Iron Man 3 may not hit theaters until around May, but apparently its merchandise is already appearing on store shelves. 77kustoms over at Toyark found the 12-inch "Arc Strike" Iron Man and Iron Patriot at an Illinois Target.

While the 12-inch sound effect figures may not appeal as much to collectors, fans will no doubt be interested to see that Hasbro has opted to use the name Iron Patriot rather than War Machine. Comic fans are, of course, well aware that War Machine's all-American deco in Iron Man 3 greatly resembles that of Norman Osborne's iconic Dark Avengers persona, Iron Patriot. I like the fact that the influence is acknowledged and it makes me a little curious whether they might swap the superhero's name at some point during the film.

At this point, we still haven't seen confirmed photos of the 3.75-inch figures although leaked images suggest that Hasbro may have gone the cheap route. I'm really hoping that this isn't the case (and the figures seen were vehicle pack-ins), given that Iron Man 2 line had a selection on par or better than Marvel Universe at the time.

[ Toyark ]