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This is exciting: today you and I are both going to learn about Blue Marvel.
Adam Brashear has overcome evils large and small as the Blue Marvel, a super-adventurer and genius scientist who tackles the universe's most complex problems.
Blue Marvel debuted in his own self-titled miniseries in 2008. While attempting to build a teleporter to the Negative Zone, the power source explodes, exposing Adam to intense radiation and tunring him into a human antimatter reactor. This was years before Reed Richards came along, so Blue Marvel was one of the first public superheroes - until his mask tore in battle and early-1960s America learned he was a black man. Whoopsie! President Kennedy helpd Blue Marvel fake his death so he could just live a quiet life, until his old arch-nemesis returned and the Avengers needed his help.
Blue Marvel was created by Kevin Grevioux, the Darkseid-voiced creator of the Underworld movies. Decades ago, his costume was a typical solid blue bodysuit with a symbol on the chest and a big billowing cape (plus a Doctor Fate-style mask/helmet thing), but now he has a more modern look: still a blue suit, but with different shades, and a vest over top. His old secondary color is preserved in the white gloves and the stripes on his arms and chest. The bands going up to his shoulders even end in M shapes, hinting back at his supranym.
By this point, Adam no longer needs to wear a mask. So we get a nicely sculpted face. He could probably use some gray on his temples - even the art on the sides of the packaging knows that. After all, he's been around since the 1950s without any suspended animation or time travel, so he should look a little older than the average heroes even if his powers do keep him young and vital.
Blue Marvel uses a stocky body, with new boots and a new vest (you can tell, because the little white panels on the front are sculpted elements). He's one of Marvel's many Superman-level characters (of the "copying his powers" sort, not the "copying his origin" sort), but his abilities come from energy manipulation, not simple physicality, so the figure includes dark blue versions of the translucent fireball effects, plus fists for them to go over. It's neat seeing those in a new color!
He's also got the left leg of the Controller, this series' Build-A-Figure.
Blue Marvel seemed like one of those characters destined to be swiftly forgotten - if you don't make it out of your initial miniseries, you're going into limbo. In fact, it took until 2013 for him to be adopted into Al Ewing's Mighty Avengers. But they've found an interesting niche for him: in the present, he's a bridge between cosmic and earthbound heroes; in the past, he's used to help fill the gaps in Marvel's sliding timeline, using his longevity and low profile to create an era when he was preventing any major threats from rising. If you didn't know who Blue Marvel was before this figure came out, that's fine; this is a cool design regardless, and picking him up can inspire you to learn about him.
-- 11/05/22
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