In addition to their extremely prolific action figure line, McFarlane has been spinning the DC Multiverse brand into statues here and there. I haven’t gone very deep on these, but I did check out the 89-style Batman they did from that Flash movie and liked it a lot… the statue, not the movie! And when I saw the first teasers for this Jim Lee style Superman, I knew it had to be an instant preorder. But, I guess this isn’t really DC Multiverse as it’s branded as McFarlane Toys Digital and also bears the DC Direct logo.

This roughly Sixth-Scale statue comes in a wrap-around window box with another light on top to showcase the figure really well, but it doesn’t follow the usual DC Multiverse box design. You also get an ugly Digital Card pressed up against the front window, which is a shame because otherwise this would display in the box very nicely. I think the card is redeemable for the digital version of the figure. Look, I’m an old man and I don’t understand the appeal of any of this NFT shit. If they want to throw a code into the box, that’s fine, but I’m not a fan of it imposing itself on the presentation of the physical collectible. And as we’ll see, this continues to be a problem. Anyway, the box is collector friendly, but I’m definitely tossing it. You do get a standard McFarlane collectible card stuck to the back tray and the only assembly required for the statue is plugging it into the base.

Here he is all set up, and I’m going to do something I never do with statues and talk about the base first. The bit of sculpture that he’s standing on is part of the figure, while the base is just the black disk. Unfortunately, Todd decided to print McFarlane Toys Digital on it along with their logo and it goes a long way to wreck the whole thing. I mean, Why? Why in the blessed name of Ma Kent would they do this? Even Todd has to realize that the majority of the people buying this doesn’t give a crap about the digital aspect, so why plaster it on the base? Grrr… I hate it.

But as for the figure itself, well I love it! He’s appropriately beefy with his barrel chest pushed out presenting the fully sculpted S-Shield. There’s some subtle texture to the beautiful blue suit, along with the underlying musculature on full display. You get crisp red paint for the boots and undies, and a hint of more yellow for the belt. It’s a lovely classic Superman look, which I’m always happy to get represented on my shelf. The pose mimics the Jim Lee art perfectly, with Supes’ left leg up on the bird sculpture, his arms cocked back at the elbows, and both hands balled into fists. Every bit of this pose suggests some evil-doer is about to get a well-deserved ass-whooping. And then there’s the cape, but I’ll come back to that in a second…

The portrait to me is a real homerun. I’ll be the first to point out that human portraits are not usually McFarlane’s strong suit. They have been getting better, and they’ve turned out some decent efforts in their figures as of late. The statues, on the other hand can be hit or miss, but I’d score this one as a direct hit. The chiseled features, the angular jaw, the slight dimple in the jutting chin, the strong cheekbones, and the powerful, furled brow are all just fantastic. The hair is sculpted separately from the head, giving an immaculate hairline, and I dig the spikey bits and cowlick. What’s more, the eyes and eyebrows are painted perfectly. There is a gap between the neck and costume, but that’s to allow the fabric cape to be secured between. It looks a bit jarring up close, but I don’t find it to be a problem under normal viewing.

And there’s that glorious red fabric cape with the wire running throughout the edge. This garment is so much fun to pose, making me so glad they decided to go with mixed media on this piece. In addition to achieving a great approximation of the cape’s behavior in the source art, it can also be customized to your liking. Whether it be billowing out behind him or flapping off to the other side, you can do a lot of different things with it.

As for that base, well I’m going to have to do something to fix it. Whether that be painting over it, taping over it, covering it with a Superman logo sticker, there’s no way I’m going to display that logo and nonsense. Because the pegs are located in the base, it is possible to display Supes without the base at all, so that’s at least an option. Albeit one that increases the chance of him toppling over. At least he’s a solid slab of plastic, so I doubt the Man of Steel would incur any damage taking a shelf dive.

Desecrated base not withstanding, this is an excellent statue and with an MSRP of $50, I’d say it’s definitely one of the best values on the collectible statue market right now. I can think of several times where I’ve spent more than twice as much and didn’t get something as beautiful as this piece. Originally, I was planning on putting him on one of my DC Multiverse shelves, but he wound up landing on the corner of my desk, and I do believe that’s where he’ll stay for a while. The Jim Lee Wonder Woman should be arriving any day now, and I’m excited to get the two side by side!