MAFEX Return of Superman: Eradicator review No. 219 (2025)

The Eradicator seemed to be the most likely of the four Supermen that showed up after Superman’s death to be the real deal. Albeit with a far more violent edge. MAFEX has been knocking out some tremendous versions of the core characters from The Reign of the Supermen/Return of Superman arc and I was thrilled it wasn’t going to take another five years for them to complete the set.

With The Eradicator joining the line, we’re just the upcoming Superboy away from getting the main four. I’ve still got a massive wish list for this storyline, but for now I’ll just settle on the arc-closing Superman with mullet.

For now, let’s see if this version of The Eradicator will be the definitive version in my collection.

Packaging: MAFEX thankfully hasn’t switched up anything with the ROS presentation. Eradicator is presented in a grey scale box with a wide window to show off the figure and all of his accessories.

On either side are more images of the figure while the back shows off the articulation and accessories. There’s no bio here or much text at all to speak of anywhere on the box.

Likeness: The Eradicator starred in Action Comics drawn by Jackson Guice. MAFEX hasn’t focused on exact artist likeness on all the figures though it feels like this is more of a Dan Jurgens take on The Last Son of Krypton. Again, I’ve got absolutely no problem with that as Jurgens was the big gun during that landmark era of the Superman titles.

He’s using the standard base Mafex body with the appropriate adjustments for this classic take on The Eradicator. My favorite aspect of the figure is how his S-shield is sculpted and the cape folds under it just as it appeared in the comics. The LSOK didn’t have any visible skin after his head so there was no collar for the cape to tuck into making the shield a really cool visual option.

It does seem like the shield could have been wider by just a bit. This is something that changed up depending on who was drawing the LSOK during the Reign of the Supermen.

I could go either way with this, but I really appreciate that the split with the black aspects of the costume meeting up with the center blue actually has sculpted lines. That’s a really nice touch.

The head sculpt looks like it would be a solid fit for a regular Superman, which makes the most sense seeing as how he looked just like Superman with no de-aging or cybernetic parts replacing some of his face. There are two issues with the head sculpt and my overall biggest with the figure. The eyes are whited out, which gives him a less than human appearance. That completely misses the point that Eradicator looks the most like Superman.

My other gripe is with the goggles. The ear coverings are far too big looking more like earmuffs instead of a sleek ear covering to help provide some sensory overload relief. Mafex made the goggles translucent but went with a more highlighter yellow instead of a yellow orange tone. Some takes on The Eradicator have made the goggles opaque.

I prefer to see the eyes, but with them inaccurate a semi-translucent look would have been better like the excellent DC Direct version.  The option to have different takes on the goggles would have made for a worthwhile accessory.

His cape is massive and as usual, contains a wire to make it poseable. There is also some padding around the back of the neck/shoulders area to give the cape the lift it had in the comics. To complete the look the yellow S-shield is on the back as well.

Scale: Eradicator is Superman’s height so he should be eye to eye with Cyborg Superman and looking up at Steel. We’ve got some distinction in height with the three pretenders, which should show off even better when Superboy arrives.

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Paint:  The Eradicator has a darker color scheme than the usual Superman outfit with a more muted blue down the center of his mostly black costume. This line work was smooth throughout the figure including the S-shield.

I’ve mentioned my issues with the whited-out eyes already. I also wonder if his eyebrows are a tad too pronounced as well.

Articulation: MAFEX nails the articulation of these figures making for the most articulated DC figures we’ve ever gotten. The Eradicator had Superman-level strength and durability though he preferred to fight from a distance with his energy blasts.

This Mafex figure has terrific articulation with options for brawling, flying and blasting away at his foes.

Thanks to the soft goods, poseable cape it was fun to get some more dynamic action shots especially with him battling his fellow-Superman rivals The Cyborg Superman and Steel.

The Eradicator has:

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

Accessories: MAFEX tends to go with all the sensible accessories for figures. The Eradicator doesn’t have as many essential accessories as some of the other would-be Superman pretenders, but what we do get makes a lot of sense.

For starters, he gets an alternate portrait. This one is a far more intense, angry expression. Considering how often he lost his cool and started going for kill shots on his opponents, this one was key. The gritted teeth and wilder hair help add to that extreme persona the Superman writers were going for with this version of Superman.

He’s also got a variety of swappable hand options. One set is flat palm/flying hands, another set is wider spread fingers and another is clutching hands. Next up is a set of fists. Finally, he’s got a set of translucent orange-yellow hands to simulate them charging up as he unleashes his energy blasts.

Eradicator has a pair of translucent yellow energy blasts with traces of orange and red in the mix. These are solid with a nice burst around his hands and spread out a decent distance.

Worth it? At just a little $100, Eradicator wasn’t cheap, but I do appreciate the quality MAFEX puts into these figures.

Rating: 9 out of 10

The visor and whited-out eyes take away a little something for me with this figure, but it’s still a really good Eradicator. Take the DC Direct head sculpt on here and you’d undoubtedly have the best version of the character.

Where to get it? Amazon still has him available.

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