Right on the heels of Marvel Universe wave one, wave two has hit stores.  In some ways this wave seems to be so far ahead of wave one, that most people will be happy that the two waves came out so close to each other.  Let’s take a look at the figures. 

This wave has been much harder to find in the stores even though it came out most recently and has less characters, but I think with the Hasbro distribution and packing system these figures will be easy to find even a year or so from now.  

Captain America- Most people thought that the Ultimate versions of characters would not appear in a line so soon, but it looks like in wave two one of the most famous comic characters in the world gets an Ultimate versions first.  Not that I mind it too much, but I want the regular versions before the Ultimate.  This figure was hard to get, not because of being scarce but finding one that did not have a ton of paint slop on his face.  With the fins lines of his mask, it is hard to find one where the blue from the mask does not bleed into his skin tones.  As a figure overall he is better than anything from wave one.  He towers over Daredevil, even though his file card says he is only a few inches taller the character.  I hope that they get the scale correct soon so we don’t have these problems in the future.  

Hulk(s)- Size does matter in the Marvel Universe, and Hulk proves this rule by towering over the other figures, but the head sculpt and the articulation take this figure down a notch.  Because of his size he is in a permanent leaning pose.  You want to straighten him out to give him even more height, but you just can’t.  The other thing that loses him some points is the very stylized almost “I got hit in the gut” look on his face. Yes, we got a great Hulk, and you won’t hear me say this often, but I like the movie grey Hulk, better then the Marvel Universe figure.

Ronin- Of the wave this one has to be at the top of the list of must haves.  While many people don’t know much about him right now the Ronin character is Clint Barton, Hawkeye.  While he is going through his own identity crisis he is wearing this costume, and it works for him, and helps us to build the Modern Avengers along with Spidy and the upcoming Ms Marvel.  The only flaw in the figure is because of the ball jointed neck he has some problems look straight or up.  

Green Goblin- As with Cap, it was difficult to find a Green Goblin with a well painted face.  There is a slight blue wash on the figure and this can be overdone on the face.  He comes with a pumpkin bomb, a satchel to carry them in (you cant’ open it) and a glider.  This shows that when needed the figures can be packed with extras and still look great.  The only issue I have with the accessories is that while he has the glider, without some customizing skills he cant really use it in posing.  A small stand would have made this a perfect figure.

Iron Fist-  Sometimes we forget with all the extras in the toy world that simple is OK too.  This figure could not get more simple and he tops the list of the best of the line.  He come with one flaming fist attachment (same as Johnny from wave one), but the figure has simple paint and sculpt, yet seems so clean that it is hard to find a flaw with him.

The final great thing about this line are the files on each character.  Not to give away some comic spoilers, but the Cap file directly ties into the certain Fantastic Four Dark Reign and Ultimatum story line.  So two waves in and we have some of the biggest names in the Marvel Universe, and there is not end in sight for this line, but I can’t help but wonder where is Blink?

Gallery Link

 Marvel U Wave 1 Review