McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Aztek review (2026)

Aztek the Ultimate Man had a very short-lived solo series, but he parlayed that into an even briefer stint as a member of the JLA by writer Grant Morrison and Howard Porter.

Since that title was one of the all-time best eras of the Justice League, Aztek has become a much-desired character to receive figure treatment. For years, my buddy Sean aka Piffy would post on forums on the need for “Azteeeek” on various figure forms and it became a fun running joke.

Now, McFarlane Toys came through with an actual fully articulated version unlike the Justice League Unlimited animated style figure released years ago from Mattel. Let’s see if this version of The Ultimate Man was worth the wait or if we’ll have to hope that Mattel can eventually get to him at some point when they resume the DC license next year.

Packaging:  Aztek has the standard Multiverse packaging with the mostly black color scheme with white and blue accents. He gets the red foil Platinum Edition sticker although that doesn’t seem to indicate some level of rareness with the figure.

The side just labels this as a DC Classic figure instead of spotlighting a specific comic book look. On the back is artwork from his bio from a JLA annual/double sized special if I’m remembering it correctly.

Likeness: Aztek has a distinct look, which is probably why Mattel didn’t want to make his figure during the DC Classic run. He also wasn’t around in comics for very long. That said, his McFarlane figure is a weird hybrid of surprisingly accurate attention to detail and some weird design choices that don’t seem to match up with any reference art. Let’s start with the good.

Aztek’s head sculpt is pretty good with the angular nature of his helmet reflected nicely particularly with the eye slots, nose portion and chin guard sections. The “horns” on the helmet aren’t nearly as long as they appeared in the comic although I wonder if this was due to issues fitting them in the packaging or some safety restrictions. Of course, Porter drew the horns more along the lines of this figure.

He had armor plating around his neck and collarbone. The figure has a feathered, layered collar although the neck is plain. There isn’t another character with a fitting plated neck section and expecting too much unique sculpting for Aztek is just a case of setting yourself up for disappointment.

Like most new characters, Aztek kept getting tweaks and revisions to his look. It seems like this particular costume is based on his latter run when he’s got the shoulder and chest padding added. Here’s the wild thing about this sculpt that reveals the effort that McFarlane Toys put into the details that largely goes unappreciated.

They actually did sculpt the circles and spikes on each shoulder as well as making the extra effort to sculpt the disc at the center of his chest pad. As different artists have drawn him, the chest piece either ends at the circle or has a small point like the figure. What we have isn’t inaccurate though, which is important to note. He’s got gauntlets complete with the two slots although they should have rounded edges instead of angled rectangle ends. Aztek’s belt is fine and the trunks are fine.

His boots are the main section where the accuracy took a backseat. They should be large, rounded cylinder style like capsules that end at his ankle. Instead, he just has boot cuffs. This is more frustrating in the sense that the sculpt is better than expected and the Guy Gardner moon boots would have made for a better stand-in than basic superhero boots.

Scale: Aztek rarely stood right alongside his fellow JLA teammates, so his scale is less rigid than some others. He looks to is 6′ putting him shorter than the taller than the 6’2″ Batman and 6’3″ Superman. He’s about right although he draws more attention to how sadly out of scale Martian Manhunter looks with every new JLA member release.

Paint: McFarlane figures typically are very clean with their paint jobs and Aztek doesn’t have any problems either. Technically. There were some understandable issues since Aztek’s color scheme is all over the place in part because of the various costume tweaks.

The important elements are intact namely the gold helmet, collar piece, chest circle, shoulder pads gloves, belt and boots. There’s even a dark wash on them (save the helmet and chest plate armor sections) to give it more of a worn-down look. The chest circle logo may have a bit more wash than necessary.

Aztek’s gloves and trunks are an aqua blue. They also get a wash that helps provide depth into the sculpt, which helps the paint job stand out even further. The white is nice and clean showing off a great contrast with the other darker hues.

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Articulation: Aztek has the same solid articulation with the regular 22 points of articulation. He’s a versatile fighter capable of battling from distances and up close so the articulation scheme works well for him.

He flies around, uses super strength and fires energy projections so he’s got the usual base power setup, and any action stance works fine for him.

Aztek has:

• neck
• ball-jointed shoulders
• butterfly shoulders
• elbow
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• torso
• waist
• hip
• thigh
• knee
• ankle
• toe

Accessories: Aztek didn’t have a lot of obvious accessory options. Maybe an energy blast or two just to give him something extra? He does have a set of swappable fists so that’s better than nothing.

As usual, he comes with the usual trading card and black circular stand.

Worth it?  The Multiverse figures stayed at $22.99 for years, but the base Multiverse price is now $24.97, which is still a better price point than your average Marvel Legend or Transformers figure.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Aztek has been one of those characters who a line had to get deep into before we had a chance of getting him in figure form and McFarlane Toys did a pretty solid job of delivering one worth the wait for his fans.

Where to get it?  Aztek is available at GameStop and Walmart, the latter of which is where I grabbed mine. For the most comprehensive backlog of DC Multiverse figures, check out Amazon.

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