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50 years ago, Wolverine died. In his place stands an old man called Logan - a man concerned only with his family's well-being. A man pushed to the break by the Hulk Gang. A man forced to make a desperate decision.
There's no character text on these X-Men Legends, so that's the tagline from the actual comic. We'll be using Mark Millar's script to cobble together some handy bios for the figures, too.
Nobody knows what happened on the night the heroes fell. All we know is that they disappeared and evil triumphed and the bad guys
have been calling the shots ever since. What happened to Wolverine is the biggest mystery of all. Some say they hurt him like no one ever hurt before. Others say he just grew tired of all the fighting and retired to a simpler life. Either way, he hasn't raised his voice or popped his claws in close to 50 years. His old friends would barely recognize him now.
There's something about Old Man Logan. The Marvel Minimates did two versions of him, and now Marvel Legends has, too. Of course, the last one was based on the Secret Wars spinoff book, while this is based on the original storyline; yes, despite the fact that they're both "Old Man Logan," they're two separate characters, which could make for a confusing crossover if they were ever to meet.
This figure uses most of the same molds as the X-Men Legends 3 release - the boots, the jeans, the overly tight shirt... even the sleeves of his coat are the same. But as we said in that review, the coat is a big part of what sets the two OMLs apart: the spinoff version wears
a leather jacket, while the original bad boy has a long, beat-up duster. The coat is the only new piece below the neck, and it has a sculpt that's so rumpled even Lt. Columbo would think it needed to be pressed. There are a few holes in it, possibly because he took it off a member of the Hulk Gang.
Millar and McNiven had trouble keeping up with the deadlines, so after Wolverine #72 had to be published after #73, Marvel opted to take the last two parts of the story out of the main book and publish them together in Giant-Size Wolverine: Old Man Logan #1... once they were finally done. Several months later. Anyway, what were surely some gaps in the continuity of the work meant that things weren't always clear, like Logan showing up in this coat at one point in the story, but then later is seen taking it (the whole outfit, honestly) from one of his foes. It hardly matters, though - he just looks so cool in it!
The figure does get a new head, featuring his equally distressed hat. This sculpt is unmistakably based on the work of Steve McNiven, with the full beard and the deep wrinkles and everything. If you want him to go hatless for some reason, we also get the same Humberto Ramos-ish head as the last figure. Unnecessary, but not unwelcome.
Logan has fists with removable claws, as well as an alternate set of open hands with no claws at all. Considering he hadn't popped
his claws in 50 years, they really should have painted some blood on the backs of those fists. The crowning accessory for him, however, is the swaddled baby Bruce Banner Jr. That's an accessory the 4" Marvel Universe figure came with, but Minimates had not yet introduced the baby hand piece, so neither of those figures did. All we see of Bruce Jr. is his head, the rest being wrapped up in black cloth. He's sucking on a purple pacifier and has a fairly discontented look on his little face. While the comic showed Logan carrying him on a backpack-style rig, here it's just going to be in his arms.
Clint Barton, the now-blind former Avenger
called Hawkeye, calls on his old friend. Clint is crossing the country, bound for New Babylon, with precious cargo, and he needs a guide. But Barton doesn't want Logan to help him on this journey... he wants Wolverine. Logan reluctantly agrees to go, on the condition that he will not be a party to violence. But that's easier said than done for the aging warrior.
There are some inconsistencies in "Old Man Logan" - for instance, the story makes it clear that "New Babylon" is New York City, with a place called "Pym Falls, Connecticut" as the major entryway into the area; the map shown in the front of every issue, on the other hand, suggests that New Babylon is Washington DC, and a town called "Pym Cross" is somewhere north of Charlottesville, Virginia, and south of Culpepper. This is what happens when a Scottish writer and a Canadian artist plan an American roadtrip.
Hawkeye isn't sure whether he wasn't targeted during the villains' attack because he used to be one of them, or because he just didn't matter. Either way, time has done their job for them, because now he's got glaucoma and is totally blind - something this toy seems to have forgotten, because
his eyes are painted crisply rather than being cloudy. Did they think he was wearing black glasses just for fun? The set does include an alternate head, with his glasses on and his hair pulled back in a ponytail, which definitely looks more like the comic than the bare eyes and flowing hair on the head he's got on straight out of the tray.
[The head is based on the first Old Man Hawkeye issue; a prequel, the story saw Clint starting to go blind, which is why his eyes are painted here --ed.]
Clint may just be a civilian now, but 
the figure gets an entirely new sculpt by May Thamtarana. He's wearing cargo pants and a sleeveless shirt, a single archery glove on his right hand, and athletic tape around his elbow - probably a little bit of arthritis there after all these years. He has a harness around his shoulders and a bag slung across his chest. This is the first figure to use Hasbro's new "pinless" hinge joints, which is some pretty impressive toy manufacturing, but isn't really that thrilling here. Call us when we finally get a Spider-Man who doesn't have big red dots on the insides of his elbows.
Being blind has not stopped Hawkear
from still being the world's greatest marksman - he just aims at where the shouting is coming from. Logically, the figure's accessories include a bow and quiver full of arrows, plus a new compound bow with an arrow drawn back. Unfortunately, since the first bow originated in the movie line, it's a lefthanded model, and the new one is designed to match. Plus, the arrow is facing the wrong way - the fletching is going to hit the bow and mess up his shot. The arrow and bowstring are done in a pale silver, the same as Logan's claws, when a darker color would have worked better.
If you've never read it, "Old Man Logan" really is a good story - it's not at all like Logan, so even if you've seen that you're in for some surprises. The existing Marvel Legend was good enough, but this two-pack is even better.
-- 12/30/20
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