As a consequence of the SDCC 2022 Hasbro Marvel panel occurring prior to Marvel Studios debuting the Black Panther Wakanda Forever trailer, Hasbro wasn’t able to unveil any of the movie figures during their panel. But that didn’t stop Hasbro from premiering the wave later on at San Diego Comic-Con—and now the entire Black panther Marvel Legends Wakanda Forever wave is up for order! Let’s take a look at the Attuma Series…

With the Black Panther sequel hitting theaters in just a few months, it seemed inevitable that we’d be seeing the obligatory wave of Hasbro Black Panther Legends figures shown off sooner than later. But not only did Hasbro introduce a new assortment of action figures to coincide with the movie—they also showed off the new plastic-free Build-A-Figure packaging for the very first time.

There’s been a bit of a mixed reaction to both these Black Panther Legends figures and their new boxes, however.

As previewed by other Hasbro Marvel toys, Hasbro is transitioning away from having any plastic at all integrated into the packaging for their (non-Retro) action figures.

Gone will be the windows allowing fans and collectors to judge the QC on a collectible prior to buying it, with cardboard and tissue paper propping up the figures and accessories inside the boxes. This has been met with quite a bit of pushback from disgruntled fans, but we’ll have to wait a bit to see what effect this shift ultimately has on sales.

The 2022 Marvel Legends Black Panther series cases of 8 figures will be composed of the following:

(2) Black Panther [Comics-Based]
(2) Hatut Zeraze [Comics-Based]
(1) Namor
(1) Nakia
(1) Okoye
(1) Everett Ross [from the original movie]
Build-A-Figure: Attuma

It’s a little weird for a movie wave case to be primarily made of comic book figures and a figure from an old movie, but that’s probably precisely the right call here. Since there are only six solo-packed figures in the series, fans will have to buy one of all six to get every Attuma Build-A-Figure piece.

Comic Black Panther figures of T’Challa are always a hot commodity, and this double-packed one looks extremely nice and was all but certain to be the top seller in the wave. Packing it at two-per-case is the smart move, and Hasbro is making it here.

More unlikely was double-packing the Marvel Legends Hatut Zeraze figure, an army-builder that a vast majority of fans have never heard of.

Obviously the big appeal here is the sheer coolness and striking aesthetic of a white-clad “Black Panther” repaint. While certainly an unexpected choice for toys at all, I’m digging these Wakandan “secret police” more than anything else in the wave.

From the original movie, Marvel Legends Everett Ross returns. As this notable character was previously only in a Target exclusive two-pack, I think it makes sense to make him more widely available here.

Likewise, many collectors never completed the Marvel Legends Okoye Build-A-Figure, so it’s nice to see this popular character individually available for the first time. Okoye is an important character in the MCU, and I’m sure Hasbro has been waiting for a chance to get her back out into circulation.

Meanwhile, the Nakia figure wasn’t exactly a hot seller back in 2018 for the first movie, but she’s back again in a new aquatic costume from Wakanda Forever.

The new Marvel Legends Nakia has a very exotic design, and I appreciate the new ring blades and interchangeable helmet head, but this seems like the inevitable peg warmer of the wave.

Finally, we have the controversial MCU Namor Legends character. I honestly thought this was The Rock when he came out of the water in the trailer, and I’ve seen quite a few people complaining about this unfamiliar look for the Sub-Mariner. If this character ends up being particularly popular or cool in the figure, I can see his one-per-case ratio being a problem at the end of the year.

Lastly, we’ve got the series’ Build-A-Figure: the Atlantean Warlord, Attuma. The Attuma BAF (obviously) is all newly-tooled and looks expensive to make, so I think it works fine as the carrot for the wave (with a comics-based Marvel Legends Attuma now seeming inevitable in the next year or so).

The Marvel Legends Black Panther Wakanda Forever series is now up for order, and is scheduled to be released in late 2022. All of the figures are available for pre-order as individuals, so collectors shouldn’t have any difficulty picking and choosing just the characters they want if they don’t want to build Attuma.

What are your thoughts on the Black Panther wave and the new plastic-less boxes, Marvel collectors? Will the packaging change affect your collecting habits? And what figures (if any) from this wave have your attention?