It's the end of the year so you know what that means: it's time to start narrowing down 12 months of media intake into a bevy of lists that pit pieces of art against each other in a race for acclaim. These lists usually center around TV shows, movies, or music — and we have a few about movies on this here site that you should absolutely check out.
As for my own personal contribution to the year-end discourse — uh, well, I've spent the last nine months in various states of depression, despair, panic, and exhaustion. My top TV show of the year is the '80s G.I. Joe cartoon and my top movie of the year is the time I rewatched Alien on my late '80s Sony Trinitron. I've been in a place, to put it lightly. I have, however, not let my obsession with Hasbro's line of Marvel Legends action figures dwindle. That's because retail therapy is real. The uplift is fleeting and the debt is forever, but it's real!
And that's why, as the editor-in-chief of a website who won't and can't stop himself, I'm bringing my annual Top 10 Marvel Legends list to Pop Heist. While the concept requires no explanation, I should include some context. So — !
- Only figures that I actually purchased are eligible. I'm not a completist, but I did buy 42 Legends in 2024*, so, that's still a lot. I could calculate how much money that is, but I don't need to do that to myself.
- In the power ratings below, "My Fave" and "My Ideal" outweigh all the others. "Fave" is how much I just like the character, period. "Ideal" essentially asks, "Would I buy another figure of this character/costume?" If I'd change one tiny thing, like the shade of green (the deluxe Phoenix figure), then that's gonna knock off a point. If it's something like overall articulation (sigh, Wolfsbane), that's an even bigger deduction.
- The other category that isn't self-explanatory is "Surprise" — which is, to me, a lot of the fun of collecting these figures and it's why I watch every single livestream. I want my jaw to drop when I find out we're finally getting a Maggott figure, y'know? The WTF-iness of a figure is a big part of the appeal. For example, the figures that earned a perfect 7/7 in "Surprise" in 2024 were Count Nefaria, Destiny, Professor X (Warlord), and Psylocke (Lady Mandarin).
What do all these rules look like in practice? I'll kick things off with the lowest-ranked Legend of the year: poor Heinrich Zemo.
I try to own at least one version of every notable Marvel character, so a Zemo and Arnim Zola two-pack was an easy purchase — and then I realized this was Heinrich and not Helmut, the eventual leader of the Thunderbolts. I don't have a use for Daddy Zemo, unless Daniel Brühl is under the mask.
Now, the list — !
10. Scarlet Spider
I'm an easy mark, Hasbro. You give me comic-accurate recreations of iconic, quintessential '90s heroes, I'm going to buy them every time. This is a flawless representation of Ben Reilly's SNICK-ified Spider-Man (there's just something very All That about the sleeveless hoodie), complete with toe articulation (!). The only shortcomings are ones inherent to his design; you're not going to give Scarlet Spider a stunning face sculpt, and post Spider-Verse, it's hard to be surprised by Hasbro making any Spider-characters.
9. Titania
She comes in swingin' at the last minute! The year closed with the drop of Hasbro's Secret Wars anniversary line, which was a nice way to get classic versions of Wolverine, Iron Man, Captain America, and Spider-Man back on shelves. No surprise there. But taking this moment to finally give us Titania, She-Hulk's nemesis? Yes — and Hasbro really didn't have to pop off this hard for Titania of all characters. But this figure is a beast. She's huge, she has a heft to her, and that rich, matte purple just looks so cool. Plus, you gotta love those boot spikes!
8. Psylocke / Lady Mandarin
Oh, yay, 2024 was ... Wolverine's 50th anniversary. Woo-hoo. More Wolverine figures. Just ... what we always need. And always get. For real, though, kudos to Hasbro for taking an anniversary that they had to capitalize on (he is Wolverine) and using it to make some bonkers, deep cut choices in those two-packs. Psylocke has long been a character defined by her '90s costume, so much so that she has very rarely had any other version offered in plastic form. Getting an armored-up Psylocke from her very short-lived stint as an agent of The Hand was a real shocker, and the figure delivered with unique snap-on energy effects and two killer face sculpts (one evil, one stoic).
7. Rogue
Like Psylocke, it's rare that we get a version of Rogue that isn't wearing a bomber jacket — not that I'm complaining. But as a ride-or-die Rogue fan, I've always wanted Hasbro to branch out into her history — and it doesn't go further back than this look from her debut in Avengers Annual #10. This is one of those nerd-dream-come-true figures for me, which makes up for what could be some major shortcomings. Her lack of ab crunch cuts down on some posing, and it was a missed opportunity to not package her with an alternate head with the two white stripes at her temples. But whatever — the one head we got is serving a ton of evil (the "I'm only doing what my moms tell me to do, which happens to be evil") sass.
6. Wolverine
I gave Hasbro guff for making even more Wolverines than previously thought possible in 2024, and now look at me. Wolverine, on the list, higher than Rogue. But even my lack of interest in Wolverine couldn't knock this figure far down the list, because everything else about it is perfect. All the hands! This Wolverine has so many hands, and an alternate unmasked head! This one really slashes all the boxes and perfectly captures the energy of the late John Cassaday's cinematic Astonishing X-Men art.
5. Iron Fist
I love Iron Fist. He's a mess, an idiot, problematic, etc. — and he's kinda been that since the beginning (Matt Fraction definitely leaned into all that in Immortal Iron Fist, sort of a proto-Hawkeye). So yes, I'd been waiting for this figure for — uh, decades??? Classic Iron Fist was a glaring omission in Hasbro's Legends lineup from the jump. I mean, Sleepwalker got a figure before this costume. Fortunately Hasbro delivered the goods in that Luke Cage and Iron Fist two-pack (the Luke Cage is also perfect). The poseability and the handful of alt hands make this the perfect Iron Fist figure; I actually got this guy balancing on one foot on my top bookshelf — and it was weeks before I found him in my office, face down on the floor. That's Iron Fist!
4. Angel
I mean, look at him. The face, the body, both perfect — but it's those wings that get Warren Kenneth Worthington III all those points in the accessories category. Comprised of three separate pieces, these wings can fold up snugly behind his back and then stretch out to a near 18" wingspan. And y'know what I hate? I hate that I will absolutely buy a second version of this perfect figure if/when Hasbro offers it in blue instead of red.
3. Dum Dum Dugan
How do I put this ... in a not creepy way? This Dum Dum Dugan figure is hot. He's handsome. He's sexy. Whatever — if straight men can complain about female figures not having big enough knockers, then I can objectify this hunky hunk of plastic! I love Dum Dum, almost exclusively because he's the hottest man in the Marvel Universe next to Banshee (who also got a handsome action figure last year). This figure is so excellent because it captures everything that makes Thaddeus Aloysius Cadwallader Dugan who he is. They didn't slap a Dum Dum head on the generic male figure body; this body sculpt is stockier, fuller, broader, manlier. And the face sculpt? Lord, the handlebar mustache and that dumb bowler? Perfect. Toss in the multiple hands and firearms and this is one of my favorite, frequently displayed figures of the year.
2. Warbird / Ms. Marvel
The best toys come with stories attached. This one involved me checking my Target app on a whim to see if this highly-coveted and long-awaited Target exclusive was available in-store. You have to live in New York City to really understand how slim and picked-over the pickings are in every chain store in the five boroughs. It's impossible. But lo and behold, there she was — in stock! At a Target a mere 90-minute bus ride away! The perk of not having work while in the middle of a depressive episode is that you can absolutely justify taking nearly the whole day to travel to a Target to buy one (1) toy that you've placed on hold. Worth it. Carol Danvers is one of my favorites, and this classic costume is one of the best to come out of '70s Marvel. And the detail — with one head sporting a '70s mask and the other a modern, Mighty Avengers-era mask! Just a near-perfect figure and the exact pick-me-up that I needed on that summer day.
1. She-Hulk
Work me out, Jenn. Ugh — I love She-Hulk. This one came out of nowhere and absolutely wowed me earlier this year. It's weird how, even though Shulkie's had a few Marvel Legends in the past, it still feels like a surprise every time she gets one. Maybe that's because one of them was part of a very expensive exclusive box set, and another was just her in tattered clothes. Comic-accurate She-Hulk figures that can stand side-by-side with all the '80s and '90s Marvel figures that Hasbro makes didn't exist — until this year! And what a doozy! The big hair! That brilliant shade of green! The eye-popping contrast with that magenta bodysuit! She's absolutely jacked, stacked, sensational, and spectacular. She-Hulk is the best Marvel Legend of the year!
*For the curious, and also for full disclosure, those 42 Legends are as follows:
Angel
Arnim Zola
Baron Zemo (Heinrich)
Beyonder
Cable (1994 redesign)
Carnage
Count Nefaria
Crystal
Cyclops (X-Men '97)
Destiny
Dum Dum Dugan
Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch)
Giant-Man (6")
Goblin Queen (X-Men '97)
Iron Fist
Justice
Ka-Zar
Lilandra
Lockjaw
Luke Cage
Magneto (X-Men '97)
Nick Fury
Phoenix (classic)
Professor X (Warlord)
Psylocke (Lady Mandarin)
Quicksilver (green)
Rogue (Brotherhood of Evil Mutants)
Scarlet Spider
Sharon Carter
She-Hulk
Spider-Man (symbiote)
Titania
Tombstone
Venom
Vision
Warbird (Carol Danvers)
Wasp (Original)
Wolfsbane
Wolverine (Astonishing)
Wolverine (Madripoor)
Wolverine (Brood)
X-Cutioner (X-Men '97)
