Ten Christmas Gift Ideas for Marvel Fans
After our recent Ten Christmas Gift Ideas for Transformers Fans I thought it would be fun to tackle ten ideas for fans of Spider-Man, Iron Man, and other Marvel characters. This time around I’ve organized the ideas by price, starting with the lowest value item and building to one pricey piece.
NOTE: These links direct you to Amazon and Entertainment Earth; if you’ve never ordered from EE before I can say that I’ve had good luck using them but they don’t ship quite as fast as Amazon. Also, all of these are affiliate links so battlegrip.com gets a percentage of any sales through these links. And this time of year that goes to paying for the 2011 web fees. (And toys. Gotta buy toys.)
Iron Man Game Of War*
It’s not exactly high art or complicated game design, but this simple card game would make a good gift for a young Iron Man fan. I have seen this in Target and Wal-Mart for $5 before spending any money online I suggest checking your local stores; you may find it at a pretty low price and save money on shipping. This is basically a redesign/rewrite of a Star Wars card game that was published in 1999 and that older game was kinda fun if not overly involved.
Planet Hulk*
Priced pretty low right now, this Planet Hulk DVD was a lot of fun and I’ve got one in my collection. We get to watch Hulk gear-up for gladiator action and we even seem a fight with Beta Ray Bill . . . actually, just seeing an animated Beta Ray Bill makes this a must-own animated film for any Marvel fan. Why? Because Beta Ray Bill is an even stupider and weirder character than Modok and every single one of us must witness this animated spectacle. I still can’t believe Beta Ray Bill is in this film.
Marvel Mighty Muggs Thanos & Red Skull Figure Set*
Hardcore designer toy fans seem to absolutely hate Mighty Muggs, but I find the designs cute and inexpensive. And these two exclusive Muggs would make a great gift for a Marvel fan who doesn’t tend to pick up the cutesy designs; how can anyone not enjoy this Red Skull design? But seriously, a lot of designer toy fans just hate these so this isn’t a good gift idea for a Marvel fan who also buys high-end designer toys.
Captain America Trades*
Start with volume one and add on from there. These are fun, well-written, and beautifully-illustrated Captain America comics in collected form and even though it dives into another dead superhero storyline author Ed Brubaker does a spectacular job and this is one of the best Captain America works I’ve ever read. Good stuff.
Spider-man Attack Cruiser*
Here’s one for the younger Spider-Man fans, because a lot of the older fans get grumpy when they think of their hero racing around in cars like this. I personally find it kinda goofy and fun, because the entire “hero in costume X with vehicle Y” is so toy-driven and gives us so many unusual designs that you either have to laugh at it all or go insane. And besides, how else would we ever get an “arctic”-themed Spider-Man action figure? (Why “arctic?” Because I like that theme and I’m starting to think about another winter-themed week . . . and because my brain is random.)
Operation Iron Man 2 Edition*
Why is this on the list? Because it’s funny. Well, I think it’s funny. This is a serious example of a toy company with a license finding any way at all to slap that license on every toy/game concept they have available. If you can find this cheap at Target or Wal-Mart then grab it; really, this isn’t a serious gift but it could make a funny White Elephant Gift for a group of comic geeks. And to make it a real “Iron Man” game remove the rubber from the metal tweezers before playing.
Marvel Encyclopedia*
400-pages packed page-after-page with info on the Marvel Universe, this is quite similar to another (DC) book in my collection and this is one I keep thinking about grabbing. This sort of book is for the really hardcore Marvel fan who has fun reading about the tiniest and least-important events — as well as the biggies — and the reason I want this is mainly as a reference piece so that the next time we’re discussing the totally worthless points of the Marvel Universe I’ll have a better reference than the various “Handbooks” and “Ultimate Guides” in my library.
Marvel Universe Civil War Wolverine Bust*
This stylized Wolverine bust is either cartoony or awesome; I really can’t decide if I like this or just find it extremely weird that they went with such a heavily-stylized design for Wolverine’s head. Regardless of what I think, though, this Wolverine bust is priced decently and would make most Wolverine fans happy on Christmas morning.
X-Men Dark Phoenix Bishoujo Statue
Priced at $60, this stylized X-Men statue is for those fans who love not only the X-Men but also anime/manga-styled characters. The statue is listed as about 9-inches tall, so a $60 price point is actually pretty good for that size. And since this is one of those off-beat character designs there’s a good chance your holiday target doesn’t already have one of these; we all know that’s a common problem when buying for comic nerds. Gina rarely buys me anything collectible because she isn’t entirely sure what I have or want. This year I want a new living room and a trip to Hong Kong, so this year she’s got it easy since we’re doing those together.
Captain America vs. Red Skull Diorama*
Let’s wrap up the list with a completely ridiculous gift option. This statue is over $1,000, which means that someone had better be a pretty damned good boy to find one of these under the tree Christmas morning. The most I’ve spent so far on a toy or statue was $300, so even I find the $1,000+ price tag on this statue terrifying. I’ve never seen this statue in person, but it’s by Sideshow Collectibles so I’m fairly confident that it’s a top-quality work of art. But it’s still over $1,000 so . . . well, wow. Just wow. If someone gets one of these for Christmas I’d like to know (and do you have room for another geek on your shopping list?). But still, this would make for an absolutely amazing gift.
And that’s ten Marvel gift ideas if you’re Christmas shopping and need some ideas. If you have any questions or need advice please feel free to contact me and I’ll do my best to help you.
Some good stuff there. Another thing I would suggest as a stocking stuffer is a double-pack of the Marvel Super Hero Squad, as they’re fun and it’s cute to see the Hulk with a smile on his face.
I can also recommend the Essential Marvel collections of Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, Hulk, et al, as it’s a nice change to read a simple good vs evil story IN THE MIGHT MARVEL MANNER!
@loktheMonkey – I haven’t bought any Super Hero Squad figures in the interest of protecting myself. But yeah, those would make excellent stocking stuffers.
And I personally dislike the essential books; I prefer the color pages. With the old B&W comics the essentials work fine, but if the comic was originally in color then I want the color. I’m just like that, I guess.
True the Essential collections do lose something being in black and white but they’re cheap and it’s a great way to recapture some of the fun of early (especially Marvel) comics. They’re not trying to make art or any kind of statement, just tell a rip-roaring story in the Mighty Marvel Manner!