Black Widow’s New Hot Toys Figure Brings Another Insect Friend Along for the Ride

If you feel like nearly every other character from Captain America: Civil War had his figure announced before Black Widow, you're like 99% right. Besides the teased Scarlet Witch and Crossbones, and potential figures for Agent 13, Spider-Man and Baron Zemo, there aren't many characters from the upcoming Marvel movie that haven't gotten their moments in the pre-ordering sun. But that's okay. I always knew the Black Widow was coming from Hot Toys. The company has never not released a Natasha figure since she first appeared in Iron Man 2. Though they haven't always been noteworthy figures, Hot Toys is nothing but consistent in its treatment of Black Widow. That's more than you can say about a number of its competitors.

Even though the Black Widow figures may not be as impressive as some others in Hot Toys' Marvel Cinematic Universe line, they are reliably solid. It's not her fault the costume designers haven't given her much more than a slightly different catsuit every movie. This is despite Hawkguy, a character equally as bland in the MCU uniform department, getting completely new costumes every movie that experiment a lot more. The most ostentatious Black Widow has gotten was adding blue piping highlights to her suit in Age of Ultron. Beyond that, she's primarily stuck to the tried and true black onesie.

Even her accessories have been virtually identical since Iron Man 2. Again, Black Widow will come with her now signature pistols and a few different hands for posing. This time her hands are fully gloved though, which is new. And she does get new nightstick weapons to go with the repeat handguns and batons that she had last time around. I guess you have to take progress where you can get it with these, limited as it may be.

Interestingly enough, like Hawkeye, Black Widow will come with a miniaturized Ant-Man accessory. Here, the little guy is posed in a crouched position, which means you may be able to balance him on her shoulder. It might be a precarious position, but other than being set at her feet, there isn't much else included with the Black Widow to provide a place for Ant-Man to perch.

The key new variation for this figure in the updated portrait, which does look like Scarlett Johansson just a tiny bit more than the last iteration. The Winter Soldier/AOU head sculpt wasn't bad, but it was soft and didn't look quite like Johansson from every angle. The Civil War head looks much better in that regard, but I'm not sure that's going to be enough of an upgrade for people who already own one version of this character. Plus, that wavy, feathered hairdo is going to be murder to keep in style. It looks great, sure, but even the Black Widow figure that came with completely straight hair is a challenge to manage. I don't even want to think about how much of a hassle this will be to maintain while on display.

The Hot Toys Captain America: Civil War Black Widow is available for pre-order through Sideshow Collectibles now for $219.99, and is expected to arrive by Q4 2016.

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