Marvel's X-men 1994 ToyBiz figure: Silver Samurai with Metal Samurai Armor!

Several Marvel characters have flip-flopped between playing hero and villain including Deadpool, Magneto, Sabertooth, and Venom. Another character who falls in to that group but who is not quite as popular as those that I’ve mention, though I have always thought he had the potential to be, is the Silver Samurai.

Why do I think so highly of this character who couldn’t even get it together long enough to decide whether he wants to play the good guy or the bad guy? Well, there are a number of reasons. First of all he has a cool color scheme. His costume maybe simple but the silver and red makes it look good. Even if you don’t like his original costume it can be easily tweaked a bit to make him look more badass without it falling way out of line with his character. He is a mutant and samurai. Both archetypes equate to cool in the comic book world, so he has double the coolness factor! Oh, and let’s not forget he fights with a samurai sword. Well, I guess wielding a katana goes with him being a samurai and all but who else has a sword that cut through almost every know substance to man? Ok, there may have been over 10,000 Jedi and Sith warriors once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away and then there’s Voltron’s Blazing Sword which signaled the death of every foe the giant robot has ever faced. None the less, to be placed in a category alongside Darth Vader and Voltron just shows how much of a badass he is.

Unfortunately, Marvel hasn’t been very kind to Kenuichio Harada otherwise known as the first Silver Samurai. First he had one of his hands chopped off by Wolverine. Then a group of imitation samurai drove by his home and killed him. And as if that wasn’t enough, Satan then lopped off his head while in hell. Sigh.

Well, for all those who have imagined what the character could have been here’s a Toy Biz 1994 Marvel X-men action figure of the Silver Samurai!

Disclaimer: The armor is not actually made of metal. The backboard has some wear and is slightly warped from storage. The package however has never been opened. The Fleer Ultra Marvel Universe Trading Card that comes in the package features X-Force team members Cannonball, Rictor, Siryn, and Sunspot.

The Silver Samurai’s power is somewhat similar to that of Gambit’s in that he can charge anything touches with energy. However, instead of the object exploding on contact the Silver Samurai can use a charged object like his katana to slice through everything other than the adamantium laced skeleton of his arch nemesis, Wolverine.

Though primarily known as an enemy of Wolverine, the Silver Samurai first appeared in 1974 in the pages of Daredevil #111. The Silver Samurai is expected to be the villain in the upcoming Wolverine 2 movie.

If you are interested in this figure of the Silver Samurai you can find it for sale on... Will be posting soon.