Spider-Armor Mk.I

Before there was the Iron Spider, there was the Spider of Steel! When Spider-Man's powers aren't enough, he dons his patented Spider-Armor. This ceramic-metal battlesuit protects Spidey from his deadliest foes, giving him the time he needs to take it to the bad guys. Eh, not really his deadliest foes. There's an entire comic called Deadly Foes of Spider-Man, and none of them (Beetle, Boomerang, Hydro-Man, Rhino, Speed Demon) had anything to do with this outfit; he wore it when a group of villain randos called "the New Enforcers" were trying to take over Kingpin's up-for-grabs criminal empire. Would you really consider Eel one of Spidey's "deadliest" foes? A Dreadnought? Dragon Man? The Vanisher?! Not if you've ever read a comic, you wouldn't! The only reason (in the comics) Spider-Man needed this armor to deal with the villains was that there were a lot of them, and a bunch of them were high-tech robots; the only reason (in the real world) Spider-Man needed this armor was that Web of Spider-Man was about to reach its 100th issue, and Marvel needed an excuse to give the book a holofoil cover. This figure is an entirely new mold. Not only is the silver armor raised above the surface of the toy, the black sections of costume have a unique texture to them. If you want to get technical, this isn't the Spider-Armor that appeared in Web of Spider-Man #100: the pattern on that one directly matched Peter's usual costume, just in silver and black instead of red and blue. This one is very similar, true, but not identical. Like, there should be strips down the outside of his arms, the boots should be fully silver, stuff like that. The unique spider symbol on the back of the suit makes it clear what this really is: like the Spider-Armor Mk.III, this is based on the PS4 game! That certainly explains why, like the Mk.III, this figure looks a little smaller than he should. The articulation remains up to par, with swivel/hinge ankles, double-hinged knees, swivel thighs, balljointed hips, swivel waist, hinged torso, swivel/hinge wrists, double-hinged elbows, swivel biceps, swivel/hinge shoulders, and a barbell neck. The design of the armor doesn't lend itselfto pec hinges, but we totally could have gotten swivel shins hidden by the boots. Eh, whatever, one of the reasons Spidey never went back to this armor after it was destroyed (in the same issue where it debuted) was that he felt it limited his flexibility too much, so dropping a few joints isn't a point against it. When ToyBiz made a toy of this armor, it had a "web shield" firing action which took away the articulation in its right arm. Hasbro could have given him a similar shield (it wouldn't even have required a new mold), but instead they gave him your choice of thwip hands or fists, and two little web "splats" similar to the ones included with other Gamerverse figures. These aren't shaped to fit around any specific bodypart, they're more like the ones that would be left stuck to a wall after a fight. The original Web Armor is one of the most recognizable Spider-Man outfits, a total fan-favorite, so it's surprising there hasn't been a figure of it in the 6" scale before. It may have come from a pretty terrible story, but the design rocks, and after a long wait we've got a really nice toy of it. -- 07/18/22

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