Blackheart

Fun Marvel trivia time! In 1990, Marvel promoted an upcoming graphic novel, Punisher/Nick Fury: Rules of the Game, with art by Jim Lee. The story would have involved Frank Castle and Nick Fury both going after the same villain (trafficking in stolen SHIELD tech) and reluctantly having to team up. It never came out, obviously, despite at least a third of the pages being finished, but the cover did make it into a set of Jim-Lee-themed trading cards and revealed the name of the planned villain: Blackheart. But since that story wasn't even pitched until the year after this Blackheart debuted, it may have had to be changed. Blackheart is not his father's son - he's worse! Mephisto's rebellious child thrives on vice, since and corruption with humanity supplying the fodder. For centuries evil things had happened on the hill that came to be known as Christ's Crown (for the ring of thick brambles that grew around its base); Mephisto used that accumulated dark energy to form Blackheart, sending him out into the world to torment the innocent. After getting his butt kicked by Spider-Man and Daredevil, Blackheart retreated into the hill, hoping his father would forget about him and let him rest. Yeah, good luck with that, buddy! Blackheart had a standalone figure when ToyBiz was doing Marvel Legends, but today he's the Build-A-Figure for the Strange Tales line - you don't need to buy Hellverine, but get the other six figures and you can assemble the big guy. It's hard to put the toy together - not because the pieces don't fit or anything, but because of all the spikes covering the body! It's apparent in the original issue - Daredevil #270, for those keeping track at home - that Blackheart was supposed to have a body made almost entirely of thorns. John Romita Jr. drew Blackheart the same way he drew the thicket of roses surrounding the hill (and also everybody kept commenting on how he smelled like rot with a hint of rose). We don't know who sculpted this one, but while the ToyBiz Sam Greenwell one had lots of round bumps all over the place, today we get a smoother body (though still with a distinct and all-encompassing fine texture), but the parts that do poke out from the surface are actual spikes, rather than just lumps. And they're sharp, too! It doesn't hurt to hold, like some figures do, but those little points are going to dig into your skin when you have to push all the BAF pieces together. And if you grab him the wrong way without thinking. The toy seems to owe more to Blackheart's appearance in videogames than the comics. Like, if you go back and look at his early appearances, we rarely ever see his feet, but when we do, they're just normal human shape, not big, digitigrade claws like this; that only seems to have come about after he appeared in the Capcom games. The same goes for the thicker "hair," with the dreadlocky tendrils being more of a solid mass than they were in the books. Just compare them to the 2006 figure to see what a difference it is! Basically, this feels like someone started with the Avengers Alliance game model and tried to make it more like the comics by giving it spikes. There's not much paint to talk about with this figure: he's molded in the bluish-black color you see, and the eyes are painted red. ToyBiz painted him with highlights and shadows, but it really isn't necessary; simply being dark suits him. Hasbro does seem to have given at least a little bit of a purple tint to the hair, though it's only visible in a strong, direct light, otherwise blending in like nothing is different. Standing straight up, the Blackheart Build-A-Figure is nearly 8¼" tall, which is right on par with the older figure. He'd look good hunched over, too, but the shape of his hair prevents his head from tilting back and thus he'd have to be staring at the ground all the time. The toy has swivel/hinge ankles, double-hinged knees, swivel thighs, balljointed hips, a hinged waist, balljointed chest, swivel/hinge wrists, double-hinged elbows, swivel biceps, swivel/hinge shoulder, pectoral hinges, and a barbell head. The neck joint could really be better - I know one collector who carefully cuts a bit of the plastic out of the front of all Hasbro's neck joints so the figures can actually tilt their heads to an acceptable degree, but you shouldn't have to do that to make your toys work right. The torso articulation is nice stuff, though. He can really bend and twist nicely. And then there's the tail. Just like before, it's supposed to be bendy for poseability, but also just like before, the PVC used to mold it is too thick to actually bend in any useful ways. Like, the pose it's in, sticking straight out behind him with a bit of a dip and rise, is the pose it's always going to have. We've said before and we'll say it again, tails are better done as a series of solid segments with actual joints. Heck, with the texture of Blackheart's tail, those joints wouldn't even be noticeable! Being a Build-A-Figure, Blackheart doesn't have any accessories, just some alternate hands. I didn't notice when I opened my Lilith, but her BAF arm had the left hand on its wrist, not the right. Good thing I can replace it with a fist! Blackheart is one of those characters whose design has never worked as well as when drawn by his original creator. There's just something about his style that no one else can capture when they try to do the character. This BAF definitely feels like a "someone else's" version of Blackheart, not the "real" JRJr one, but that doesn't make it a bad toy. Whether you know him from the comics or from fighting games, this Blackheart is an upgrade over the old one. And unless I'm forgetting anyone, I think this is the final ToyBiz Legend Hasbro had left to re-do. A milestone release! Moon Knight | Bloodstorm | Lilith | Dracula | Daimon Helstrom | Brother Voodoo -- 03/15/25 Who's your favorite pop culture offspring of the Devil? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.