WOW! I was pretty excited about the announcement that LEGO has teamed with Warner Bros., but now we learn that the toy manufacturer has also teamed with Marvel Entertainment. THIS IS A REALLY BIG DEAL!
If everything comes together in this LEGO SUPER HERO line, expect to see a lot of epic battles between Spider-Man and Batman!
Press Release
Two of the world’s most iconic brands are joining forces as The LEGO Group, world leader in high quality construction toys, and Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a global character -based entertainment company, announced a wide ranging strategic licensing deal. Through the multi-year agreement starting as of January 1st, 2012, Marvel has granted LEGO Group the rights to develop a distinct Marvel branded construction toy collection — LEGO SUPER HEROES — which will bring the characters, vehicles and action of Marvel’s renowned universe to the world of LEGO® build-and-play adventure. The LEGO SUPER HEROES Marvel collection’s initial construction sets, minifigures and buildable characters are scheduled to launch in May of 2012.
The LEGO SUPER HEROES Marvel collection will spotlight three Marvel franchises – Marvel’s The Avengers movie, and X-Men and Spider-Man classic characters. The LEGO Marvel’s The Avengers movie line brings such ever popular Marvel characters as Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Loki and Black Widow to LEGO minifigure form. The LEGO X-Men collection includes minifigure comic versions of Wolverine, Magneto, Nick Fury and Deadpool, while the LEGO Spider-Man sets offer minifigure comic versions of Spider-Man, and Doctor Octopus. The first buildable characters in the LEGO SUPER HEROES collection are highlighted by Captain America, The Hulk and Iron Man. Select figures will be unveiled in the LEGO booth (#2829) during Comic-Con International at the San Diego Convention Center July 21-24.
“Our partnership with Marvel helps us continue to deliver some of the best and most constructible Super Hero stories of all time,” said Jill Wilfert, vice president, licensing and entertainment for The LEGO Group. “We’re thrilled to partner with Marvel to create creative, constructive play sets for builders, fans and collectors alike.”
Joann Mclaughlin, Executive Vice President Toys & Hardlines, Marvel Entertainment, commented, “The partnership with LEGO Group furthers Marvel’s strategy to align our brand with the best in class leaders across various industries who have the global marketing expertise and distribution clout to stand out in the retail environment. This deal solidifies the already robust presence of our characters and the overall Marvel brand in the ever important toy category.”
The retail debut of the Marvel-inspired LEGO SUPER HEROES collection is timed to coincide with the highly anticipated Summer 2012 blockbuster movie release of Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Pictures feature film Marvel’s The Avengers.
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About The LEGO Group
The LEGO Group is a privately held, family-owned company, based in Billund, Denmark. It was founded in 1932 and today the group is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of play materials for children, employing approximately 9,000 people globally. The LEGO Group is committed to the development of children’s creative and imaginative abilities. LEGO products can be purchased in more than 130 countries.
LEGO and the LEGO logo are trademarks of The LEGO Group. © 2011 The LEGO Group.
About Marvel Entertainment
Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing. For more information visit www.marvel.com. Super Hero(es) is a co-owned registered trademark.
4 Comments
Okay, how is this different than the recent Marvel Mini-mates series ? :(
It is quite a bit different than the Minimates on a couple of different levels (not all of them good). The biggest drawback with the LEGO products is the minifigs are shorter than the Minimates, and don’t have as many joints. I did a comparison of the Minimates and LEGO Batman figures a few years ago – you can probably still find the article on the site via the search engine. The biggest drawback for the Minimates is the lack of supporting stuff. sure there are a few vehicles here and there, but Art Asylum and DST have never made full on sets for their minifig line – which is a huge plus for LEGO – bricks, figs, characters, etc. make this a highly desirable line not only because the company was able to secure Marvel AND DC characters, but now those characters and sets can interact with the rest of the LEGO line of toys. Harry Potter meets Peter Parker? Pirates of the Caribbean meets Doctor Strange? JLA vs. The Avengers? CAN. NOT. WAIT!
Oh, awesome! This is going to be brilliant.
I wonder if since they now have licenses for DC and Marvel if we’ll get a LEGO Dark Claw toy, even if it’s a mail-away or con exclusive or something.