A History of Hot Toys, Part 5: Iron Man Mark III (2008–2015)

After an interlude regarding my next book, The DC Encyclopedia New Edition (out March 2026), it's back to the idiosyncratic history of Hot Toys.

I mentioned in my last Hot Toys post how the Hong Kong company has a habit of revisiting and revamping action figures it's previously released. It's a practice that persists to this day, as advances in everything from base bodies (or bucks) to tailoring, sculpting and painting have seen Hot Toys perennially trying to improve upon older 1/6th-scale figures, or at least those deemed popular enough to warrant revisiting. A good example is the Batsuit worn by Christian Bale/Bruce Wayne/Batman in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012), which Hot Toys has revamped half a dozen times in 1/6 action figure form since releasing their first attempt, Movie Masterpiece Series MMS 71, in 2008. In 2010 there was a Deluxe Series version of the Dark Knight suit, DX 02; then in 2012 a Deluxe Series take on the Dark Knight Rises suit, DX 12; then in 2014 a slightly different version of DX 12 as part of three Movie Masterpiece Batman Armory sets, MMS 234, 235 and 236; then in 2022 the Deluxe Series Dark Knight Trilogy DX 19; then in 2024 a Batsuit as part of the Dark Knight Rises Armory, MMS 702; and most recently in 2025 as part of the Dark Knight Armory 2.0, MMS 750.

But this abundance of Bale Batmen, even if you include the four or so Hot Toys 1/6th versions of the Batman Begins Batsuit, is dwarfed by the cornucopia of Robert Downey Jr. Iron Men. The seemingly infinite iterations of the cinematic Tony Stark and his Iron Man armours have afforded Hot Toys the opportunity to return to the character again and again, starting with the movie that launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Released early in 2009, almost a year after director Jon Favreau's Downey Jr.-starring Iron Man had debuted in cinemas in April 2008, Movie Masterpiece Series MMS 75 Iron Man – Mark III was Hot Toys' first licensed Marvel 1/6th-scale action figure. Faithfully replicating the third iteration of the Iron Man suit constructed by Tony Stark in the film – following the jerry-rigged-in-an-Afghan-cave Mark I and the riveted chrome Mark II – Hot Toys' take on the Mark III was a remarkable figure for its time, as Jeff Parker and Michael Crawford's contemporaneous reviews on Crawford's Captain Toy site expressed in glowing terms. While the Tony Stark head sculpt that came with the figure wasn't on quite the same level as some of Hot Toys' other work around the same time, the engineering of the Iron Man armour, by Jason Woo, Gary Wong and Ray Ling, was revolutionary, striking a balance between appearance and articulation and boasting an array of openable flaps and light-up features.

Within weeks, the Mark III was followed by Hot Toys' take on the Mark II (MMS 78), featuring a helmeted Tony Stark head sculpt that for Michael Crawford was an improvement on the prior sculpt. Next came a 1/6th-scale take on the Mark I armour (MMS 80), with another helmeted head sculpt, before Hot Toys made the first of many returns to the Mark III armour with a gunmetal version (MMS 101) only available in limited quantities at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con, and in spring 2010, just ahead of the cinema debut of Iron Man 2, a battle-damaged version (MMS 110) boasting more vibrant colours in the paintwork. A mech-test Tony Stark (MMS 116) rounded off the Iron Man releases, but there was little respite, as by summer 2010 Hot Toys' Iron Man 2 figures had started shipping, this time encompassing not just multiple Iron Men but 1/6th-scale takes on Don Cheadle's War Machine (MMS 120), Mickey Rourke's Whiplash (MMS 121) and Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow (MMS 124).

2012's The Avengers brought with it a handful more Hot Toys Iron Men in amongst some revisits of earlier armours, but it was with 2013's Iron Man 3 – to my mind the best of the three Iron Man films, due in no small part to director and cowriter Shane Black – that the floodgates fully opened. The plot point of a traumatised, hyperactive Tony Stark having built dozens of Iron Man suits, up to and including the Mark 42 (my personal favourite), afforded Hot Toys the opportunity to release two dozen Iron Man 3 action figures over the next few years. Moreover, this deluge of Iron Men came accompanied by a couple of innovations. The first of these, the Power Pose Series, traded articulation for the ability to keep figures in action poses for extended periods, and petered out after half a dozen or so releases. The second innovation proved much more enduring, however: diecast metal.

I'll endeavour to return to the initial Hot Toys diecast action figures in a subsequent post – Iron Patriot, Iron Man Mark 42 and War Machine Mark II, plus some of the other non-diecast Iron Man 3 releases in my collection – but suffice to say here that the introduction of diecast parts into Hot Toys' figures not only revolutionised the way those figures were engineered, it opened the way to even more revisiting and revamping of older figures, starting with the seventh diecast release, MMS 256 D07 Iron Man – Mark III.

Arriving in summer 2015, Hot Toys' first diecast revamp of an older figure had a more vibrant paint job than the original Mark III release, better proportions, a terrific helmeted Toy Stark head sculpt, removable armour plates revealing underlying circuitry, and a midsection that could be replaced with a twisted one to recreate the Iron Man landing pose. 

Best of all, it had heft, the diecast elements lending the figure a weight that previous plastic Iron Men had lacked. In turn this necessitated more durable packaging, a style of glossy outer sleeve and styrofoam inner tray that the Mark III shared in common with the diecast Iron Man 3 figures.

Henceforth, as Hot Toys' Iron Man offerings grew, more and more would feature diecast – not just the new armour iterations seen in 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2016's Captain America: Civil War, 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming, 2018's Avengers: Infinity War and 2019's Avengers: Endgame, but revamped versions of the Mark I, Mark II and inevitably, again and again, the Mark III. To date, Hot Toys has released well over a dozen versions of the Mark III suit, and something in the region of 150 Iron Man-related action figures overall (out of around 400 Marvel figures in total), with no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Cover Reveal: The DC Encyclopedia New Edition, Coauthored by Nick Jones

Interrupting my series of idiosyncratic posts on Hot Toys, I noticed over the festive period there was a cover up on Amazon (and other online retailers) for my next book, namely the latest edition of The DC Encyclopedia. This is the third edition of the book I've cowritten (following the 2016 All-New Edition and the 2021 New Edition), but this time I also acted as consultant, contributed some picture research and helped out on project management (mostly marshalling the other authors), so I'm (almost) literally all over this one. It's out in March, so I'll endeavour to post something nearer the time about my contributions and those of my excellent coauthors, editors and designers, but for now I thought showcasing Wonder Woman and Dark Crisis artist Daniel Sampere's splendid cover composition, arranged around the restored classic DC logo, would be a fine way to kick off 2026. Happy new year!

Testing, Testing: Build the Guardians of the Galaxy Ship!

Currently swooping into view in newsagents and supermarkets... somewhere in the country (I have no idea where – if you've seen it out in the wild, please do leave a comment!) is this:

Hachette Partworks' Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy Ship! It's something I've been working on for the past couple of years: a step-by-step build of the Guardians' – and Avengers' – ship from Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Thor: Love and Thunder and indeed I Am Groot, accompanied by a magazine delving into all aspects of the Guardians and cosmic Marvel both on screen and in comics. I wrote and edited the magazine – which was designed by the amazing Amazing15 – and in my capacity as author of Guardians of the Galaxy Ultimate Guide, Marvel Arms and Armour and other Guardians and Marvel books have been advising on the ship, the build, the Guardians, Marvel and multifarious other aspects of the project.

What's appearing in shops right now... somewhere in the UK (again, I really don't know where – I wish I did) is a four-issue test comprising the first four magazines and sets of parts. If the test goes well, then the partwork will launch nationally. So if you want the chance of building a huge model of the Guardians' ship (or the Infinity Saga ship as I like to call it) with working lights and engines, movable wings and tail, and even the auxiliary pod that Thor, Rocket and Groot use in Infinity War and War Machine and Nebula use in Endgame, and you want to know what else I have planned for the magazine, grab yourself an issue or three if it appears in shops near you, or head to the website and subscribe. Believe me, the ship truly is a thing of beauty – and the magazine's a damn good read too!

The DC Heroes & Villains Collection Extension Issues 101 to 110

I've blogged about the 20-volume extension to the DC Heroes & Villains Collection a couple of times now, and posted repeatedly in the DC Heroes & Villains Collection Facebook group, but those posts have been somewhat piecemeal in nature, and not everyone has the time, patience or, frankly, interest in putting the various pieces together. So I thought a straightforward rundown of the first ten releases in the extension might be of more use, along with a little additional background.

First out of the blocks, and already in some readers' clammy hands, are issues 101 and 102, namely Batman: Universe and Justice League vs. Suicide Squad, both of which I wrote about in this post, along with issues 103 and 104:

The Joker: The Series and Batman: Ten Nights of the Beast, which will be published later this month and early in the new year. Having already blogged about all four of the initial volumes in the extension, I shan't dwell on them here... except to say that as magnificent as Batman: Universe and Justice League vs. Suicide Squad are – and as huge a book as the latter of those two is, at nearly 300 pages – The Joker: The Series and Batman: Ten Nights of the Beast are even more special because they're unique to the DC Heroes & Villains Collection: bespoke volumes collecting, respectively, all of the mid-1970s The Joker series – including the 'lost' 10th issue – plus two key Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams and Irv Novick issues of Batman, and the first half of Jim Starlin's late-1980s Batman run, including the classic Ten Nights of the Beast. On top of which, both books are chock-full of bonus features.

Speaking of the Joker and bespoke volumes – and indeed big extents – later in January there's issue 106, The Joker: Vengeance. Collecting all 21 chapters of the lead storyline from James Tynion IV, Guillem March and co.'s 2021–2022 15-issue The Joker series – for my money one of the best extended comics storylines of the last five years – it's one long twisty-turny suspense thriller in one unique 328-page graphic novel. Just ahead of that book there's issue 105, the visually spectacular The Man of Steel, featuring showstopping art by, among others, Jim Lee, Jason Fabok, Steve Rude, Ryan Sook, Kevin Maguire and Adam Hughes, and then in February we have releases 107 and 108:

Batman: The Cult and Justice Society Returns! I vividly recall reading both of these on original publication, in 1988 and 1999 respectively, which is true of a good many of the comics in the DC Heroes & Villains Collection, and an indication of how personal the collection is to me (although personal preference obviously wasn't the only criteria for the selection of the stories). Published a couple of years after Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Jim Starlin and Bernie Wrightson's The Cult was only the second Batman miniseries to be published in the then-relatively new upmarket Prestige Format, and thus felt like a very different kind of Batman comic when I picked it up off the shelves of Forbidden Planet on Denmark Street: one seemingly set in current continuity, but bearing the influence of the dystopian Dark Knight Returns, as Starlin readily admitted. 

The Cult was a high-profile project for DC at the time, whereas the Justice Society Returns! event flew very much under the radar in 1999, yet was a revelation for me: a terrific introduction to the Justice Society of America (with whom I was only passingly familiar at the time) ahead of the JSA series which launched in its wake, by the architects of that series, James Robinson and David S. Goyer, plus the likes of Mark Waid, Geoff Johns, Ron Marz, Chuck Dixon, Michael Lark, Eduardo Barreto, Peter Snejbjerg, Stephen Sadowski, Chris Weston and Russ Heath. Moreover, the format of the event – two issues of a revived All Star Comics bookending seven resurrected Golden Age titles, with the story reflecting the way JSA stories of the past saw the team splitting up into smaller units – was a really nice idea.

With both Batman: The Cult and Batman: Ten Nights of the Beast in the extension, it's only fitting that the remainder of Jim Starlin's stint as Batman writer be included too, which it will be in March, in the shape of issue 109, Batman: A Death in the Family. Collecting not just that notorious storyline but the issues either side of it, it's another bespoke volume and boasts some terrific bonus content, including Jim Aparo's original art pages for the alternate outcome of Batman #428 alongside their coloured and lettered counterparts, which were only belatedly published this year. A 400-page follow-up volume, Batman: Under the Red Hood, will be published later next year – I'll blog about that book nearer the time – but before then, and rounding out the initial ten releases in the extension, we have issue 110, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Originally published from 2021–2022 as an eight-issue miniseries, Tom King and Bilquis Evely's celebrated sci-fi fable is a story that I suspect a lot of people will be interested in reading, due to the Craig Gillespie/Milly Alcock movie currently in pre-production.

Inside the DC Heroes & Villains Collection Graphic Novel Extension

As promised in my previous post about the 20-volume extension to the DC Heroes & Villains Collection – which, lest we forget (and I mean how could we when I'm forever banging on about it), I'm the editor of – I thought I'd delve a little deeper into the extension than the four volumes thus far announced – or rather five, as subscribers have also been told about the 400-page Batman: Under the Red Hood. That volume's not due to be published until next spring, but it's worth spending a moment on it now because it might help illuminate how both the extension and the collection as a whole developed. 

Way back in the mists of time, or more accurately the tail end of 2019, when I first noted down some thoughts on which stories we could potentially include in the collection, Judd Winick, Doug Mahnke and co.'s Red Hood storyline from Batman was one of those on my initial list. It's a run of comics that I loved when it was first published in the mid-2000s, a twisty-turny Bat-thriller that audaciously brought back a character who had been killed off in the late-1980s, yet kept readers guessing as to the true identity of that character (much as Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting were doing around the same time with their Winter Soldier storyline in Captain America; truly the mid-2000s were a great time to be reading superhero comics).

With a licensed partwork like the DC Heroes & Villains Collection, there's often a bit of give and take in terms of what can and can't be included, and for whatever reason, possibly the storyline's length (I can't actually remember at this point), Under the Red Hood didn't make it onto the final list of 100 volumes. But in common with some other titles that fell by the wayside, I never forgot about it – you should see my various voluminous docs of notes and ideas – and promised myself that should the collection ever be extended I'd revisit it, even though its length would likely mean splitting it across two volumes. 

Incidentally, on the subject of the extension, there's an assumption amongst those familiar with partwork graphic novel collections that they always get extended past their initial run, but I had every reason to believe that the DC Heroes & Villains Collection would end at 100 volumes. Its extension was a genuine surprise to me, albeit a pleasant one, because it represented an opportunity to revisit previously rejected volumes and include new ones.

As discussions about the extension between myself, Hachette and DC developed – over a very short space of time I should add, as confirmation of the extension came quite late in the day – it became clear that not only would we be able to revisit stories that had fallen by the wayside and add in stories only relatively recently published, but include stories that I didn't think we'd ever get agreement on – and furthermore have a number of volumes with greater page counts, including one 400-page one. 

Well hello, Batman: Under the Red Hood.

Once Under the Red Hood came into play – and after a different story dropped out of the extension – I started thinking about another title I intended to include: a volume collecting the first half of Jim Starlin's late-1980s Batman run, including the classic Ten Nights of the Beast. If those comics were on the table alongside the Red Hood storyline, wouldn't it make sense to also include the second half of Starlin's run, in particular the notorious A Death in the Family...?

I shan't spoil the events of those stories for anyone who hasn't read then, but anyone familiar with them will understand the significance of Starlin and Winick's respective Batman runs appearing in sequence in the collection's extension. And the icing on the cake: I'd already determined to try and include Jim Starlin's other significant Bat-story, the 1988 Prestige Format miniseries Batman: The Cult – with art by the great Bernie Wrightson – and so the extension will feature all of the Bat-books written by Starlin, brought together in a unique fashion.

Batman: Ten Night of the Beast has already been announced as the fourth release in the extension, published at the start of 2025, while Batman: The Cult, Batman: A Death in the Family and Batman: Under the Red Hood will be arriving in February, March and April – and of course will be stuffed with extras and bonus content. Before those, however, there are two other volumes set for a January release:

The Man of Steel, which collects the start of Ultimate Spider-Man co-creator Brian Michael Bendis's Superman run from 2018 and features spectacular art by Jim Lee, José Luis García-López, Ivan Reis, Jason Fabok, Evan "Doc" Shaner, Steve Rude, Ryan Sook, Kevin Maguire and Adam Hughes;

and The Joker: Vengeance, which collects the entire 21-chapter lead story from James Tynion IV, Guillem March and co.'s 2021–2022 The Joker series: to my mind one of the most gripping comics storylines of the past five years, in one unique 300-plus-page volume.

As for the other titles to be released early next year, not to mention the remainder of the DC Heroes & Villains Collection extension... more anon.

DC Heroes & Villains Collection – Extended!

As I've noted before on this 'ere blog, for the past few years I've been the editor of, and lead writer for (I write the introductions and a fair number of the bonus features), the DC Heroes & Villains Collection, a fortnightly DC Comics graphic novel partwork. Launched at the beginning of 2021 and building into 100 hardback volumes, the collection brings together the best of the modern DC Universe, from 1980, when Marv Woman and George Pérez's New Teen Titans revolutionised DC, to the Rebirth relaunch of 2016, incorporating everything from big blockbuster events like Crisis on Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis to more obscure delights like Batman: Nocturna and the Night-Thief and DC Comics Presents: Cosmic Encounters, with plenty of previously uncollected comics and bespoke volumes unique to the collection. 

For a DC devotee like myself, one who's read and collected DC comics since childhood, getting to select and curate 100 volumes of comics, some of which I first read as a 12-year-old, write about them, and see them published in splendid hardback editions has been an absolute joy – something of a dream project in fact. Which is why it's an immense thrill to report that, with the publication of the collection's 100th issue imminent, the DC Heroes & Villains Collection has been extended for another 20 volumes!

Over the past few weeks I've been teasing the long-suffering members of the DC Heroes & Villains Collection Facebook group with info about the initial volumes to be released in the extension, and an announcement has just gone out to subscribers, as follows:

With the first 100 volumes of the DC Heroes & Villains Collection, the aim was to give readers a grounding in the modern DC Universe, from the advent of New Teen Titans in 1980 to the Rebirth relaunch of 2016.

Now, with this 20-volume extension, we get to go even broader and deeper, adding some of the best stories of the Bronze Age, Modern Age and recent years. First out of the blocks will be Brian Michael Bendis and Nick Derington's mind-bending thriller Batman: Universe, followed by Joshua Williamson, Jason Fabok and co.'s blockbuster throwdown Justice League vs. Suicide Squad.

After that, Joker: The Series collects the entirety of Denny O'Neil and co.'s '70s Joker run, including the 'lost' 10th issue and O'Neil and Adams' classic Joker-starring Batman #251. Plus, Batman: Ten Nights of the Beast brings together the first half of Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo's acclaimed '80s Batman run for the first time.

Looking further ahead, fans can expect stories starring Batman, the Joker, the Justice Society and the Justice League by James Tynion IV, Guillem March, Bernie Wrightson, James Robinson, Tom King, Bilquis Evely, Tom Taylor, Scott Snyder, Steve Englehart and many more!

If that wasn't enough, you'll receive a bumper-sized issue 111 with Batman: Under the Red Hood, at a staggering 400 pages long!

That last announcement will be news even to the Facebook group members, but given that I revealed to them that not just the first half but all of Starlin and Aparo's Batman run will be collected as part of the extension, including the notorious storyline that dominates the second half, the penny might drop as to the relationship between those volumes and this huge Batman: Under the Red Hood one. But as enticing a prospect as all that may be – at least, I hope so – to my mind the other volumes in the extension are just as exciting. And I'll be revealing a little more about some of them in my next post.

Marvel Arms and Armour Out Now!

If it seems like all I ever blog about on Existential Ennui these days are books that I've written – or edited – that's because I'm too busy writing – or editing – those books to blog about anything else. For instance, right now I'm in the middle of co-writing a book – on movies for a change, out autumn next year – whilst editing two DC Heroes & Villains Collection volumes and pondering what to write for the two volumes after those. All of which leaves me little time to do anything other than, well, briefly blog about yet another book that I've written:

Marvel Arms and Armour: The Mightiest Weapons and Technology in the Marvel Universe, which is published by DK in the UK today. I posted some spreads from the book back in June, along these lines:

but there's also now a back cover on the Amazon listing, which will give some indication of what the book's about:

My author copies haven't turned up yet, so hopefully when they do I'll be able to find the time to, er, briefly blog about an actual physical copy too.

Marvel Arms and Armour by Nick Jones: Cover and Interior Pages Revealed!

Just a quick note to say there's a rather splendid-looking cover up on Amazon for my next book, Marvel Arms and Armour: The Mightiest Weapons and Technology in the Marvel Universe. Titled, naturally, Marvel Arms and Armor in the US, it'll be out in October, and there are sample spreads on Amazon too. Feast your eyes on this lot, and rest assured I'll be banging on about the book a lot more ahead of publication.