An action figure remembered as fondly as the movie it came from! Which is...hmm.

The general online hate for Marvel's 2003 Daredevil movie has always baffled me, at least a little. It's not a great movie, to be sure, but the response has been a little too vehement, a little too much like kids trying to be cool by tearing something they once liked down. The film was fairly successful at the time, but I think the backlash against Ben Affleck transferred over to it; and I'm not positive why there was backlash against Affleck, either. I'm not a big fan, but his public persona always seemed nice enough; it's not like he beat his wife or ate a baby or something.

The general online hate for the Marvel Legends Series 3 Movie Daredevil is somewhat less baffling. He was the first movie-style figure added to the comic book-style line, and M-DD doesn't have anywhere near the range of articulation that Marvel Legends was already known for. The ML Thing figure from the prior wave has more articulation! Most noticeably, the torso is a solid unarticulated piece, the hips are a t-joint, and the shoulders are cut joints. Eventually the pendulum of public opinion would swing on Marvel Legends as well, and some considered them over-articulated, but Movie Daredevil doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the line.

Wow, he could really use mid-bicep swivels, too. The sculpt and the paint aren't bad at all, although I think there is a version with painted "stubble" that may or may not look right. The hands and the ankles are both very nice--good range, really holds a pose--but that just gives the overall effect of putting racing tires on a Pacer: you aren't getting the best use out of them. I do like the ankles, but I suspect they have more range of motion than a person actually wearing those boots would have.

(An aside: since this figure has a paint rub on its nose, I was wondering, if you somehow knocked out Daredevil and then drew all over his face with a Sharpie, would he be able to feel it when he woke up? Actually, I think DD could probably smell it. And either way, he would beat your ass sideways later...)

DD's costume seems very, very influenced by the leather outfits of the X-Men movies. Lines and panels for little apparent reason, but thankfully without the overly pronounced texturing of recent movie outfits like Amazing Spider-Man, Man of Steel, or even Star Trek. Some might find it odd his neck is uncovered; but that actually strikes me as less odd than the Batman cowls where he can't turn his neck.

Ah, yes, Batman: With the announcement of Affleck being cast as Bats in the upcoming Superman-Batman movie, I half-expected some industrious customizer to have used pieces from Movie DD for an Affleck-Batman. I was also a little surprised to have two of these: one probably belonged to my Oldest son, and Marvel Legends then were cheaper than a Big Mac meal with large fries and a drink now.

I don't know if you can see it in the pictures, but one of the Daredevils there seems...longer; while the other one seems just slightly more squat. Both are recognizable enough as Affleck, though. Shop it around if you need one, as DD or for a custom, it's still available on the cheap!