I have to admit, I’m not a huge Symbiote or even Deadpool fan and I hadn’t read the book this was based on, so I was not looking forward to this variant. That said, when I saw him on the pegs of a store that seems to never have anything new, I was compelled to pick him up. Let’s take a look at Back in Black Deadpool!
Having bought the figure, I felt like I should read the book, and I’m glad I did. It’s a fun alt-reality romp through classic ’80s Spider-Man issues (books I read first run as a kid, btw) with Deadpool taking on the Symbiote suit and gaining a bit of Spidey’s powers and sense of duty. I usually find Deadpool to be a bit obnoxious, but he was a lot of fun here tempered somehow by some suit-absorbed Parker-isms. I left the book liking Deadpool and the Symbiote a lot more.
The packaging is standard Marvel Legends fare, but it does have a really sharp ’80s graphics on the logo and the backdrop for the figure photo on the back. It pops a little more than usual.
The sculpt seems to be what was used for the regular Deadpool and seems like an appropriate build. He comes with two gripping hands, a webshooting hand, two swords, two claws, and two head sculpts.
The monster claws, the tendrils and claws are reused from other Symbiotes, like Superior Venom, but are useful and effective at transforming Deadpool from a more in-control look to a Venom-style monstrous look. He bounces back and forth between the two often in the books, so I like that you can do it with the figure.
The tendrils are pretty cool, though they aren’t really designed to hold the sword as well as I’d like. The swords are neat. In the book, Deadpool grabs them from a villain with the fun name Danse Macabre, and they are a little off model from that, but they work pretty well and just look kinda cool.
Articulation is ML standard; this body has been reused so many times, you know what it can do. The paint is utilitarian, but effective.
Overall, it’s a fun figure for a fun little story. Very niche, but nice to have.
