A long time ago, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo told fans that this was it: their last Batman story—a last hurrah for one of the biggest partnerships of all time on the biggest character of all time.
Well, it turns out they would not be quite done, after all, but there was something special about Batman: Last Knight On Earth that made you think they really believed it was the end.
To commemorate that something special, McFarlane is bringing some key characters from Last Knight to their DC Multiverse line, and boy howdy, did they go big. There are four figures in the series: Batman, Wonder Woman, Scarecrow, and Omega, but each comes with Build-a-Figure parts that join forces to create Bane. Sounds pretty awesome to me—so how’d they do?
Batman
The sight of Batman, decked out for the looney bin, carrying Joker’s head around in a glass jar that would be at home in Brainiac’s vault—I don’t know about you, but I loved it. McFarlane’s done an awesome job replicating the look here, and yes, Mr. J is present. He looks a bit more ‘89 than Capullo, but I don’t really care—he’s awesome either way. There’s also a billy club, but honestly, who cares? Bat. Head. All I need.
Wonder Woman
This is the least impressive figure in the set, but it’s really nobody’s fault. When you have one figure out of four with all of this skin exposed, it can’t help but look cheaper than the rest, because that skin color and body sculpt don’t do nearly as good a job masking joints as a costume does. They’ve definitely captured the aesthetic Capullo designed, but it’s just not as impressive in the implementation as the others.
Scarecrow
If Joker-in-a-jar is the realization of the character’s comedic potential, then Last Knight’s Scarecrow is the focused, freakshow nightmare to which Jonathan Crane must surely aspire. And McFarlane again does an excellent job bringing what we saw in the comic to life. My favorite part? His disgusting face looking out from the translucent, red helmet.
He comes with a stand so his legless body can stay straight up, but the way you should really display him is with his buddy Bane—more on that below.
Omega
So, it’s been a while since I’ve read Last Knight on Earth, and let’s just say that its main villain, Omega, left a rather weak impression on me. Maybe he’ll fare better when I reread it, but right now, I don’t have any commentary on what the character means to me. He looks okay enough, and since we’re talking about a figure made in his likeness, that’s enough to go on.
The figure translates the comic well enough. There aren’t any accessories, but there are two extra hands with different poses, so, you know, work those hands. My lack of enthusiasm for the figure is owing entirely to my lack of enthusiasm for the character, because truly, McFarlane did good work here.
Bane
Okay, here it is. You want to sell an entire set of Last Knight on Earth action figures, even to folks who’ve never heard of, much less read, the comics? This is how you do it. Bane looks a little different in Last Knight, but he still looks very much like Bane, and I love McFarlane’s take on this version of the character.
Warning up front: he’s a little tricky to put together. I fought hard to get the hands plugged into the arms, and the arms plugged into the torso, and the legs plugged into the torso, and the head popped on to the thigh stumps. It was difficult. Keep that in mind, be patient, twist until you have nerve damage, and then enjoy knowing that it was Bane that broke you.
Okay, beyond that, I love it. He’s nice and beefy—bigger, even, than the Dark Nights: Metal Devastator fig. The articulation is pretty good given the size and self-assembly, but then, Bane is a character that can look incredibly intimidating standing straight up. I don’t need much in the way of movement out of this one, as I’m content to let him hulk.
As I mentioned above, Bane is also the ideal stand for Scarecrow, recreating their cover from issue #2 of the comic. Look at that:
Majestic. Simply majestic.
Bonus: the Batcycle we promised
Okay, whether or not you like Dark Nights: Metal or its sequel, you can't deny that the franchise has brought lots of whacked-out, crazy-cool designs into existence. One such design is this giant bat-skeleton Batcycle. Behold!
I don't have the Death Metal Batman to go with it, but as you can see above, it looks just as at-home with the Last Knight characters.
Overall
Build-a-figure series are always fun, but they’re also good for chucking in a lot of crap that you don’t want. Why did I need to buy Hummingbird to build Infinity War Thanos? I mean, come on!
Anyway, that’s not really the case here. Yes, Wonder Woman is a less-impressive interpretation than the others, but all four characters are still significant to the story—even if visually—and you only have to buy four of them to build Bane. That’s way better than the five or six it typically takes to do it with Marvel Legends, especially with no filler characters.
Bottom line: this is a great set for fans of Last Knight on Earth, or any Batfan who wants an alternate take on some well-known characters. Get yours February 28 wherever DC Multiverse figures are sold.
Disclaimer: McFarlane provided these figures to Batman News for review.