LEGO Marvel has gone through a bit of a cold spell for me, with none of the theme’s recent sets lighting my heart ablaze. But The LEGO Group (TLG) knows how to win back lapsed fans—with new blind box Minifigures! And so, two years after the first set 71039 LEGO Marvel Minifigures Series 2 is on the way—and this time, there are X-Men (plus Moon Knight, She-Hulk and more)!
After a highly successful first wave in 2021, the popular Disney+ Marvel LEGO Minifigures is back with another wave! But things have changed a bit, as TLG will be using cardboard blind boxes for these minifigs instead of bags—meaning no more awkwardly groping blind bags in stores to determine the figures inside!
I fear that the new blind boxed packaging may ultimately lead to more in-store theft and vandalism, but at least it will be better for the environment and scalpers won’t be able to easily cherry-pick popular characters anymore. Let’s have a look at what figures fans will be pulling randomly for next month…
Though X-Men ‘97 still doesn’t have a confirmed launch date, I think the LEGO X-Men have got to be considered the true headliners of this set.
Last seen in the 2014 LEGO X-Men vs. The Sentinel 76022 set with the brick-built Blackbird jet and Sentinel, the X-Men make their triumphant return here with 3 Minifigures: Wolverine, Storm and the first-ever Beast Minifig.
The 2014 versions of Storm and Wolverine were in their black and yellow/brown costumes, respectively, so this is the first time they’ll be available in stores in their iconic animated colors. Magneto and Cyclops were also in that set 9 years ago, though neither reappears here.
I think it’s only a matter of time until we get a modern LEGO Sentinel with more X-Men figures, but I’m ecstatic to get a fresh start here. Beast in particular looks adorable and is probably my favorite inclusion in this entire series.
The second high point of the set for me is the trio of Moon Knight-related characters: Moon Knight, Mr. Knight and Werewolf by Night! I thought MK might be a smidge too violent to get LEGO figures, but here they are in all their brick fig glory.
I’m not sure any other characters from the show would have made for good regular sized minifigs, but I’m glad we at least get two versions of Moon Knight himself.
Likewise, Werewolf by Night didn’t seem at a glance like a kids toy property, but LEGO knows how to make monsters sweet and huggable right. Though Werewolf by Night may not be what many collectors hope for when opening a blind box, I think his fun design will win over a lot of folks.
The Hawkeye trio brings us Clint Barton Hawkeye (with Owl from the show!), Kate Bishop Hawkeye and Echo. I know Kate Bishop has some haters out there, but I’m hoping fans will still be happy to pull this figure for the pizza box and Pizza Dog accessories if nothing else.
LEGO Echo was obviously included because of the impending Disney+ series about her, but I think many fans may still be unfamiliar with her and scratch their heads when they open her up.
3 disparate characters round out this set. First, we’ve got She-Hulk from her solo series. As one of my favorite female heroes in all of comics, I’m hyped about having the super heroic lawyer in my LEGO collection.
Agatha missed the first Minifigures series with the other WandaVision characters, but she finally gets her LEGO due here. I’m still not 100% convinced that that Disney+ Agatha series will ever actually be released, but she’ll fit right in with the existing Scarlet Witch and Vision figures regardless.
The most oddball inclusion in this set is LEGO Goliath in his costume from the second season of What If?. At first I genuinely thought this was Cassie Lang, but then I realized this is the same costume as we’ve seen on the upcoming (leaked) What If? Marvel Legends Goliath figure from the series that will include the announced Secret Invasion Nick Fury Legends figure and more.
LEGO Goliath has a tiny Ant-Man micro figure as an accessory, which I’d rather neat, but it’s hard to believe Goliath won’t be the most-unwanted pull in the series.
The LEGO Marvel Minifigures Series 2 71039 figures officially go up for sale on September 1st 2023, although as always it’s anticipated that some stores may just start putting them out on the shelves early. Which Disney+ character(s), if any, will you be hoping to pull from these blind boxes, Marvel collectors?
This is an Disney+ heavy waves, I thought when they announced this, it was going be like the dc one and give us characters we would never thought we’d be getting.. instead of the lazy no set MCU uninspired tie-in being bag/box router.