Luke Cage and Iron Fist reach new heights as heroes when they're called to join the roster of New Avengers, teaming up to fight for justice.
Has it really been since ToyBiz that we had an Iron Fist in this costume? Hasbro's done his Immortal Iron Fist costume and his "Weapon of Agamotto" costume, and that's all. [there was also a shirtless version in an Amazon-exclusive Defenders box set --ed.] But the
collar is so iconic, whenever anybody tries to design a new costume that doesn't have it, the change just refuses to stick. The collar is what makes the suit "Iron Fist" and not just "some random ninja." Because nobody else would willingly wear it.
Although this set alleges to be based on 2010's "Heroic Age" New Avengers series, this figure most certainly isn't, because Randy Dan the Fisting Man never used this suit in New Avengers. This is a fully vintage Iron Fist, from sometime between 1974 and 2006. And don't expect it to be anyone else any time soon, because the new torso sculpted by vanquisher of the fabled dragon and protector of the ancient cities Paul Harding is molded with the edges of his shirt sculpted in (a simple line on the abdomen, a large notch for the separate collar to be glued into on the chest). The fact the two sides of the shirt are still apart when they disappear into the sash around his waist - rather than joining in a point above it - is a unique choice inspired by the Avengers Alliance game... though that design also gave him gold gloves and boots, rather than bare hands and small slippers, features this toy gets from the comics.
The figure's colors are... certainly a choice. Like, the green is fine,
the skintone is fine, the dragon on his chest is painted very cleanly, the black shapes around his eyes don't bleed onto the white, they found a great shade for the little bit of hair poking out the bottom of his mask... and then he's got the weakest, palest, lemony yellow you'e ever seen. It's good they didn't try to do gold, yes, but compare this to previous versions and it just looks faded. Kind of disappointing once you notice it.
Having a new torso means Danny doesn't need to use the same articulation as every figure we've seen before. We get pec hinges,
which is becoming more common, but he also gets the benefit of a balljointed chest and hinged waist. Given the way his costume is sculpted, it might have been better if they'd switched those, doing a hinged chest and balljointed waist like GI Joe Classified gets. The arms and legs are pinless, for anyone who gives a flying flip about that, but the real surprise is that he has hinged toes. Guess they could give those to Superior Spider-Man because they knew they'd be reusing the entire legs utterly immediately. The figure includes an alternate angry head with the mouth open, four of the pairs of hands that came with Shang-Chi (all of them except the holding ones), and fireball energy effects lots of figures have come with. His fade from yellow at the base to red at the tips.
The reason you're reading this review in a year that is most definitely not Marvel's 85th Anniversary anymore is simple: when I eventually learned it existed, I didn't really care about it: the looks of the
two figures don't really go together, and I thought it had been much more recently that there had been versions of the characters that looked like this. We already told you how Iron Fist hasn't been seen in this costume in almost 20 years, but it also turns out that the "recent" Luke Cage I was thinking of was the live-action version, because the only thing even remotely resembling this is the Thunderbolts one. Man I'm dumb, huh?
Even if they had made a fully casual comic Luke before, this would still be different, because it's a new Rene Aldrete sculpt. Not only does he not use the existing jeans, no one has had this combination of "sculpted shirt wrinkles" and "pectoral hinge joints" before. To save us from the illusion-breaking shadows MCU Cage had on his biceps, the ends of his sleeves are sculpted high on the shoulder ball. And his yellow is a darker, richer color than Iron Fist's was, as well as the previous 1970s Power Man. Wait, is that why Danny is in such a pale shade? So he'll match Vintage Luke? Yeesh.
This figure is better than the ML10 Power Man because-- well, in part because it has blue pants instead of black ones, but mainly because it includes a second, angry head instead of just a single calm one. And honestly, it's impressive that both Power Man and Iron Fist get the full "open mouth keyed in from behind" treatment, not just gritted teeth.
Luke has open hands or new fists. We know they're new, because they have brass knuckles (or just ornate rings) that
read "LUKE" and "CAGE," which seems like an angular reference to the 2002 "Marvel MAX" Cage comic: the first issue's cover prominently featured something similar. They're certainly not anything he's ever had in the real comics (though the 2019 Sideshow 12" figure did include the same). That also had a "CAGE" belt buckle, like this one does - a feature that again comes from the Avengers Alliance game design. Though not the rings.
Unless you want to count Marvel Universe or the Minimates, this is the first time Luke and Danny have been available in a two-pack, but this is still a strange release. Given the color and costume choices, it really feels like the original plan was for this to be a Heroes for Hire set, with this Iron Fist and the '70s Power Man that ended up in the regular line; but then something changed, we got a more modern Luke Cage, and Hasbro tried to pretend this was based on New Avengers. What could possibly have led to that? We don't know. But this is a really nice modern Luke, and the Iron Fist makes the so-so ML10 Power Man better by inclusion. It took me a long time to find this set at a price I considered worth it, but I'm surprised by how much I like both figures.
-- 09/22/25
Do you think the set was originally supposed to have the other Luke Cage, or is yo wrong? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.
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