Toy Review: McFarlane Toys’ Zero Hour Superman Embodies An Era

A lot of fans mock the infamous “mullet” era of Superman. In my opinion though, it’s one of the most creatively rich eras of the man of steel, and it’s great to have captured in action figure form.

Look, I’ve had a lot of fun since December taking the time to review my recent action figure pickups. So this week, I’m going to take a look at McFarlane Toys’ DC Multiverse line, especially as McFarlane amps up releases prior to the end of their time with DC Comics’ license later this year.

In 1992, Superman was at a creative height. What’s become known as the triangle era was at its height, and was firing on all cylinders, as the four Superman titles essentially became a continuous weekly epic. That was about to hit its peak as the Man of Steel married his longtime paramour Lois Lane … and that all came to a screeching halt. A new Superman live action television series was about to launch, and it was taking its inspiration from the will-they-won’t-they romantic dynamic of shows like Moonlighting and Cheers.

So they pivoted and killed Superman. In a year long epic, Superman faced a foe that ended in losing his life, the rise of four Supermen — two of whom were impersonating him and two were inspired by him — and the true Superman’s eventual return. And out of that return, Superman got a slight redesign, a longer hair style that wasn’t a mullet but had since been called that as an embodiment of the excesses of the 1990s.

Immediately afterwards, Superman was the lead of the massive event Zero Hour, which was intended to correct some timeline and continuity confusion left over from 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths. And that interpretation of Superman is what this figure is based on.

One of my favorite things about McFarlane figures is that the designers take time and care to put their inspirations into the sculpts. This isn’t the first long-haired Superman, but each of the three are distinct, clearly drawing from different artistic takes on this era of the man of steel. Though this figure is based on Zero Hour, which was written and drawn by longtime Superman scribe Dan Jurgens, this figure makes me think of Superman: The Man of Steel penciller Jon Bogdanove’s take on the character.

With that in mind, I like about 90% of the design here. The figure is a bit slimmer than other takes on Superman, but that works well with this era when he generally looked mostly like a regular in-shape guy. I also really love the colors chosen here, as well as the choice to print, rather than sculpt, the S-shield. 

Where the design falls short is an unfortunately too common problem with recent McFarlane Superman figures. The attempt to create a square jawed Man of Steel comes out with the face not quite looking right, reminding me a bit of the “handsome Squidward” meme more than Superman. With a slightly slimmer jaw, I think the problem would resolve itself.

As far as posability, this is a fantastic figure. I’ve spoken often about the need for a hot water bath for my other figures. This one didn’t need that. Out of the package, he was flexible and his joints were perfectly pliable. I was able to create so many extremely fun poses with the figure, that I actually had to stop myself.

The other downside I see is the extremely limited accessories. The figure only came with a single set of alternate hands. I don’t necessarily need an alt head, but a couple more pairs of hands would have been nice. Oh, and the cape needed to be wired. As is, it was extremely stiff, and just sort of sat there as I posed the figure.

Overall though, this figure captured an era of Superman that I love, and I’m thrilled to see it embodied in plastic with this figure.