Toy Review: Marvel Legends Secret Wars Daredevil Is The Edge Of Perfection

Matt Murdock is a dark horse among my favorite Marvel heroes. Often I’m drawn to the heroes who are drawn to always do the right thing, the paragons like Spider-Man, Cyclops and Captain America. In the case of Daredevil though, I find myself drawn to his complex nature, and often dubious morality. Regardless, he’s one of my favorites, even if he’s doing the wrong things for the right reasons, making me excited to finally get a great Marvel Legends take on the hero.

Matt Murdock debuted in Daredevil #1 in April 1964, from Stan Lee and Bill Everett (with design help from Jack Kirby). Matthew Murdock was a lawyer blinded in his youth in an accident. The same accident that blinded him though enhanced his other senses to superhero levels, allowing him to train to become Daredevil, the man without fear.

Initially, Daredevil was a bit of a Spider-Man knock-off, facing many of the same villains and challenges. Eventually though, he shifted into a bit more of a street-level vigilante. Eventually, Frank Miller took over the series, and made Daredevil into the dark, complex title it is today. I often say Daredevil is the most consistently good comic in American comics, with only a few (mercifully short) runs that could even be considered bad, even prior to the Miller run.

For being one of Marvel’s top characters, Hasbro has had a very limited number of figures based on the character. Prior to this release, the most recent figure depicting Matt Murdock’s classic appearance (as a single figure) was a 2015 build-a-figure line release, with most depictions of him since being his MCU version, or costume variants, like his black sweat-suit from Man Without Fear or his ninja garb from Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto’s run.

So I was thrilled to get this release, and instantly I was in love with this figure.

The design is striking. The black accents (rather than more traditional red against his crimson costume) make the figure pop, and didn’t stand out as much as I worried it would. Otherwise, this is a very classic looking Daredevil.

The figure also has some great accessories. I didn’t touch the lenticular shield, mimicking the classic Secret Wars toy line, but everything else was great. The batons were exactly what they needed to be, while I liked the different poses of the alternate hands. I also loved the disk that gave a great visual representation of his radar sense. The only thing I think it was missing was an unmasked Matt Murdock head.

But where this figure shines is in the posing. The figure is limber, has the most updated joints possible, and that meant he could pose better than basically any Marvel Legend that isn’t Spider-Man. I actually think this is an entirely new body mold, and I hope we get a lot of use out of it. I spent so much time posing the figure in various jumping, kicking and throwing poses that I forgot to pull out the alternate hands for the photos. It might be the best Marvel Legend we’ve gotten so far this year (though I hear the upcoming Maximum Thor may have it beat).

It’s felt like a long wait to get this, but I’m thrilled to finally have it in my collection. It’s one alternate head away from being the definitive Man without Fear action figure, and that’s really saying something.