Gladiator heads the legions of Imperial Guard in steadfast service to the Majestrix, a title sought by Deathbird, who frequently plots to overthrow her sister, Lilandra Neramani, as ruler of the spacefaring Shi'ar Empire.
Okay, are the same people who are extorting Hasbro under the threat of violence to make Brother Voodoo toys also forcing them to make Gladiators? Dan Yun, blink twice if you need someone to call Liam Neeson to get your family back. Gladiator was first released in a box set, true, but he had a straight rerelease in a 2018 X-Men Legends series (which, because Twitter is deader than MySpace at this point, we can't actually show to you). Every human being who wanted a Gladiator action figure already had one. Statistically, since the re-release came with a Build-A-Figure part, some of the people who wanted a Gladiator action figure already had two. Some people who didn't want a Gladiator figure had two, and so could sell them off cheap to anyone who did still want one! There is no reason to waste a slot in a two-pack on him!
Two-pack Gladiator is way better than the old one. Maybe not "Medusa" better, but at least "Black Bolt" better (as long as we're talking two-pack figures we could have done without). He doesn't use the same body as the other two versions, but one that is, improbably,
even larger and more muscular. Fittingly, since they're both knockoffs of Superman, Gladiator uses the same arms and legs as Hyperion. But since Gladiator doesn't bolt his underwear to his ribcage, they don't use the same torso. The trunks have horizontal wrinkles, to let us know they're cloth, which helps identify them (and by extension the chest) as coming from the limbs' original source, Hercules. The cape is the same, but you get your choice of fists or open hands.
You can get more detail out of a sculpt in 2026 than you could in 2013, so Gladiator's head is lookin' great! Both of them, in fact: right in the box we get a very grumpy look (pro tip: since the cape is stuck through the plastic tray, you'll have an easier time popping the head off and removing
the body from the front and the cape from the back than you will trying to force the sculpt cape through the hole), but there's also a second head that's screaming and has translucent red effects coming out of his eyes: both flares of energy and some trailing smoke. In the comics, his heat vision is strong enough to burn through Hulk and even Galactus - sometimes. Like all his abilities, the power level depends on his confidence. His mohawk is bigger than before, sticking out farther in the back, which means the collar of his cape prevents him from tipping his head back for flying poses when he's wearing it.
Moving on to the actually desired half of this set, we get Deathbird. Her real name is Cal'syee Neramani, which sounds like
it's supposed to be a takeoff on "Khaleesi," but that book wasn't published until 1996, and this name got used in the "Age of Apocalypse" crossover in 1995. Given to fits of rage, she ended up killing her mother and sister, so she was exiled from the Shi'ar Empire and her name was stripped from her like The Fallen. Meaning "Deathbird" is something she picked herself.
Like Mystique, Deathbird was originally a villain for Ms. Marvel. She was introduced working for MODOK (she needed advanced tech to repair her transport), but soon became a threat in her own right. For a time she actually succeeded in becoming Empress, but found it was harder to put down rebellions than to lead them.
Another thing she has in common with Mystique is that she's a mutant. As a race, the Shi'ar are descended from birds, not apes, and her mutation is atavism, meaning she has more birdy features than the average person. Like, Lilandra has vestigial feathers that grow on her forearms, the same way you have hair; Deathbird, meanwhile,
has full, functional wings. Or "had," at least: this specific look, with the armor and the tubes and the feathered cape, is the costume Jim Lee designed for her, and in that arc, Gladiator pulled them off her, which is why this figure doesn't have any. The sculpt of the body is outstanding, with every little line of her armor presented well. What's really surprising is the cape, though: it's molded from plastic, but the interiror has been sculpted in such a way that it looks like it's made of cloth; until you touch it or move her around, the texture of the sculpt absolutely gives the impression that the toy has softgoods, and that's unbelievable!
When she was first introduced, Deathbird's "hair" was drawn almost like bat ears - like, think of the way Man-Bat's ears are generally depicted, and you'll get it. And that's how she stayed for the first 14 years of her existence, until Jim Lee did his redesign; then, suddenly, she had Wolverine hair and wore this wild headdress thing, and that design has stuck ever since. The toy's been sculpted with a great "crazy girl" smile, and the crown thing is a separate piece that's glued into the head.
Deathbird doesn't get any accessories - not even alternate hands, like Gladiator had. They could have given her the spear she jabbed Wolverine with, or the gigantic cannon she used later.
This design had a ToyBiz figure in the 1996 "Ninja Force" series of X-Men toys, and that one had the mechanical wings she wore briefly. The tubes connecting her forearms and upper back are flexible, to a degree, but they still look weird when you move her arms. She has all the usual ML woman articulation, but every hinge in the arms is incredibly stiff, which, combined with the tubes and the way the cape hangs over her shoulders, makes posing her arms very difficult.
This set is clearly intended to go along with all the Uncanny X-Men #275 figures - that's where this design debuted, and she's on the cover. That's probably why the set includes Gladiator, too, since he's also on the cover. But also, so's Zaladane, who's never had any toy before, and probably never will in the future. And the story inside is full of Shi'ar Imperial Guardsmen who would have been more appealing than Gladiator. Plus the Starjammers were there, so we could have gotten either of the ones we don't have yet. But no, Gladiator's on the cover, and so Gladiator we get. Deathbird is awesome though, and Kallark being a different mold than before means he's not totally useless, so this is a decent pair overall.
-- 05/04/26
Who would you have put in this two-pack instead of Gladiator? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.
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