Black Widow finally has her own dedicated action figure range - including the first ever deluxe Marvel Legends. Marvel Studios hasn’t always had the best reputation for commissioning action figures for female characters, to the extent that directors such as James Gunn have openly admitted they’ve had to push for toy companies to make models of the women as well as the men.

The general assumption was that action figures based on female characters wouldn’t sell. In fact, Iron Man 3 director and co-writer Shane Black revealed that he was forced to rewrite the script, reducing Rebecca Hall’s character, because Marvel execs didn’t think associated toys would sell. Ironically, Marvel never made a model of the male villain, Killian, anyway. A couple of years later, in 2015, Marvel hit controversy again when an Avengers: Age of Ultron figure literally swapped Black Widow for Captain America. Matters have improved since Marvel’s 2015 corporate restructure, but it’s still seemed to be slow going.

That means the upcoming Black Widow movie is the perfect opportunity to put matters right. Hasbro has just announced a new Black Widow range, which notably includes the first real deluxe Marvel Legends figure. It features Natasha Romanoff in her white costume, with an unprecedented number of accessories and even a flight stand.

Of course, there’s a certain degree of irony to the fact that Black Widow comes with a flight stand. It appears to be inspired by the freefall scene shown in the Black Widow trailer, where Natasha Romanoff dives down through explosions; two of the explosion pieces are designed to be slotted into the flight stand. The holsters, with associated pistols, are adapted from the main Black Widow Marvel Legends series; but they’re accompanied by a range of different gunshot effects pieces; there are also effects pieces designed to slot over the Widow’s Bite weapons on Natasha’s wrists. Note the three sets of alternate hands, one of which is designed to grip the climbing hooks also included. Frankly, this compares positively to the $80 Bandai SH Figuarts range, but at a fraction of the price, at just $29.99.

In addition to the deluxe Marvel Legends figure, Hasbro has confirmed a Nerf Dart launcher based on the aforementioned Widow’s Sting. Meanwhile, there’s also a Taskmaster Stealth Slash sword and shield, designed for role-playing action scenes. Both are priced $19.99.

The Black Widow toy line is now available for preorder at Walmart, Best Buy, Entertainment Earth, Big Bad Toy Store, and Hasbro Pulse. Hopefully these will sell well, proving that Marvel’s past reluctance to release action figures related to female superheroes was foolish, as well as setting a strong precedent for further Marvel Legends deluxe models.

More: Every MCU Character Cameo To Expect In Black Widow

Source: Hasbro

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