Superman's a character that I loved seeing in the Snyderverse, from the origins being much more believable to the spirit of the comics and other media being unleashed beautifully and the presence he has being much more organic than with his previous cinematic appearances. The average nostalgia fan or MCU fan would say that his character isn't the best, but I prefer seeing this unique Superman that doesn't have to deal with the been-there-done-that tropes from Reeve. Sadly, his role was turned to shit in Josstice, combined with a terrible CGI face and scenes that not even a Reeve fan would even care about. Thankfully, the Snyder Cut finally shows us proper Superman scenes that depict his character much better than Josstice wished it could, and let's celebrate that fact by reviewing this figure!
Here we have Superman in-hand, which generally looks quite good as far as the accuracy is concerned. I don't have any major complaints about the anatomy of the figure, though maybe the neck does look hunched over. The sculpting of the figure looks very nice, with the texturing throughout the suit giving the suit a more regal appearance, the linework for the areas around the hips and wrists, and the subtle paint apps like the silver around the waist. I also like the way the silver pops when applied on what is normally the red of the suit's emblem, and the black further accentuates it. The cape is a PVC material as is the case with Batman, and while it may be underwhelming for those who prefer cloth capes, the sculpting at least makes it feel more complete and is of good material.
Head sculpt is not that great. IT doesn't really look like Henry Cavill up close, and while I appreciate they tried to make the face look realistic, the execution isn't that good. I'll give credit to the skin tone looking naturalistic and the paint apps being decent, but this figure is yet another instance of a toy company not doing Henry's face justice (no pun intended). His articulation is the same as Batman's, but with some minor limitations here and there. His head can move around on a ball joint fluidly, his shoulders move front and back, in and out (on both a butterfly joint and a shoulder swivel come hinge), bicep swivels, double-elbow bends, and wrists that swivel and hinge at two points (as well as having the wrists have the ability to both move in and out or up and down). There are two torso joints for the diaphragm joint as well as the abs, hips that move front and back, in and out, swivel at the thighs, bend at two points at the knees, and the ankles can swivel, hinge, and pivot. Weirdly, he doesn't have quite the same flexibility that Batman has, what with the way the hips move to the front and the butterfly joints, too. Even the torso joints don't work as well, which sucks because I would LOVE to have him better recreate the statue pose from Batman v. Superman.
His flight stand is the only accessory that he comes with, meaning he has no alternate head nor does he come with any alternate hands. The latter would especially be appreciative, but as for the stand itself, I have mixed feelings about it. The thing certainly stands out compared to the boring black circles, and it is thin enough to look somewhat like it's giving the illusion of Superman floating of flying, but it is pretty thin, somewhat flexible, and getting it to hold Superman can be a little annoying since it's not as easy for it to wrap around his body, especially with the weight of the figure. What I do like is that he can be posed either floating normally or when he is flying since you can readjust the clamp to have it be where it now looks like he's flying.
As far as repaints are concerned, Superman has a Target-exclusive version of his suit that is basically as it appeared in Batman v. Superman. The traditional colors are brought back in, and it looks very nice! I do wish cosmetics weren't the only change, as I'd love to see him with a reverse of his hands or a new head altogether. Ironically, his card is a black-and-white version of his normal release card. But since we have this Superman here, let's compare the differences between the McFarlane one and the Mattel version! Apart from the colors of the suits and the height difference, McFarlane's a much stronger figure overall. Admittedly, he has some unusual range limitations for his hips and butterfly joints, and it is a shame his face doesn't quite match Henry Cavill, but the articulation overall, as well as the face for the most part and the proportions overall, are much better than they are with the Mattel version. Even the face looks somewhat closer to Henry Cavill than the Mattel version, which reminds me too much of the 90s/2000s stuff on top of having an inaccurate skin tone. The most notable thing is that Superman's cape is cloth on the Mattel version. While it is a nice thing, in theory, the execution leaves it as cheap and lousy compared to the cape of the McFarlane version.
The differences in articulation are especially worth bringing up, as the pose of him doing a bit of a superhero landing a la the promo art makes the McFarlane version close to how it should be, and the Mattel one looks pretty amateur by comparison. That is because Mattel forgot that their Multiverse stuff was aimed at the collectors and not the kids who just want the toy for the toy and won't normally complain about the lack of articulation. The addition of diaphragm joints, wrist hinge/swivels, ankle pivots, etc helps justify a toy as one of the reasons you should buy it.
Here he is with Batman, the same man he went after fighting him and eventually being an inspiration for Bruce to seek the other metahumans. While they look great together, Superman was not the tall one in the Snyderverse. It's amusing how that turned out, but it's still a good display nonetheless. And once again, let's make fun of Jossenwolf as he fails to kill Sailor Moon. Overall, this figure is not too shabby in terms of looks and articulation, though there are some things I'd wish McFarlane to do like the alternate pieces and put them as the same figure that is considered a regular release. That being said, good luck finding this guy AND his regular suit desifg.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ou⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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