Let’s kick off the week by looking back at the toy line tie-in for one of the bigger comic book stories of the 1980s – MARVEL SUPERHEROES SECRET WARS!
While I was never really a fan of the Marvel Comics, as a kid, I couldn’t deny how amazing these figures were. Mattel’s first series was released in 1984, a counter to Kenner’s DC Super Powers line (which will surely be discussed at some point). According to legend, the toy company went to Marvel with the name “Secret Wars,” and it launched not just the toy line, but a comics event as well.
The first series included 8 figures – Captain America, Spider-man, Doctor Doom (all three seen above), Magneto, Wolverine, Iron Man, Kang and Doctor Octopus. Each figure came with a “Secret Shield” that had a lenticular image that changed when it was tilted.
Spidey was the only Marvel character to have more than one figure in the line, as he appeared in 1985’s Series II in the Black Symbiote suit. Series II also included Baron Zemo, Daredevil, Falcon and Hobgoblin. Outside of some special combo packs and foreign releases (including Iceman, Electro and Constrictor), the Secret Wars figures only lasted the two lines. But it serves as a launching point for some great Marvel figures of the future.
Monday’s Highlights:
A new episode of PREACHER promises to explore Jesse and Tulip’s history together, at 9 p.m. Eastern on AMC.
TNT will show STAR WARS – EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE at 3 p.m. Eastern, followed by STAR WARS – EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI at 6 p.m. Who needs all that stuff in the middle, right?
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Well, it’s Monday. Highlights are usually few and far between. What are you excited about today? Talk about it here!