Let's get confused by names!
Under the leadership of Norman Osborn, Moonstone is recruited to imitate the hero Carol Danvers in the malevolent group of Dark Avengers.
As part of the Marvel 85th Anniversary Collection, Hasbro released a figure of Carol Danvers before she was Captain Marvel - in other words, her Ms. Marvel days. (It was a Target exclusive and never showed up, if you were wondering why we don't have a review of it.) But the name "Ms. Marvel" is taken now, so it wouldn't make any sense to put it on that toy, and thus they went with one of her other codenames, the short-lived "Warbird." But now that they've done the evil stand-in version, they're stuck with that name, meaning Karla Sofen is sold under the name "Dark Avengers Warbird," which is not an appelation she ever used. Superb work, team, you really made all the right choices, here.
This is, mostly, the same exact figure as
the Carol figure was: same body, same accessories, same head. Well, heads, plural; she's got two of them. The one she's got on in the box has very big hair, but it's hanging smoothly against her head (accounting for a little bit of "I've just been in a superfight" ruffledness), while the alternate has the hair blowing around in a strong wind. Amusingly, when Carol was released, thouse were traded: windy hair on the body, smoother hair in the tray.
Don't expect the faces themselves to be two of the same thing, either. The "windy" head has a very thin mask around the eyes, and her mouth is fully closed; the "calm" head has a much broader mask (those are sculpted elements on both heads, for the record, not just paint) and her lips are parted slightly. So maybe this is "sexy 1990s photo shoot" head?
The body is a reused mold, but it's not one we've seen a lot of yet. Rather, it's the one that debuted with Phoenix last year, which means a very good sculpt and more articulation than usual. The Anniversary Ms. Marvel release had new thighs, because they sculpted the tops of her boots on (and the joint was cut through at a different place), but "Dark Avengers" Ms. Marvel doesn't get that feature. Nor does she get Carol's new, less boob-hugging chest. Still, this isn't a sculpt that's overly plentiful at this point.
Her paint really takes to the "dark" part of "Dark Avengers," with a shady red and a black where it should be blue. Remember, this was literally Carol's old costume,
which Norman Osborn confiscated and gave to Karla; it would normally be much brighter than this, but these colors tell more of a story. Other than the masks, all the costume details are painted on. Her star symbol is gold, which wasn't a great choice; only the parts of it that are reflecting light at any given moment can be seen, and since it's centered right in between her breasts, that means at least some of it will almost always be in shadow. Like so many Iron Man armors, yellow would have been better.
Like Carol, Karla gets fists or open hands
(also swapped between releases, like the heads were), and a pair of energy swirls in translucent yellow. That's really all she needs, right? Well, remember that Ms. Marvel originally wore a scarf, before repurposing it as her belt, so Dark Ms. Marvel has that, too. It's an old sculpt, but that's fine, it does its job. It can look a little weird when you pose her, admittedly. This body has no shins, of course, but there are 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 shoulders, pectoral hinges, and a barbell head. So a great layout, with a couple weak spots.
It's funny that this figure is something we asked for asked for a dozen years ago, and she's finally real. It'd be cooler if, like the 4" Marvel Universe release, she had a "vintage" style head that could turn this into a 1970s Carol Danvers toy, as well, but she's already hard enough to find thanks to online shops wanting to get a jump on tariff pricing. I lucked out and found her on Amazon for her intended price, and that's already five bucks more than it should cost. So this is a good toy, even if it had to be sold with the wrong name on the box. But hey, if Hasbro ever did want to make an actual Warbird figure, we'd be in favor - it's just that it would require new sculpting (Carol's powers were kind of on the fritz at the time, so she wore a little tactical bodyarmor), and we all know how Hasbro feels about paying for new molds.
-- 07/14/25
Who wore it better: Carol, Karla, or Suzy Sherman? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.
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