Marvel Legends Deathbird and Gladiator review (2025)

When Deathbird and Gladiator showed up on X-Men ’97, I felt pretty good about seeing them pop up in Marvel Legends sooner than later. Gladiator has gotten two figures, but they used horribly outdated molds with plenty of problems. Deathbird is a significant enough of an X-Men villain to justify her inclusion in the line as well.

The Marvel Legends team had another avenue to sell a Deathbird and Gladiator pack as they were the missing characters from the Uncanny X-Men #275 cover the team seemed intent on completing in figure form. Continuing a theme of the various two-packs in 2025, this one looked impressive right away so I was thrilled to add it to the collection.

Let’s see if Deathbird and Gladiator deserve the throne of honor or if they should be jettisoned back out to space.

Packaging: The ML team is sticking consistent with the two-pack setup largely just switching the theme logo — in this case, the X-Men logo — against the black with yellow accent color scheme.

I am appreciative that each of the three images are different though it would be a nice touch for the packaging to indicate or at least credit the artists whose work is referenced.

Credit the bio writeup for crafting an actual narrative, if not a breakdown of the character’s powers or their ties to the X-Men. This was a nice step in the right direction.

Likeness: Both previous versions of Gladiator used the Hyperion mold, which wasn’t exactly the best mold when it debuted. As the Hasbro sculptors got better with more streamlined molds with more appropriate looking physiques, that mold looked worse.

Gladiator gets the Hercules mold with some tweaks to incorporate pinless elbows and knees. It’s a major improvement over the earlier Gladiator figures, which suffered from a small neck pin and awkward alignment of his cape.

This one looks so much better as it rests up against his shoulders in a much more natural manner. The cape clasps and cord look cleaner and the flared collar stands is positioned just right.

His head sculpt is tremendous as he’s giving off an irritated air of superiority as if he’s over conversing and ready for battle.

Deathbird also looks great. She reuses some parts of the Shriek mold, but a lot of it is new to accommodate her armor and specific costume details. Her head sculpt with the crown and raised hair is excellent. Her expression is maniacal as if she’s in the middle of seeing one of her devious schemes coming to fruition. Deathbird’s layered, feathered cape turned out very nice with the piping wrapping over her bust and connecting to her gauntlets.

Since she’s not quite an A-list villain, there isn’t a set, definitive look for her. Most of her outfits have a similar pattern so the ML team went the smart route and used the Jim Lee design as the main influence on the figure. This is fairly accurate to that design with the slotted panels in the torso armor, the layered gauntlets, the oval-centered belt and the thigh high armor on her legs.

They did Lee proud making it all the more ironic that we don’t have such a faithful to the Lee design take on Psylocke yet. I also dig the curled claw fingers as they offer a visually dangerous threat when she’s on the attack even without a weapon.

Scale: Deathbird is taller than the average human female though we really need some more of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard now. Gladiator and Fang aren’t nearly enough. Gladiator is 6’6″, placing him the same height as Thor.

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Paint: Deathbird has a sharp paint job with a brighter pearlescent purple for her armor and a deeper flat purple for her pants. Her tiara and cape are more of a magenta. The paintwork on her head sculpt is really nicely done with exceptional work around her eyes and lipstick.

Deathbird has clean work on her fingernails as well. The only paint issue is the light blue slotted portion of her armor, which has some missed paint apps.

Gladiator’s costume is also very neatly applied with vibrant shades of blue and red. The yellow portion of his costume isn’t as weak either, which is a noticeable sticky point for most figures.

His purple skin is solid with a faint darker wash to bring out the wrinkles in his face as well as the shading around his eyes. His signature mohawk has some black in the blue to give a comic book style appearance as well.

Articulation: Deathbird and Gladiator both have great articulation thanks to the part choices.

The Hercules body is a major improvement for Gladiator, who moves so much smoother while hitting some dynamic poses even with the still cumbersome plastic cape.

Deathbird has some minor restrictions thanks to her tubing, but she is still very fun to pose. Her cape is heavy, but it does make for a good stabilizing point for deeper stances.

Deathbird and Gladiator have:

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

Accessories: This set is another one where the ML team didn’t really do much to plus up one of the figures.

Gladiator certainly fares the better of the two. He gets an alternate head sculpt where he’s starting to unleash his heat beams with a translucent red trail is emanating from both eyes.

He’s also fired up as evidence by his yelling expression. This is a terrific alternate head sculpt as it signals the mood has changed and Gladiator means business.

Additionally, he gets a set of swappable fists. That’s an easy inclusion and makes sense for such a massive powerhouse.

Deathbird gets nothing. Granted the sculpt details likely weren’t cheap since there wasn’t a bunch of obvious reuses for the mold, but a set of fists and a neutral expression would have been welcome accessories.

Worth it?  The Deathbird/Gladiator set stays consistent with the new standard two-pack price of $57.99. That’s going to really bite Hasbro when collectors start seeing those higher priced sets start showing up at Ross for $15. At least with this set, Deathbird does have a fairly intricate outfit. Still, the $50 price point was the sweet spot considering the accessories are not padded out like a deluxe set.

Rating:  10 out of 10

Gladiator is a major improvement from his previous releases while Deathbird gets a sensational debut. It’s well past time for Marvel Legends to get more Imperial Guard members.

Where to get it?  This is a shared exclusive so you can get it from Hasbro Pulse as well as from online partners like Amazon and Entertainment Earth.

As an Amazon and Entertainment Earth affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.