MAFEX Return of Superman: Superboy review No. 232

January 9, 2026 Jeffrey Lyles Cyborg Superman, MAFEX, Steel, Superboy, Superman, The Eradicator, The Reign of the Supermen

Superboy was a very unexpected hit character stemming from Reign of the Supermen. In hindsight, it’s easy to see how this character fully embracing a 90s teen attitude could have proven to be an annoying relic of a forgotten era.

That didn’t end up being the case as Kon-El has been one of the more popular and enduring characters created in the 90s. MAFEX has nailed their Return of Superman line with stellar versions of all four pretenders to the S-sigil and now it’s time for Superman’s clone — just make sure not to call him Superboy.

Let’s see if this version ends up displacing the stellar DC Direct version or if this will be another in a long line of contenders to the throne.

Packaging: MAFEX retains the same set up for the ROS presentation. Superboy is packaged in a grey scale box with a wide window showing off the figure and all of his accessories with various poses of the figure throughout. Some of which are pretty iconic images from comic book covers showing Superboy in action.

mafex return of superman superboy review - package front

mafex return of superman superboy review - package rear

mafex return of superman superboy review - package side

The back shows off the other portraits, which is helpful, but I still wish they provided some form of a bio.

Likeness: One area where the MAFEX Superboy surpasses the others is the removable leather jacket. He didn’t keep it on throughout Reign of the Supermen and had it off during the final battle with Cyborg Superman.

DC Direct’s and Mattel’s DC Classics version had the jacket on while the latest McFarlane Toys figure didn’t come with the jacket. This is the best of both worlds.

mafex return of superman superboy review - comparison front side with dc direct and mattel superboy

mafex return of superman superboy review - rear comparison with dc direct and mattel superboy figures

Superboy’s head sculpt is outstanding managing to hit that perfect blend of a Dan Jurgens and Tom Grummett portrait. He’s just a hint of overconfidence and his signature hairstyle was knocked out perfectly. This is really phenomenal and immediately is one of my favorite comic book to action figure translations.

mafex return of superman superboy review - front left side

mafex return of superman superboy review - front right side

mafex return of superman superboy review - rear left side

mafex return of superman superboy review - rear right side

That extends to the rest of the figure as well with the sculpted costume details from the shoulder points, the S-shield, the unique cuffed gloves and the boots. His double belt is angled properly as well right down to sculpted buckles and laces. You pay more for MAFEX figures, but it’s hard to complain with an end result of this quality.

Scale: Here’s another one where the MAFEX figure’s only competition is the DC Direct champion. Mattel and McFarlane both made Superboy too tall when this is the character at his absolute youngest.

The MAFEX figure is not just slighter, but shorter than the others. This helps lean into his need to overcompensate around the other Supermen.

Paint: Despite the higher price tag, MAFEX isn’t impeccable in this category. Superboy has a mix of yellow and black, which is a hard color scheme to execute properly.

mafex return of superman superboy review - front

mafex return of superman superboy review - rear

That’s also the case here with some fuzzy edges with the yellow spraying onto the black and some sloppiness around his right thigh band.

mafex return of superman superboy review - left side

mafex return of superman superboy review - right side

Ideally for this price, there would be no paint issues at all. His faded hairstyle was well done, however.

Articulation: MAFEX always nails the articulation of these figures providing by far the most articulated DC figures we’ve ever gotten. Superboy is really fun to pose and match up against other characters. Given his power set Superboy will be able to pull off all of his major moves including his tactile telekinetic abilities.

Unlike the other pretenders who have capes, Superboy has the removable leather jacket. It can bunch up a bit and a wire to aid with posing it would have been very helpful.

Superboy has:

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

Accessories: MAFEX doesn’t skirt on all the viable accessories a character should have and Superboy is sufficiently covered as well.

To start he’s got two very necessary alternate head sculpts.

The first is with his sunglasses on. Again, MAFEX wins here as their figure is the only one with the option to have them on or off. Most have the sunglasses on as it was part of Superboy’s cool 90s attitude.

For the second alternate option it’s a teeth-gritted intense expression for when Superboy is in the middle of a heated fight. This is a very expressive portrait and great for conveying the various stages of a battle.

As usual, there’s plenty of hand options as well. He’s got a set of wide open, thumbs up and clutching hands to further aid in posing variety.

Worth it? Superboy was the last of the four Super-pretenders to get a figure, so he got hit with the tariff surcharge, which jacked his price point up to $116. That’s a tough price and even with all of the fabulous accessories, likeness and articulation that is still a lot.

Rating: 10 out of 10

The price is what it is, but this Superboy is the best version of Kon-El in this attire finally dethroning the DC Direct version and leaving the other options as mere pretenders.