Marvel Legends “Avengers: Infinity War” Iron Spider Review

With “Avengers: Infinity War” midnight screenings hitting tonight, I thought this would be the perfect time to review Hasbro’s new Marvel Legends “Avengers: Infinity War” “Iron Spider” figure. It’s part of the Movie Thanos Build-A-Figure Series (pictured in this review). You’ll need Iron Spider along with Captain America, Proxima Midnight, Songbird, Taskmaster, and Cobra (called “Serpent Society” on his packaging) to build movie Thanos. Iron Man is also in this series, but he doesn’t come with a piece to build the Mad Titan. I won’t be reviewing any of the other figures, save, possibly for Cobra (remember when he used to show up during Roger Stern’s runs on “Spectacular Spider-Man” and “Amazing Spider-Man”? Good times!).

As many of you know, for “Avengers: Infinity War”, Spider-Man will be donning the armored suit presented to him by Tony Stark at the end of “Spider-Man: Homecoming”. This figure appears to capture the look of that costume quite accurately.

His sculpt is appropriately detailed and looks very spot-on. The eyes look very reminiscent of John Romita Sr.’s Spider-Man, which seems to be what the movie is going for. That, or you could say it’s more of an Alex Ross design, which is also accurate, since Ross’ interpretation of Web-Head is inspired by that Romita Sr.’s artwork. The sculpt also has miniscule indentations in the web pattern which I quite like. The spider and other features on this figure were nicely rendered.

Iron Spider is very articulated, just as any Spider-Man figure should be. He has a ball-jointed head, hinged neck, butterfly joints, shoulder swivels and hinges, bicep swivels, double-jointed elbows, wrist hinges and swivels, ab crunch, waist swivel, hip rotation, thigh swivels, double jointed knees, ankle pivots, and ankle hinges. I counted 32 points of articulation, all in all.

Iron Spider comes with the left leg for movie Thanos, and… nothing else. This is a huge disappointment, when so many previous Spider-Man figures have at least come with alternate fists and open palms for wall-crawling. Thus, Iron Spider is stuck in a double thwipping pose. One fist and one thwipping hand would have been preferred here, but alas, that’s sadly not the case here.

It’s rumored that a Marvel Cinematic Universe 10^th Anniversary set is coming, and Iron Spider is a part of that rumored line-up along with Iron Man, Black Widow, and Dr. Strange.  I’m willing to bet that if this rumor holds true, Iron Spider will come with alternate hands, as well as his mechanical spider-arms. It’s a lousy method/trick for Hasbro to use in order to get people to double dip on the same figure (and make more money off of the same sculpt), but as you’ll recall, this isn’t the first time they’ve done this. Just last year, there was a “Spider-Man: Homecoming” 2-pack with Iron Man that had an exclusive Peter Parker head. You can chance it and skip this Iron Spider in hopes of the one in the multi-pack coming with more accessories, but you’ll still need this figure to build your movie Thanos.

Aside from a lack of accessories, Iron Spider is lacking in the paint department as well. While some parts of him look shiny, other parts are extremely dull. It’s disappointing and fails to properly convey that this Spider-Man costume is, in fact, a sophisticated suit of armor. I’m also willing to bet that if there really is an Iron Spider figure coming in that multipack, he will have better paint as well, which is something a lot of the rereleased figures in the MCU  10^th Anniversary packs are getting.

Iron Spider is a definite mixed bag. While his sculpt and articulation are all great, his disappointing paint and lack of interchangeable parts hurts him; there’s not enough bang for your buck here.

However, Iron Spider seems to be one of the more popular and sought after figures in this movie Thanos Build-A-Figure Series, but I’m willing to bet that changes if he’s in that 4-pack of figures. These figures have been hitting online and brick and mortar stores since about March 3^rd, which was the official street date for “Avengers: Infinity War” products.