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World’s Greatest Super Heroes 1972-1980

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Mego began their World’s Greatest Super Hero line in 1972 with DC characters, but Marvel Comics joined in on the fun the following year in 1973. Throughout the decade, Mego released some of the most popular and iconic heroes of the Marvel world, including Spiderman, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Green Goblin, Lizard, Conan The Barbarian, Falcon and the Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Thing, Human Torch). The World’s Greatest Super-Heroes line was the flagship brand for Mego at the time, and one of the most successful selling action figure lines of the decade.

For more information about Mego’s Marvel World’s Greatest Super-Heroes figures, see the bottom of page for a complete summary.

After already gaining the toy rights to DC Comics characters and showing how successful they could be, Mego then grabbed the toy rights to produce Marvel Comics characters as well, with the first Marvel action figures rolling out in 1973.

Captain America

Captain America
Accessories: Cloth Outfit, Boots, Shield, Emblem
Years Released: Boxed – 1973 – 1975
Carded – 1976 – 1980
Difficulty To Find: Moderate Difficulty – Takes patience and appears less often in either format
Notes: Captain America made his Mego debut in 1973 with this open boxed version. Cap was then released on the hard to find Kresge Card, which was essentially a K-Mart exclusive before switching to a carded blister pack from 1976 until 1980, along with the rest of the WGSH lineup. Captain America came with his cloth outfit, boots and signature shield. It should be noted the shield sticker is usually pretty tough to find intact in good shape.

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Conan

Conan
Accessories: Fur Pants, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Scabbard, Sword, Axe
Years Released: Boxed – 1976
Carded – 1977 – 1978
Difficulty To Find: Hard to Find – Occasionally listed, and usually sells quickly in either format
Notes: Conan made his Mego debut in 1976 with this open boxed version. Mego switched the packaging format to a carded blister pack from 1977-1978, along with the rest of the WGSH lineup. Conan came with many accessories that are often lost, such as his axe, sword scabbard, belt and bracers. Conan is included with the Marvel characters due to his Marvel Comic running at the time.

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Falcon

Falcon
Accessories: Cloth Outfit w/ Wings, Boots
Years Released: Boxed – 1975 – 1976
Carded – 1977 – 1978
Difficulty To Find: Boxed figures are Moderate Difficulty, while Carded figures are Hard to Find
Notes: Falcon made his Mego debut in 1975 with this open boxed version. Mego switched the packaging format to a carded blister pack from 1977-1978, along with the rest of the WGSH lineup. Falcon came with his cloth outfit and red/white boots. It should be noted that his wings, underneath his arms, are sometimes torn on some loose versions.

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Green Goblin

Green Goblin
Accessories: Cloth Outfit, Boots, Bag
Years Released: Boxed – 1975 – 1976
Carded – 1977 – 1978
Difficulty To Find: Hard to Find – Occasionally listed, and usually sells quickly in either format
Notes: Green Goblin was released in 1975 with the open box format used at the time. Goblin switched over to the carded blister pack format in 1977, along with the other WGSH figures, until he was eventually removed from the lineup in 1978. Green Goblin came with his cloth outfit, boots and satchel bag, which is commonly missing on loose versions.

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Hulk

Hulk (The)
Accessories: Cloth Pants, Rope Belt
Years Released: Boxed – 1975 – 1976
Carded – 1976 – 1980
Difficulty To Find: Moderate Difficulty – Takes patience and appears less often in either format
Notes: The Hulk was released in 1975 with the open box format used at the time. Hulk switched over to the carded blister pack format in 1976, along with the other WGSH figures, until the line finally came to end in 1980. His only accessory was his cloth pants, along with with his rope belt (which is sometimes missing on some loose versions). There were no variations to Hulk from the Boxed versions to the Carded versions.

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Human Torch

Human Torch
Accessories: Cloth Outfit
Years Released: Boxed – 1976
Carded – 1977 – 1978
Difficulty To Find: Moderate Difficulty – Takes patience and appears less often in either format
Notes: Human Torch made his Mego debut in 1976 (with the rest of his Fantastic Four teammates) with this open boxed version. Mego switched the packaging format to a carded blister pack from 1977-1978, along with the rest of the WGSH lineup. There were no variations from the Boxed to Carded versions. Human Torch did not come with any accessories, aside from his cloth outfit.

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Invisible Girl

Invisible Girl
Accessories: Cloth Outfit, Boots, Gloves, Emblem
Years Released: Boxed – 1976
Carded – 1977 – 1978
Difficulty To Find: Hard to Find – Occasionally listed, and usually sells quickly in either format
Notes: Invisible Girl made her Mego debut in 1976 (with the rest of her Fantastic Four teammates) with this open boxed version. Mego switched the packaging format to a carded blister pack from 1977-1978, along with the rest of the WGSH lineup. There were no variations from the Boxed to Carded versions. Invisible Girl came with her cloth outfit with FF emblem on it, along with black boots and gloves.

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Iron Man

Iron Man
Accessories: Cloth Outfit, Belt, Boots, Gloves, Button
Years Released: Boxed – 1975 – 1976
Carded – 1976 – 1980
Difficulty To Find: Boxed version is Hard to find, but the carded packaging is considered a “Holy Grail” by collectors
Notes: Iron Man made his Mego debut in 1975 with this open boxed version. Mego switched the packaging format to a carded blister pack, along with the rest of the WGSH lineup, from 1976 until 1980, when the line finally came to an end. There were no variations from the Boxed to Carded versions. Iron Man came with his cloth outfit, Belt, Boots, Gloves and a button (Arc Reactor) on his chest. It should be noted that the button on his chest is commonly missing its sticker.

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Lizard

Lizard (The)
Accessories: Cloth Outfit, Coat
Years Released: Boxed – 1975 – 1976
Carded – 1977 – 1978
Difficulty To Find: Hard to Find – Occasionally listed, and usually sells quickly in either format
Notes: The Lizard was releases in 1975 with the open box format used at the time. The Lizard switched over to the carded blister pack format in 1976, along with the other WGSH figures, until he was eventually removed from the lineup in 1978. His only accessory was the white lab coat he used, which is easily misplaced on many loose versions.

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Mr. Fantastic

Mr. Fantastic
Accessories: Cloth Outfit, Boots, Gloves, Emblem
Years Released: Boxed – 1976
Carded – 1977 – 1978
Difficulty To Find: Hard to Find – Occasionally listed, and usually sells quickly in either format
Notes: Mr. Fantastic made his Mego debut in 1976 (with the rest of his Fantastic Four teammates) with this open boxed version. Mego switched the packaging format to a carded blister pack from 1977-1978, along with the rest of the WGSH lineup. There were no variations from the Boxed to Carded versions. Mr. Fantastic came with his cloth outfit with FF emblem on it, along with black boots and gloves.

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Spider Man

Spiderman
Accessories: Cloth Outfit
Years Released: Boxed – 1973 – 1975
Carded – 1976 – 1980
Difficulty To Find: Moderate Difficulty – Takes patience and appears less often in either format
Notes: Spiderman was released in 1973 with this open boxed version. Early versions of Spidey have a tough to find “diamond circle” pattern around his chest which command much higher prices on the market. It should be noted there were several variations of Spidey over the years, with quite a few minor and major changes to his costume. Spiderman switched over to the very hard to find Kresge Card, which was essentially a K-Mart exclusive, before switching over again to a carded blister pack format in 1976, along with the other WGSH figures.

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Thing (The)

Thing (The)
Accessories: Cloth Outfit
Years Released: Boxed – 1976
Carded – 1977 – 1978
Difficulty To Find: Boxed figures are Moderate Difficulty, while Carded figures are Hard to Find
Notes: The Thing made his Mego debut in 1976 (with the rest of his Fantastic Four teammates) with this open boxed version. Mego switched the packaging format to a carded blister pack from 1977-1978, along with the rest of the WGSH lineup. There were no variations from the Boxed to Carded versions. The Thing did not come with any accessories, aside from his cloth outfit.

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Thor

Thor
Accessories: Cloth Outfit, Cape, Boots, Bracers, Helmet, Hammer
Years Released: Boxed – 1976
Carded – 1977 – 1978
Difficulty To Find: Hard to Find – Occasionally listed, and usually sells quickly in either format
Notes: Thor made his Mego debut in 1976 with this open boxed version. Mego switched the packaging format to a carded blister pack from 1977-1978, along with the rest of the WGSH lineup. Thor came with many accessories that are often lost, and it should be noted the spike on the inside of Thor’s helmet has a tendency to easily break off.

World’s Greatest Super-Heroes (1974): Secret ID Figures (Montgomery Ward Exclusive)

Mego produced a set of four Secret I.D figures for the Montgomery Ward Department Store in 1974, that featured the most popular figures at the time, but in their secret alter ego form. These figures were only sold through the Montgomery Ward catalog and were shipped in plain brown boxes. They were never sold in carded form. They are very rare and hard to find on the secondary market.

When you think of iconic toy lines for each decade, Mego’s action figures of the 1970’s stand out as one of the biggest things that ever happened to toys. Along with Star Wars and GI Joe, Mego has earned their place on the action figure Mount Rushmore, but their journey to becoming an iconic toy brand went through quite a few trials before finally becoming the mighty toy line we all know and love. The Mego Toy Company was founded in 1954 by David Abrams in New York City. The company was a big producer of dime store type toys and dolls with steady sales for many years. Mego Toys was a known name in the toy industry but very far from the household name that it would later become. When David Abrams’ son, Marty, came to power within the company, he decided to change things up a bit and created a brand new line of action figures to compete with the mega successful GI Joe line, but in an 8 Inch format called “Action Jackson”. Mego also created an interchangeable body system that utilized several different head sculpts that could fit onto a couple of different body types. This helped to reduce production costs and made the figures more cost effective. After Mego’s intial action figure line, Action Jackson, Marty Abrams decided to swing for the fences by going out and acquiring the toy rights to produce action figures based on DC Comics and Marvel Comics characters. The rest, as they say, is history, as the World’s Greatest Super Heroes line went on to become the flagship franchise with Mego and one of the most successful selling action figure lines of the decade.

Mego began their World’s Greatest Super Hero line in 1972 with DC characters, but Marvel Comics joined in on the fun the following year in 1973. Throughout the decade, Mego released some of the most popular and iconic heroes of the Marvel world, including Spiderman, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Green Goblin, Lizard, Conan The Barbarian, Falcon and the Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Thing, Human Torch). Yes, it would have been amazing to get action figures of other characters such as Doctor Doom, Dr. Strange, Daredevil and the X-Men, but these Marvel figures that Mego did produce were the hottest game in town during the decade of the 1970’s and remain iconic and highly coveted by Mego and Marvel collectors nowadays.

The packaging for the basic assortment of the World’s Greatest Super Heroes figures was colorful and eye catching with absolutely beautiful artwork, which was a staple for Mego’s packaging. The initial packaging for Mego’s Marvel figures had each figure in a consumer friendly open window box covered with a celophane. The character’s name was at the top of the box, with the classic WGSH logo resting at the bottom. The exception were the Fantastic Four figures, which featured the “Fantastic Four” logo at the top and chracter name at the bottom. Multiple colors were utilized for each character’s box to standout from one another. From 1973-1975, Mego released several figures with exclusive packaging for the Kresge Department Stores. These figures featured a smaller and narrower card, with the figure postioned inside of a bubble at the middle of the card. Mego switched to a more traditional blister card in 1976, which allowed for additional packaging graphics, such as portraits of other characters in the line. Depending on which series and year the figure was released, determined which set of other characters adorned the package.