Mattel’s ’89 Batman is Pretty Great

Michael Keaton’s Batman comes to life in the latest series of Mattel’s DC Multiverse action figures.

The second series of DC Multiverse figures are finally starting to hit, expanding off the Arkham video game theme of the first wave to include figures based on some classic DC movies.  The big winner of the assortment is the Michael Keaton Batman, as he appeared in the 1989 Tim Burton film.

This is a very cool Batman figure.  The all new sculpt captures all the details of the ’89 batsuit, from the sculpted chest muscles to the gold utility belt to the plated armor on Batman’s gloves and boots.  The all black costume is cast in plastic instead of painted, and for once this works to the figure’s benefit, capturing the same rubbery look of Batman’s outfit in the movie.

Batman includes his grappling gun and a cloth cape, which looks really great– the fabric allows for lots of poseability on the figure itself, and it’s rather ingeniously folded around the front of Batman’s shoulders, to drape naturally just like in the movie.  The gold of the utility belt and the yellow of the bat insignia on the chest stand out brilliantly against the black of the costume, making for a surprisingly striking and dynamic figure.

And thankfully, the weird proportions that harmed the Arkham Batman are gone.  Adding to the movie accuracy of this figure is a good sense of scale and proportion, and a solid portrait of Keaton’s jaw underneath the Batman cowl.  The figure features all the same poseability of the previous Multiverse figures– ball neck, ball shoulders, swivel waist, hinged swivel hips, hinged elbows and knees and swivel wrists– so he can strike a number of really good poses, with or without his gun.

If I had one complaint, it’s the head and neck articulation… which actually feels TOO useful compared to the 89 Batman we saw in the film.  Unlike Keaton, this figure can actually move his head from side to side, but this point of articulation sacrifices the silhouette of the cape and cowl as a single piece, which kind of defined this cinematic Batman.

There’s some other really nice ’89 Batman action figures available, from Hot Toys and NECA… but if you’re looking for a good, less expensive figure of this important look in Batman’s history, this figure is a winner.  ’89 Batman is available now in DC Multiverse Series Two, along with General Zod as he appeared in Superman II.  The series is available now at select online retailers, and Toys R Us is presently gouging them at $15 each.