“Since when were they red?”
The following review has been written ahead of the release of Captain America: Brave New World. While there are no details within this review that have not been seen in the trailer or promotional merchandise, there may be content in here that is considered a spoiler.
Our Red Hulk figure was kindly provided free of charge by Hasbro Pulse for the purpose of product review & showcase. The content of the review remains our own impartial views of the figure. Thanks to Hasbro Pulse and their PR team for supporting our action figure review content
Ahead of the 14th of February 2025 release of the fourth Captain America movie, Brave New World, Hasbro released a trio of Marvel Legends Deluxe releases including Cap, Falcon, and Red Hulk. The figures have been in development & production for some time and were pushed back when the movie itself was delayed. They finally hit store shelves at the very back end of 2024 with the bulk of orders and stocks fulfilled in early January 2025.
Due to the delay in release, all three of the Brave New World releases are packed in the older Marvel Legends packaging with Red Hulk in a deeper deluxe box complete with character artwork on the scooped sides. The front of the box includes a large curved window under which sits the Brave New World movie logo. The back of the box includes a larger image of Red Hulk, and as we will see on the figure itself there is a lack of likeness in this image to Harrison Ford. The accompanying text is the most 'spoliery' of the Brave New World releases detailing a little of Red Hulk’s origins - but without any direct reference to President Ross. Like Falcon and Cap, the internal cardback that sits behind the figure features a blue and white Captain America ‘star’ emblem.
Red Hulk appears to be a full newly designed figure sharing no obvious parts with any prior Marvel Legends Hulks. The majority of the body parts are cast in red with muscular and bulging veins sculpted on the arms and chest in particular. The exposed skin areas all appear to have a darker red wash although much of the work is done by the sculpt depth and the way it captures any applied lighting. The chest features a chest hair paint application which is subtle enough to not be a distraction. Red Hulk is wearing a simple pair of what we assume are ‘stretchy pants’ in dark grey - almost black colouring. There are no tears or rips which seems at odds with the transformation of Red Hulk seen briefly in the trailer.
vs Age of Ultron Hulk (left image) and Endgame 'Smart' Hulk (right image)
Red Hulk is the tallest of the MCU Hulks, standing a touch taller than the most recent Bruce Banner Hulk 'Smart' Hulk from Endgame) and much bigger than the earlier Avengers: Age of Ultron releases.
Red Hulk comes with two head options, one angry and one with a more neutral look. Like the box art, there is an obvious issue with the likeness on the figure looking nothing like the CGI of Harrison Ford in the role. This is most likely due to the figure being based on early concept art or CGI before the Ford likeness was added. This is a big negative for the figure and it will go down alongside other Marvel Legends based on concepts that did not match the end movie scenes like the Endgame Quantum Suits or the original Cull Obsidian (although Hasbro did go back and correct this one at a later stage).
Red Hulk features two sets of hands, allowing a choice between an open ‘claw’ pair of hands and a pair of clenched fists for smashing. These swap in and out easily enough.
Red Hulk includes 19 points of articulation, with no pins in sight. Despite his size, he articulates pretty well and is reasonably expressive with his hands, although the chest joint doesn’t quite match the arms in its range of movement. The waist swivel allows a full 360 turn, but doing so makes Red Hulk’s stomach shape sit out of line and look awkward. The legs won’t quite crouch, but they can hit some rudimentary kneeling positions.
If you took away that this was a movie-based release, most people would be pretty happy with this as a generic recreation of Red Hulk from the comics or the Agents of Hulk animated series. The fact it's an MCU movie release that doesn’t look like the actor does detract from what the figure does get right in terms of size, weight, paintwork, sculpt, and - in the main - articulation. Had we been able to get a Harrison Ford head into the set, complete with greying hair and that snarl we see in the trailers then this would have been in a whole other ballpark as a figure release.
Whether Hasbro will be able to do a Cull Obsidian and re-release this is unknown, but where figures like Obsidian have been revisited and updated it was after their first release as a BAF. Red Hulk doesn’t have that background and it is hitting retail immediately as a Deluxe. That will probably leave a secondary market for accurate head sculpts with the 3rd party content creators on Etsy and similar.
Red Hulk does pose well with Falcon and Captain America, all three scaling as we'd expect in a display. And from a distance, the likeness issue is less of an issue. Grab your Red Hulk now from Hasbro Pulse and start your battle with Captain America and Falcon from Brave New World.
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...