McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Deadman review – Gold Label (2023)

McFarlane Toys has become the slow transition of less experimentation with figures from the DC Universe or doing random one-off outfits to the more traditional, classic appearances. Not coincidentally, more collectors are starting to get invested in the line. With more entries like Deadman the buzz for this line is only to get louder.

Deadman is a character that’s done pretty well figure wise with quality releases from DC Direct, DC Icons and Mattel’s DC Classics line. Now McFarlane Toys tries its hand at bringing the definitive take on Boston Brand’s super heroic identity.

Let’s see if this figure will live on infamy or die a slow death in the back of my collection.

Packaging: McFarlane Toys is still sticking with its original packaging. That’s gotten a little bit boring since the packaging could have been enhanced from the jump with bios and information about the particular comic reference.

At least the color scheme is unique with the black and blue and white accents, but I’d be happy with just a few tweaks to the presentation at this point. As usual for Gold Label figures, the back features comic artwork.

Likeness: Deadman is a character that’s basically redesign proof. Sure, some artists will go a bit ghastlier with his frame and the degree of his decay, but Deadman has to be a dude in a red jumpsuit with a flared collar and a creepy head. Of the three that I have, this one ranks behind the DC Icons one, which is still the champ.

To their credit, McFarlane Toys didn’t decide on some wonky new take and went pretty classic here. The collar is high and flares out widely. His frame is appropriately slender and he’s got both a fist and outstretched gesturing left hand.

The head sculpt is the real highlight. Deadman has a wall death warmed over appearance with wrinkled, mummified skin. His eyes are sunken in and the visible area of his chest also looks devoid of life. It’s a great take on Deadman.

Scale: Deadman’s scale isn’t as significant an issue it is with many figures in the line. He can be a tall wraith or average height stature. Since he’s not really going to be lining up next to a bunch of other heroes. He’s slightly taller than Batman.

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• Misdirection review (2026)
• Primate review (2026)
• DC Comics reviews 2/18/26 – Absolute Batman 17
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Paint:  Deadman doesn’t have a complicated paint scheme. He’s basically all red with white skin.

To mix it up a little, McFarlane added a wash to the exposed skin portions. The paintwork on this area is exceptional catching all the sculpted mummified sculpt details.

I do wish the D on his outfit were bigger. It’s slimmer and smaller than typically done to avoid breaking up the lettering in different poses. The D is positioned right between the upper torso and waist parts so any bigger and it would have carried over to other sections of the figure.

Articulation: Deadman sports 22 points of articulation. He’s not a character that needs articulation for fighting, but rather for eerie crouching and hovering poses.

There’s no problem with the latter, but the hip articulation prevents any cross-legged squatting poses.

Deadman has:

• neck
• ball-jointed shoulders [with pop up/down point]
• butterfly shoulders
• elbow
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• torso
• waist
• hip
• thigh
• knee
• ankle
• toe

Accessories: McFarlane Toys doesn’t go overboard with accessories and in this case there’s not a ton that could’ve been added with Deadman.

I appreciate the inclusion of some translucent off-white energy effects that wrap around his arms. One is much longer while the other is shorter. The larger piece plugs into his back and encircles his torso with a smaller Deadman head to show his phasing/possession powers at play.

And as always, he’s got the standard McF black stand and trading card.

Worth it? McFarlane Toys figures are for the moment still $20. It’s pretty remarkable that McFarlane retained that price point for so long. Given Deadman’s lack of intricate sculpting and paint job, that seems a fair price for him.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Deadman gets a pretty strong figure with good if not great articulation and creative accessories.

Where to get it?  Deadman is exclusive to Target, which is good news since their exclusives are much easier to track down than Wal-Mart figures. If you can’t find him in stores you can always grab him from Target’s website.

You can also grab the DC Icons Deadman from Amazon.

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