Character Spotlight: Golden Pharaoh

This is another one I've been hoping to feature for a while now, but I never really expected I'd get the chance to. (Which is silly; if maintaining this blog has taught me anything, it's becoming a canon immigrant is more of a when than an if, no matter how obscure the detail is.)

Golden Pharaoh was created as a toy for the Kenner Super Powers line in 1986, and unlike every other figure save one, he was created by Kenner and not DC. I don't know why they felt the need to create their own characters when DC had so many to choose from; maybe it was a royalties thing. Either way, his packaging established his real name and his powers.

Later, DC decided to make a tie-in miniseries to the third series of the toyline, so Golden Pharaoh appeared in all four issues. Super Powers #1 (June 1986) established his career, country of origin, and the origin of his powers.

His action figure showed up in Green Lantern #89 (June 1997), which I guess technically counts as his first time as a canon immigrant, but it's not good enough.

(For completion's sake, I'll also include that he got another action figure in the "DC Universe Classics" line in 2010. He has so few appearances that I might as well include them all.)

Finally, in Doomsday Clock #5 (May 2018), they have a feature on international hero teams that have been popping up recently. The UK team, Knights Inc., lists Golden Pharaoh as one of its members.

He's only a name at the moment, but it's a name I never thought I'd see!

Costume Spotlight: Mr. Freeze

Oh, Mr. Freeze. Where would you be without adaptations? Languishing in Golden Age obscurity, I'd wager. As we learned in the Super Post Potpourri all the way back in December 2011, he was called Mr. Zero until Batman (1966) changed it, and then he got his real name and backstory (and wife) from Batman: The Animated Series (1992). That's pretty much his whole character, except for his costume.

He got his costume from an action figure.

In Detective Comics #566 (July 1986), we see Mr. Freeze with the following design:

This design appeared earlier in the year in Kenner's third wave of the Super Powers Collection:

For comparison, here's what he looked like in his previous full appearance (July 1984):

The suit was being used at least until 1991, when it appeared in Who's Who in the DC Universe #12 (September 1991).

Costume Spotlight: Steppenwolf

Steppenwolf is a lesser known New God who first appeared in New Gods #7 (January 1972). He's a great hunter, one of Darkseid's Elite, and actually Darkseid's uncle. Since he was a hunter, he had a bit of a Robin Hood look when he first appeared:

In the 80s, DC released their first major action figure line (well, after Mego) through Kenner, called Super Powers Collection. After the first series was released in 1984 with the most popular characters, ie. ones that had appeared on Super Friends, the second series launched in 1985 with more obscure characters, including several New Gods, such as Darkseid, Desaad, and Kalibak. Steppenwolf was a mail-away figure, and he had quite a different look (Kenner also redesigned Mantis and the Parademons, among others):

This costume would later appear in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #22 (October 1985). As you can see, they even use a similar positioning of the character as on the action figure card.

In New Gods volume 3, or at least in issue #22 (November 1990), pictured here, Steppenwolf's clothing was a mixture of the two looks: the shape of the green outfit with the coloring of the Super Powers outfit.

However, by Damage #8 (October 1994), he was back to the Super Powers look.

Superman: The Animated Series chose to use his original look, as seen in "Apokalips Now!" (February 1998):

But as late as February 2007 in the comics (Flash: Fastest Man Alive #9), he was wearing a version of the Super Powers appearance.

Unfortunately, this is no longer the case in the New 52.