Marvel Legends Marvel’s Owl review (2025)

May 14, 2026 Jeffrey Lyles Daredevil, Doctor Octopus, Hasbro, Kingpin, Marvel Legends, Owl, Spider-Man

Owl is a versatile street level villain who counts Daredevil and Spider-Man as two of his major adversaries. We’re in the sweet spot with Marvel Legends where the brand team is willing to take more chances with the villains offered particularly in a wave heavy with Spider-Man variants.

Let’s see if Owl is the kind of figure that makes me give a hoot or if he just needs to rest quietly towards the back of my crime boss display.

Packaging: Owl isn’t the first villain you’d associate with Spider-Man The Animated Series, but he did have a quick cameo in a scene with Kingpin and the other crime bosses. That could have been enough to use the cartoon animation style in the Retro brand packaging. Since the outfit choice was a more modern version of Owl, the ML team opted to go with artwork from the 2023 appearance of that look.

marvel legends the owl review - package front

marvel legends the owl review - package rear

That breaks up the Retro style a bit as Owl and Miles Morales Spider-Man are two of the only (?) Retro card figures to feature modern art instead of the cartoonish style.

The card back itself is still plenty colorful enough with the yellow and red Spider-Man logo and the bright purple and light blue background color scheme. His bio is pretty decent as it explains his role and his main heroic rivals.

Likeness: Owl has had a surprising number of looks over the decades for a character who’s hardly a B-lister villain. This look is based on his more recent comic book appearances. In fairness to the ML team, going with Owl’s classic look with the large, flared collar cape, the prominent bow he wore around his neck and the arrangement of the cape over half his chest, figuring out the articulation scheme would have been very tricky.

While I’m partial to the classic designs, this modern version does make sense for an action figure. He’s using the Spider-Man: No Way Home Doctor Octopus torso and an overcoat I can’t place. Maybe it’s new? The overcoat has some very nice detail with nicks, rips and holes along with a tattered hemline.

While the ML team made sure to included his shirt sleeve cuffs, which are usually drawn peeking out from under his suit jacket, the wrist hinge joint cuts through the sleeve cuff in a weird visual. He does get his talons on the default hand sculpt. They’re not lengthy like claws and are far better suited for up close and personal fights.

marvel legends the owl review - front left side

marvel legends the owl review - front right side

marvel legends the owl review - rear left side

marvel legends the owl review - rear right side

Owl is typically drawn thicker so the team faked some weight by padding him with a long jacket underneath the trenchcoat and gave him a Starlord flowing scarf around his neck. While removable, you’ll want to keep that in place to avoid exposing his very thin neck otherwise you’ve got a serious bobblehead situation going on. It sure feels like putting this overcoat with a sculpted high collar on the Happy Hogan buck would have been an easier solution.

His head sculpt is fantastic based on his modern appearance. I love the hair, which is blown out in the “Wolverine” style even though Owl pre-dates Logan. His original appearance had him clean shaven as the hairstyle helped with the subtle owl appearance. This take gives him flared out sideburns that connect to his beard. Owl has an intense expression with his nostrils flared up and his teeth gritted.

Scale: Owl is about 5’11” making him shorter than the 6’ Daredevil and an inch taller than the 5’10” Spider-Man.

Paint: Owl has a surprising paint job given the subtle additional paint apps. Although his skin tone is pale — makes sense for a character named after a nocturnal bird — he’s got dark shading for the bags under his eyes. The printing for his eyes, lips and teeth is very sharp.

marvel legends the owl review - left side

marvel legends the owl review - right side

His overcoat has some brown fading at the hemline to further convey he’s not bothered by a little dirt and grime. He is a crime boss after all.

Articulation: Owl is a more active fighter than you might assume based on his costume as he doesn’t mind battling toe to toe with Daredevil and Spider-Man.

Owl has an arm articulation setup more like a Star Wars Black Series figure.

There’s no bicep swivel and his elbows have a swivel, deeper range single-joint. It does basically mimic the movement range of a double-jointed elbow well enough.

His overcoat top creates some notable limitations when trying to strike a flying/gliding pose and he’s unable to raise his arms over his head.

Owl has:

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

Accessories: Owl gets a set of swappable wide-open hands that are ideal for wrapping around an opponent’s throat.

These are a fun alternate set considering Owl would realistically use these in a fight.

While the talon claws are removable, they leave an unsightly gap in his hand. Since they pop out very easily, you’re better served supergluing them in place.

His other accessory is an owl. We’ve gotten several from various DC lines with Dr. Midnight, but I think this is the first Marvel owl bird figure we’ve gotten. It appears to be a barn owl based on the simplistic head sculpt.

The feathers have nice detail as well. The paint job could use a wash. It can’t be perched on his arm, but it can stand on a flat surface, which isn’t always the case with bird sidekicks in other figure lines.

Worth It? Owl was originally released at the standard $27.99 price point, but now he’s being found on clearance for $12.99. As a good enough version of the character, the lower price point is the sweet spot especially if you want to buy some other parts to make a more accurate version.