Superman, Silver Banshee and Metallo

Recruited into the Secret Society by Gorilla Grodd, Silver Banshee and Metallo are sent to the underground city of Skartaris. There they plan to retrieve a giant slab of Kryptonite, to use against the league's most powerful member - Superman. Yes, Superman. Because heaven forfend we get a pack of JLU figures that doesn't include a figure you have a thousand of already. He can't even be repainted into different costumes the way Batman can (usually). This one does have something to set him apart from the standard Superman figures, though: heat-vision eyes. Yeah. Two tiny red apps. Let's move on to the figures that matter. It actually is a bit logical to include Superman in this three-pack, because both of these are Superman villains, each designed to exploit one of his two major weaknesses. Silver Banshee is, of course, a fully magical being, empowered by a supernatural entity to seek vengeance on her brother and uncle. She has a variety of mystical abilities, but the main one is her sonic wail, which can kill any who hear it, leaving her victims as little more than dried husks. Silver Banshee uses the standard Justice League Unlimited female body. Unlike the men, who got abunch of different ones, the ladies (mostly) shared a single look, relying on paint to differentiate them. Silver Banshee is a very striking black and white - it looks like she's wearing long boots and gloves with a V-necked swimsuit. Those are all white, while the "skin" areas are black. Her face is white, with black markings on the cheeks, nose, lips, and around her eyes that are designed to make her look skeletal. Her eyes are red, when they should be white. Her long gray hair is a new piece, falling all the way down to her knees. It's sculpted quite nicely, but despite the entire head being rubbery, she can't turn her neck. Silver Banshee's only DCAU appearance was in Season 3 Justice League Unlimited, but our other figure was a recurring foe as far back as Season 1 of Superman: the Animated Series: Metallo! Turned into a cyborg by Lex Luthor, petty criminal John Corben's new body was powered by a kryptonite heart. Metallo originally looked completely human, but after realizing that he no longer had any sense of touch, taste or smell, he went a bit loopy and started tearing off his own synthetic flesh, leaving him with the "half-Terminator" look you see here. What's weird is that he keeps going back to it: he's been stripped all the way down to bare metal time after time, but then the next time he appears, he's back to the partially human look. We're left to assume that he's getting his skin repaired, then carefully re-creating his trademark look every time. Metallo received an action figure in Kenner's S:tAS line, but this one is much more on-model. His entire upper body is a new sculpt, and it's a very intricate one. Look at the pistons in his hand, or the shape of his teeth! The only drawback is that the panel on his chest doesn't open to reveal his heart. That seems like an oversight. As evidenced by the text on the back of the package, this set is based on a specific episode of the cartoon. Unfortunately, Superman didn't appear in that episode. Green Lantern, Stargirl, STRIPE... sure, all of them, but no Superman. So we got saddled with him for no reason. Although, to be fair, there wasn't really anyone else Mattel could have used to round out this three-pack, and he's a unique variation. -- 07/16/14

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