As I start this article, I want to reflect a bit on the new trailer drop for Spider-Man Far From Home from this week. Not that I ever suspected that the heroes who turned to dust would remain gone forever, but it was good to see people who turned to dust, most notably Spider-Man and Nick Fury, in the preview. This in and of itself could be quite the spoiler to the Avengers Endgame movie that hits theaters 2 months before. But knowledge of the Spider-Man movie and that Nick Fury would be in it were not the best kept secrets in the world.
Going a step further though, the lack of Iron Man was rumored, but quite apparent in the preview. Especially since Happy says, “We’re all alone” in the preview, it makes me wonder…. does Iron Man survive Endgame? The fact that this trailer was dropped and even allows that thought to enter our minds, in all honesty, is probably a red herring (I’m going to put it here first…. I’m thinking Iron Man DOES survive Endgame, but heads off into outer space – possibly with the Guardians of the Galaxy who he fought alongside of in Infinity War – to create a new first line of defense before any galactic threats even come close to Earth…. that would make sense for him being alive and not anywhere nearby to help out our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man! But we’ll see in a few months!).
But before this “Avengers” post gets hijacked by Spider-Man news (like…. more Mysterio action figures are on their way!), the point I am looking to make: Marvel guards it’s secrets and spoilers a great deal. There’s a bunch of action figures that have been accounted through various conventions and events for 2019 release, and I’d be willing to bet that we’re hardly seeing anything that we’re actually going to get until we get closer to the movie and see some movie-inspired action figures. In the meantime, the announced figures are, in my opinion, less than inspired. In fact, there’s only three figures in this whole mix that I’m excited about (feel free to comment below if you can figure out which ones or if you want to indicate which figures you’re interested in).
Let’s do this in alphabetical order. First up is Beta Ray Bill. Most of the figures announced are comic-inspired, and Beta Ray Bill is no exception (meaning I doubt we’re going to see him, or any of these figures, in the Endgame movie, but have them more like Grey Gargoyle as a comic-inspired add on to a movie series, like Grey Gargoyle is in Captain Marvel Wave 1 – now on sale!).
Next up is Citizen V. I actually enjoyed the Thunderbolts when they first came out, so having Citizen V (Baron Zemo pretending to be a hero!) isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but where are the rest of the Thunderbolts? We have Songbird (Avengers Infinity War Wave 1 – now on sale), so maybe Citizen V is just continuing the series and over time we’ll get all of the Thunderbolts assembled. If not, he’s a rather obscure pick (at least Songbird stayed a good guy!).
I’m glad that the next two come together alphabetically, because these two are ones that we have been waiting for since the Avengers Infinity War movie! Corvus Glaive and Ebony Maw! The rest of Thanos’ Black Order have already been released, with Proxima Midnight in Avengers Infinity War Wave 1, and Cull Obsidian the Build-a-Figure in Avengers Infinity War Wave 2 (both Proxima Midnight and Avengers Wave 2 are in our shop to order those figures now). Plus Thanos himself was a Build a Figure in Avengers Infinity War Wave 1 (and also was released again as part of the Marvel Studios First Ten Years, along with Iron Man and Doctor Strange). So these two were noticeably missing, and finally getting them is well received indeed.
Next we have a long-time Avengers and someone who should be very recognizable: Hercules! The fact that he was the first 2019 Avengers announced, and is comic inspired, pretty much guarantees that he’s not going to be in the film this year, but that’s okay because he is most definitely a good addition to the collection (much like Black Knight in Avengers Infinity War Wave 2).
The rest I am going to sum up all together, because, at least to me, they fall into the less than spectacular category. Sure, they are more unique, better than getting a 9th Iron Man or a 6th Black Panther, but are these characters popular? Are they in demand? I read comics for a lot of years, and I certainly didn’t look at this group and think: “I wish there were toys of these characters!” But maybe therein lies the beauty of this group, because they could be hidden jewels. We’ll see. But all in all, it includes Living Laser, the comic-inspired Loki (nice to have the original look, but I’l quite happy with the Tom Hiddleston inspired version), Nighthawk, and Union Jack (and if you look at those names and say, “Who?” I don’t blame you!).
No word yet on target dates, or what breakdowns there will be. These figures likely will be split up over two or three releases, or possibly even have some kind of two-pack release (I could easily see Corvus Glaive and Ebony Maw come out as a 2-pack). There also hasn’t been any indication of what the next Build-a-Figure will be (whereas the X-Men announced two Build-a-Figures for 2019 in Caliban and Wendigo). So here’s a little preview, but as more is unveiled, we’ll provide additional updates. Check back for additional news and for when pre-orders for these figures become available.
In the meantime, here’s some of the figures currently available discussed above:
