Quicksilver & Wonder Man

Magneto is back and mankind is closer than ever to total destruction. Only the Avengers West Coast have the power to stop the magnetic menace permanently. Quicksilver must go against bloodlines and use his super speed to outfox his father, while Wonder Man and the rest of the team plot an elaborate snare sure to defeat the evil Magneto! After decades of being relatively unimportant, Quicksilver is suddenly the belle of the ball. First, Joss Whedon announced that his favorite characters, a certain brother/sister pair of Avengers were in his script for Avengers 2 (and yes, because some people seem to have missed the memo, he did later confirm it was Quicksilver and the Scarlett Witch). Then, just a few weeks later, Bryan Singer announced that he'd just cast Quicksilver for the next X-Men movie. Rather than this being a sign of Fox opening the door for a crossover (or even just trying to cut itself a slice of that sweet, sweet Avengers pie), it turned out to be them getting in a pissing match with Disney. You don't think nerds rule the world? It's 2013 and superhero movies have come so far that two major studios are fighting over who gets to use freaking Quicksilver! The figure's body is the same as Namor's from the Invaders box set, and reading that review tells us it's originally from Black Spider-Man. It's lean and lanky, which suits a guy whose ability is "running" (and it's the lesson Mattel never learned). His right hand is clenched into a fist, while his left is open and clutching. No, it's not the flat hand Poe wished for, but it's close. [It's also the same pair of hands Iron Fist had, and he was made at the same time. --ed.] Quicksilver's head is a new sculpt; you can repaint a lot of things a lot of ways, but there's no faking those silly hair-wings of his. Chalk it up to the speeds at which he runs (top speed almost 220 miles per hour). His costume details are all painted on, not sculpted, and this is, amazingly, the first Quicksilver toy to have the black trunks. The figure has a balljointed head, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, hinged elbows, swivel wrists, swivel/hinge torso, balljointed hips, double-hinge knees, and swivel/hinge ankles. It's hard to get the ankles moving at first, so be careful with them. Everything else moved fine, though, and it's more than enough to get him into some good, dynamic running poses. There are holes in the bottom of his feet, but it's not like these Marvel Universe Comic Packs come with display stands for the figures; if you want one (to help hold him upright in whatever pose you choose), you'll have to borrow it from another figure. No big deal. So Pietro's pretty cool, but he's not the reason I bought this set - no, that would be Simon Williams, Wonder Man, who is legitimately one of my favorite Marvel characters. Just like there are a whole set of Marvel characters who get their powers from gamma radiation, there's another set that all attribute their uncanny abilities to ionic energy. Wonder Man falls into that category, and his powers are pretty much the same as early Superman's: super strength, incredible speed, and total invulnerability. He's also functionally immortal, since his body is now composed of pure energy. Since he's a big, strong guy, this Wonder Man toy uses the same body that most of the Wrecking Crew was built of. He does get a new belt (since he couldn't fly, he had short-range rocket boosters in his belt to carry him further than jumping would allow) and new bracelets around his wrists. Wonder Man has all the same articulation as Quicksilver, so he's totally ready for a fight! Sadly, both his hands are the open "clutching" versions - Wonder Man is a brawler, so it really would have been preferable if they'd given him fists. He's just not a guy that holds things. Simon's wearing his best costume, the sleeveless black suit with the red boots and the big W's on his chest and back. Considering some of the other abominations they could have gone for, this is a reflief. His costume is more of a dark, dark grey than black, there's a brown wash on his arms, and his eyes are the appropriate ionic red. Since this is a Comic Pack, it includes a comicbook - in this case, Avengers West Coast #60. It's a good choice for this particular two-pack, in that it features both Quicksilver and Wonder Man pretty heavily. This was part of the "Dark Scarlet Witch" storyline that John Byrne was in the middle of when he got yanked from the book, and sees Magneto come to reclaim his (now apparently villainous) daughter. Here's a fun fact for you: Avengers West Coast was originally titled West Coast Avengers - Marvel changed it so it would be next to regular Avengers on store shelves. I bought this set solely because of Wonder Man - if he'd been sold by himself, I would have bought that one, instead. So really, I look at Quicksilver as a very expensive pack-in. It turns out the figure's pretty decent, though, so that's a pleasant surprise. Plus, I can put him with my Avengers or X-Men collection, without having to get in a fight with Fox or Marvel to do it. -- 07/29/13

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