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One of the first great “crossover” events in comic book history was the Marvel Secret Wars storyline. Originally a ploy to sell action figures, the series involved a strange alien abducting some of the most popular heroes and villains of the time to fight on a distant planet. Proving massively successful, Secret Wars is still remembered fondly today, 25 years later. Hasbro has turned that nostalgia into a great sub-line of the current 3 ¾ inch Marvel Universe figures, the Secret Wars Comic Packs. The first wave has been on toy shelves for a few months, and appearing now is the second wave which includes pack #4: Hulk & Cyclops!
All of the Secret Wars Comic Packs are similarly packaged, with two figures in a bubble in front of an included reproduction of the classic comic books (in this case #4). This one is notable for the extra large bubble to hold the Hulk. In front of the figures is old fashioned character art, the heads of which appear at the top of the card like they did on old comic book corners (i.e. the heads of the X-Men or Spider-Man). The other corner brands the comic pack with “Secret Wars 25th Anniversary.”
The back of the card shows the included comic and figures, along with the other two comic packs in the new wave: #7 with Iron Man and Spider-Woman and #8 with Symbiote Spider-Man and Magneto. At the bottom of the card is a brief description of what Hulk and Cyclops were doing in issue #4.
Secret Wars #4 sees the heroes at a distinct disadvantage. Their headquarters has been destroyed and a group of them are on the run, slowed down by wounded. The villains under Doctor Doom’s leadership attempt to finish them off by dropping an entire mountain range on the heroes; things are very grim indeed! A few pages later, it is revealed that the Hulk managed to catch and hold up the mountain range, staving off destruction for a few tense moments. On the other side of the planet, Cyclops and the other X-Men travel to Magneto’s fortress to enlist the magnetic mutant’s aid in their war.
Both of these figures are re-sculpts. This is the fourth version of the Hulk (after single-packed Green, Gray, and Red), a massive figure standing 4 ¾ inches tall and whose arms stretch out to a massive 6 ½ inches! Meanwhile, Cyclops re-uses the Marvel Universe body from Sub Mariner and Guardian and stands at a tall 4 ¼ inches. Let’s take a closer look and see what these figures do differently, for both the better and the worse.
The Hulk is a great figure, and always a bargain due to his immense size. He’s also got a very good sculpt, with tons of musculature and bulging veins. His traditional purple pants are here as well, flaring out in ragged ends around his waist and lower legs. There are two differences between this new Hulk's sculpt and the original green version. That Hulk had a fairly small (you could call it “pin”) head, with a strained expression, bulbous eyes, and a flattop of green hair. Secret Wars Hulk has a larger, more in scale head with an angry expression, mouth open in a primal scream. His hair is also longer and messy. The whole package looks really good. In addition, while the first Hulk’s right hand was sculpted in a fist and his left open, this new one has two closed fists like the Red Hulk.
Color-wise, the new Hulk has some changes as well. The original was a dark green with brownish accents. The new one, however, is a much more vivid “gamma” green with accents in darker green. Especially next to his sibling Hulks, the Secret Wars version really stands out. Sharing the bulk of the body parts, the new Hulk has the same articulation as his brothers – 14 points of articulation including ball joints at the shoulders, elbows, torso, hips, and knees. Due to his bulk not all of these are fully functional, but he still has very good poseability, especially in his upper body.
Hulk’s partner in crime here is Cyclops, the one-time leader of the X-Men. Appearing in his classic uniform, Summers wears a bodysuit with gloves, trunks, belt, and boots. The suit stretches over his head leaving only the lower part of his face uncovered, and of course he wears his protective visor. The sculpt includes a lot of muscle detail, and the cloth look of the boot and glove cuffs is good. A couple of things detract from this being a great sculpt. Less significantly, the X-Men belt looks a little silly painted on instead of being sculpted. Much more drastic, Cyclops’ left leg is significantly shorter than his right. This makes some posing somewhat awkward, though not impossible.
Paint work on Cyclops is hit and miss. The bodysuit is a nice, bright blue with musculature accented in dark gray. The mutant’s gloves, trunks, boots, and visor are bright yellow, while red appears on his belt and ruby quartz visor. Unfortunately, the paintjob is very messy. There’s a lot of bleeding between the colors, which is very noticeable around the visor, gloves, and boots. Thankfully, Cyclops does well in the articulation department. He’s got joints at the neck, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, torso, hips, double-jointed knees, and ankles. Poseability is good, and facilitated by the right hand sculpted to open his visor and unleash optic blasts.
There are no accessories with the Secret Wars sets except for the included comic book. This recreation of the original has fewer (and current) ads, with a great back cover spread of the Marvel Universe figures. Sadly, there are no S.H.I.E.L.D. Files here. Despite the drawbacks concerning the Cyclops figure and lack of extras, I would recommend this set for fans of the two characters. This Hulk is definitely my favorite of all those released thus far, and even an imperfect Cyclops in my collection makes me happy (the only other 3 ¾ inch Scott Summers is in the X-Men Origins: Wolverine line, and he’s in a different uniform). At about $15 in stores, these Secret Wars packs are also pretty good deals!
For even more images of these figures, CLICK HERE!
Review and Photos by Scott Rubin