REVIEW: DC Superman/Batman Public Enemies WAVE 1

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SUPERMAN/BATMAN: PUBLIC ENEMIES is an original direct-to-video animated film released recently and without missing a beat, Mattel whipped up some action figures to go along side of it. The film tells the story of Lex Luthor becoming the President of the United States who recruits some heroes to work for him. Superman and Batman handle their things the old fashioned way as they team up to find out what Lex is really up to.

Mattel has produced smaller figures as well, but the 6” scale will most likely attract the fans and collectors of DC Universe Classics . Alas, to the anger of many, all are exclusive to Target stores. The first wave consists of four figures: Superman, Batman, Icicle, and Silver Banshee. The latter two goons are only packed one per case so they’re more highly sought after, even though they only provide brief cameos in the film. But of course in true DC Universe fashion, there's a collect–n-collect figure to build: Brimstone. You’ll need to pick up Black Lightning and Major Force from wave 2 to complete him, however.

If you can find these figures, they’ll run you about $12.99 each.

PACKAGING: Matty created a unique style of packaging for these animated figures. Superman and Batman each grace the front while the figure is nicely displayed in front of a brick wall. The card back is unique for each figure but the text and design is the same. Showing the rest of the wave in a “wanted poster” fashion was a nice touch.

SCULPT: The Four Horsemen have resumed the duties of sculpting “Public Enemies” and they do a great job staying true to the character design of the film, so if there’s anything you dislike about these figures, it’s not entirely their fault. You’ll recognize the bodies used for Superman and Batman but with a few tweaks here and there. Their bodies appear bulkier than DCUC but it could be my imagination.

Of the four figures, Batman is my clear favorite. There’s a great angular style to his head sculpt and his expression that make any pose or stance look solid. His and Superman’s heads are slightly larger to be in the animated style and that looks fine to me. With that said, Superman doesn’t look exactly right with the toon, but maybe we can talk about paint down below.

Silver Banshee and Icicle aren’t exactly characters that excite me to begin with but here they are. Icicle looks as good as he does because he’s so stylized, but he’s really nothing more than a blue ballet instructor with that outfit. The body used for Icicle is slightly larger giving him a taller stance. His hands are open, ready to ice things up. Silver Banshee is created using mostly older DCUC parts but the head is all new. It’s not a horrible sculpt at all, but she just doesn’t interest me.

PAINT: The paint certainly isn’t bad but could be a lot better. Starting off with Superman, what’s up with the tan? I don’t recall Superman being this dark in the film. And to add insult to injury, his face is a completely different shade than the neck, which is painted on blue plastic. The rest of the lines on his suit are applied decently at least and I have found little slop. There are some issues in the eyes however, so you might want to double check them to make sure they look okay.

Batman has fairly clean paint application as does Silver Banshee and Icicle. The tips of Icicle’s fingers are see through that help with the “icicle” look.

ARTICULATION: Much like the DC Universe Classics, these figures have similar points of articulation. Each figure usually has roughly 22-24 points of articulation which gives a decent amount of poseability. The trick is finding figures with good sturdy joints. Lately Mattel has been great in this department but this set has given me problems with some joints. Superman, Batman, and Icicle have pretty solid articulation joints but Silver Banshee is really suffering. Her legs are very loose and can barely hold herself up. That could also be attributed to the quality of plastic but she’s going to be a tough one to keep standing, even with a stand.

ACCESSORIES: Each figure comes with a figure stand with a “Public Enemies” sticker on it as well as a piece of Brimstone. Of course there aren’t too many uses of accessories in the film but I was expecting a bit more with Batman at least.

VALUE: These are $12.99 at Target stores, which is about the going rate for DC Universe figures.

OVERALL: Despite some minor issues, I really enjoy the Superman and Batman figures. Their costumes and sculpts are almost generic enough to be attractive to those who haven’t seen the animated film. Icicle and Silver Banshee, however, are pretty random and aren’t major players in the film at all - but some will want these unique characters anyway. Silver Banshee could possibly fit in well with the DC Universe line up but Icicle and his honker nose might not be as lucky. Of course the thought of building Brimstone (who also doesn’t do much in the film) is a highlight for me.

For even more images of this series, CLICK HERE!

Photography and Review by David Yeh
Review Samples Courtesy of Mattel