Official Press Release: Mattel and Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products Announce Multi-Year Licensing Partnership for DC Characters and Stories

[Jscott991]

16 minutes ago, BenFromtheBunker said:

I'm not going to start over.  I will be interested to see if Mattel brings some new characters or just 30 new Batmans

Mattel is unlikely to repeat McFarlane's obsession with making only (hyperbole) Batman or with chase figures.  Those are two things that are almost certain to change.

[RobertD]

I won't be too sad if this means McFarlane loses the license.  I feel like he lost the plot a while ago, and while things are genuinely improving (on some fronts) it's kind of too little too late.  Got a dozen Flashes but only just now giving us a standard Captain Cold?  80 Batmen, but not a single comic Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn (and no, that first Harley is not a comic figure and y'all know it), Mad Hatter or Two-Face? Seriously, who makes a 60s-era Clock King but not a dang Two-Face?  And why does nearly EVERY figure have at least one thing glaringly wrong with it?  I don't hate McFarlane, but I do hate aspects of the output, so if this marks the end of that well, it is what it is. 

Won't be sad to go back to 6-inch scale either, but that's a whole other thing. 

1 hour ago, Jscott991 said:

The late 2026 start date suggested to me that McFarlane definitely lost the license. Why would you need a ramp-up period to produce DC Barbies?

The ramp-up period aspect is a good point.  Especially considering Mattel already has a license to produce DC Barbie figures (wasn't really what you were getting at, just funny that the specific example you gave is something they're presently doing).

[Steven3]

2 hours ago, toynewman said:

Official Press Release:

Mattel and Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products Announce Multi-Year Licensing Partnership for DC Characters and Stories 

Partnership brings DC’s Super Heroes, Super-Villains, and stories to life through action figures, playsets, accessories, role play products, and adult collectibles 

 

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., February 27, 2025 – Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) and Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products today announced a global, multi-year licensing agreement utilizing DC’s entire library of beloved characters and legendary storytelling. Through the partnership, Mattel is awarded the global licensing rights to develop and market a full range of DC-themed action figures, playsets, accessories, role play products, and adult collectibles starting in the second half of 2026. The agreement spans all DC stories and characters including Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Joker, Harley Quinn, and many more.  

 

Nick Karamanos, Senior Vice President of Entertainment Partnerships at Mattel, said: “It is an incredibly proud milestone to welcome DC back to Mattel. We look forward to leveraging our Mattel Playbook approach to brand management, product design, and innovation to bring DC’s popular characters to life across all channels. This renewed partnership will reflect our shared passion for engaging and inspiring fans and collectors of all ages.” 
 
Robert Oberschelp, Head of Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products, said: “Warner Bros. Discovery’s new agreement with Mattel arrives as DC kicks off an exciting new chapter in 2025. Our collaboration with Mattel will lead to all-new offerings celebrating DC’s rich legacy and future storytelling across publishing, animation, TV, and film. Every story and character, from Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman’s heroics to The Joker and Harley Quinn’s troublemaking, are prime inspiration for a new partnership that combines the power of Mattel and the global appeal of DC.”

 

This new licensing agreement builds upon the existing relationship between Mattel and Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products, which spans more than 30 brands and franchises in Warner Bros. Discovery’s vast library including Harry Potter, FRIENDS, Seinfeld, Ted Lasso, and more across the preschool, plush, dolls, vehicles, games, and novelty toy categories. 

So maybe there will be a Seinfeld figure too? (Or maybe Newman?)

 

Couldn't that be done to leave something for McFarlane? Mattel could do the kids stuff and Todd could do the adult stuff and then maybe he could get the rights to the guns back.

[Atlantis]

2 hours ago, Jscott991 said:

I see a lot of people speculating this won't replace McFarlane.  That's interesting.  The late 2026 start date suggested to me that McFarlane definitely lost the license. Why would you need a ramp-up period to produce DC Barbies?

Replacement is exactly what should happen. Mattel will likely go back to 6" scale and HOPEFULLY learn from mistakes made in the past. Although, he's saved me a lot of money (because I have no interest in buying his crude, sloppy, and inaccurately done figures), overall I say good riddance. 

[TheOtakuX]

I hope this means a return to the Marvel Legends-compatible scale Mattel used before. Hell, I hope they do some reissues or redecos of some harder to find figures from the old line mixed with the new stuff.

Only reason I never bothred with the McFarlane stuff is it's 7-inch instead of 6-inch, making it compatible with nothing.

EDIT: Might be compatible with Super7 Ultimates or something, i don't have any of those, either. But I think Masterverse is close to Ultimates in size, and I have some of those.

[Jscott991]

31 minutes ago, Steven3 said:

Couldn't that be done to leave something for McFarlane? Mattel could do the kids stuff and Todd could do the adult stuff and then maybe he could get the rights to the guns back.

The press release specifically says Mattel's license includes action figures and adult collectibles.

Now that I'm home, I am curious about scale.  My Masterverse Evil-Lyn actually scales exactly with Power Girl. So I don't know that Mattel will do a Marvel Legends scale and maybe McFarlane's still will still be compatible with a Masterverse-scale DC line.

[Admiralty_Entertainment]

I have to admit that I'm very excited for this seeing the excellent work the Mattel team is doing collector-wise with both WWE and Masterverse. They're making some really great toys right now and if we can see a similar level of effort on DC product, I think we're in for some very cool stuff. Kinda wish Mattel had the license to cover Superman (2025) so we could make a clean break in terms of media-related figures - I could see them doing some really good likenesses for the cast of that movie.

I appreciate what McFarlane have managed to do in a short space of time - big figures and vehicles for fairly reasonable prices, a pretty comprehensive Batman '66 line, revival of Super Powers and reissues of the excellent DC Animated figures with some cool expansions - but the change in scale, super-heavy Bat-focus, insistence on ugly articulation, poor actor likenesses and some business practices that show Todd really hasn't changed his approach since the heyday of the 90's (Jokerized, patina, frostbite and straight-up unpainted variants? Really?) kept me from being an unmitigated fan of their handling of the line overall. Still, I do hope that we can get a few holes filled before their license ends - '89 Joker, Batman Returns Batman, Penguin & Catwoman, '66 Batcopter, and a Superman '78 Lex Luthor (RIP Gene Hackman) would be nice.

Personally, I'm just hoping McFarlane doesn't pick up Marvel or Star Wars - I don't want to go through the whole DC Multiverse experience again with Black Series or Legends...

[Monstrous]

this is great news, and mcfarlane can just continue to make statues now and hopefully they will refocus on neglected licenses like walking dead. no one that collects that line requires reissues and how about fix things by making all the essential characters left out the during the 1st run.

[Jscott991]

I wonder if there is a list somewhere of all leaked McFarlane releases coming up. I bet that's close to the end of what he produces if he has to stop by mid-2026.

I believe Stephanie Brown Batgirl, Supergirl, and Two Face (Silver) are all coming this year.  I would probably get all of those, depending on how they look.

[rono]

McFarlane was really starting to go deep into areas no other companies had mined. The Batman Forever and Batman & Robin movie figures were terrific. I liked his Nolan Batman movie figures. The BTAS B-A-F figures of Condiment King, Lock-Up, & Maxie Zeus were just great. The Batman '66 Retro line was just fun to collect. I do hope he does his best to complete these lines with a few figures still needing to be produced. My final wish list: Batman '66 Retro Mad Hatter, BTAS B-A-F Hugo Strange & Clock King, The Batman Joker, Batman & Robin Bane, Batman Returns Catwoman & Penguin, Batman '89 Joker, Batman Begins Ra's al Ghul, & Dark Knight Rises Talia al Ghul.  Batman Returns & Penguin, Batman '89 Joker, & Batman Begins Ra's al Gul

[Hassenfeld]

I liked Super Powers and they made one hell of a Bane.

I know people like articulation, but to me, breaking the torso in two, plus the butterfly shoulders, just makes figures look ugly. Not just Todd's efforts, but S.H.Figuarts and other companies.

re: Mattel, I'm not looking forward to more Batman figures and variants, which we all know is going to happen. It's been that way since Kenner was making Batman toys.

What I did not like about Mattel's previous DC run, and in Masterverse, is that weird POA at the top of the thigh.

I'm looking forward to any kind of MOTU DC mash up in the 5.5 scale, if they choose to do so.

[Admiralty_Entertainment]

50 minutes ago, Hassenfeld said:

I'm looking forward to any kind of MOTU DC mash up in the 5.5 scale, if they choose to do so.

Given Mattel's current output, that seems pretty much inevitable!

[Admiralty_Entertainment]

1 hour ago, rono said:

My final wish list: Batman '66 Retro Mad Hatter, BTAS B-A-F Hugo Strange & Clock King, The Batman Joker, Batman & Robin Bane, Batman Returns Catwoman & Penguin, Batman '89 Joker, Batman Begins Ra's al Ghul, & Dark Knight Rises Talia al Ghul.  Batman Returns & Penguin, Batman '89 Joker, & Batman Begins Ra's al Gul

BTAS Hugo Strange and Clock King are absolute musts for me!

[Atlantis]

1 hour ago, rono said:

"... The Batman Forever and Batman & Robin movie figures were terrific..." 

I'm glad you brought this up because I agree- that Robin movie figure WAS terrific. It was as close to the movie as I've seen, and the addition of the soft goods cape was the cherry on the top. Also the AZRAEL (red) Curse of the White Knight figure. Nailed it from the comics. Now contrast those with the likes of Flashpoint Aquaman and that ridiculous "Sgt Rock", and you'll see what I mean- its as if they were all done by separate companies. Its frustrating and baffling. For my taste he had way too many misses than hits, which is why I'm happy to see someone else take the reigns.

[Jscott991]

8 minutes ago, Atlantis said:

I'm glad you brought this up because I agree- that Robin movie figure WAS terrific. It was as close to the movie as I've seen, and the addition of the soft goods cape was the cherry on the top. Also the AZRAEL (red) Curse of the White Knight figure. Nailed it from the comics. Now contrast those with the likes of Flashpoint Aquaman and that ridiculous "Sgt Rock", and you'll see what I mean- its as if they were all done by separate companies. Its frustrating and baffling. For my taste he had way too many misses than hits, which is why I'm happy to see someone else take the reigns.

Many of McFarlane's problems were related to cost cutting (or savings if you wish to be more positive). He reused parts in nonsensical ways probably because it was cheaper. This is why so many female figures had zippers on their outfits - reuse of the Knightfall Catwoman parts.  Or why Supergirl had "tights" instead of boots.  I'm only really familiar with the specifics on the female figures. I'm sure it was even worse and more egregious on the male, leading to some characters that looked absurd. 

I do think, though, that he was trolling fans by using art from characters that didn't remotely match the figure's final appearance (in some cases, the art was ludicrously mismatched, like in the case of Raven).

[GnarlyCharlie85]

Best news ever! Now I can buy DC figures again. No more double platinum, gold label triple uranium...

[McHogan01]

I'm glad McFarlane lost the license. Any company that locks high demand characters behind nearly impossible to find Platinum variants that can only be obtained by sheer luck, raffle or paying  scalpers is out of touch. I won't be bummed about the switch back to Mattel.

[MagnaPrime]

As I cast my eyes over my Nightwing collectuon....Mcfarlane was really good to Dick. From the two movie.Robins to the 66 figures and he's only really missing one suit in the 7" scale.  I hate the lankiness true... but that collectuon exploded recently

[MRT]

I only bought a handful of Todd's DC figures (mostly the big guys to supplement DCUC) and generally found the regular figs to have weird proportions but he did have the guts to make vehicles so I have mixed feelings.

[Zirkenz]

I really hope they make catwoman, joker and penguin from the 2nd '89 batman movie. This has to be completed. I hope they make a ton of them so there is no 1 minute disappear at retail sites.

[memocromatico]

I only ever wanted King Shark and Darkseid from the DCEU since they were bigger characters that would fit-ish. But I never really felt a need to get them or any other figure. I was frustrated that I couldn't get some characters I wanted in 6" because he was doing 7", so hopefully that's the first thing to change back

[SwordOfGreg]

I had been hoping for a while now that Jada Toys would be able to get the license for DC figures. Can you imagine what DC superheroes by Jada would look like? Still, even if we can't have Jada, at least we'll probably be getting the design team behind MOTU, who sculpt way better ball-joint upper torsos than McFarlane. Also, no more of McFarlane's rubbery diaper pelvis, so that's a plus. That was probably the number one reason I never bought a single figure of Todd's. I just hope Mattel decides to include butterfly joints, which their MOTU figures lack. In the end, no matter which company has the North American license, Mafex will still be the way to go...

[Reno]

I'm thrilled by this news! DC has always been my 2nd line behind Marvel Legends and I strongly prefer the 6" scale. I've bought at least one version of every character that all of DC Direct / DC Collectibles, Mattel and McFarlane have done in their DC lines going back to pre-2000 (for DCD). Now I wish I had stuck to my original plan and bought only characters from McFarlane that hadn't ever been done by one of other 2 companies. Somewhere along the line I caved and went back and bought at least one version of every character. I've got so many McFarlane figures now that I likely won't keep. Luckily for me, most are still unopened - but I also expect the secondary market to tank on these now. Hopefully Mattel will take the line back to 6". I hope they give us some indication of their plans sooner rather than later. I've always preferred my Mattel DC figures to McFarlane's. Now I'll be holding my breath out of fear that McFarlane could end up with the Marvel license. That would be an absolute nightmare for me.

[Jscott991]

I think the assumption Mattel will go back to a smaller scale than Masterverse is a little odd.  There's a chance I guess, but isn't it more likely they will match their DC figures to Masterverse?

I also find it strange that people are speculating McFarlane is targeting the Marvel license and let the DC license go. That's pretty unlikely. He probably lost this license because he couldn't afford it and Mattel outbid him.  Can he really afford an even more expensive license with Disney?

[MagnaPrime]

1 hour ago, Jscott991 said:

I think the assumption Mattel will go back to a smaller scale than Masterverse is a little odd.  There's a chance I guess, but isn't it more likely they will match their DC figures to Masterverse?

I also find it strange that people are speculating McFarlane is targeting the Marvel license and let the DC license go. That's pretty unlikely. He probably lost this license because he couldn't afford it and Mattel outbid him.  Can he really afford an even more expensive license with Disney?

You know, that's a really good point that I hadn't considered. And masterverse has improved significantly since its onset. I loke that thought.