there and mix it up.
The cape essentially gives him a giant backpack and will certainly need to be replaced at some point to allow Hourman to be more dynamic in action poses.
Hourman has:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders
- butterfly shoulders
- elbow
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- torso
- waist
- hip
- thigh
- knee
- ankle
- toe
Accessories: Hourman doesn’t have any obvious accessories save a Miraclo pill, which probably wouldn’t be a good look.
He comes with the default accessory roll out of the trading card and black circular stand.
Worth it? Prices have gone up for these figures, but I held my ground in waiting for Hourman to hit clearance knowing this isn’t a complete version of him to start. I grabbed him for $7, which will likely balance out the $20+ I’ll need to find a better head and cape option.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Even with the sprawling cape with a better head sculpt, Hourman would have rated higher. I do appreciate the intensity of the yellows, which prevent any bleed through or weak coverage making for a striking Hourman that needs some touching up.
Where to get it? DC Multiverse Hourman was a Target exclusive, but you can get him now from Amazon.
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