There is little greater childhood thrill than being able to create your own adventures with your favorite super-hero. One of the first toys to make this possible was Ideal’s Captain Action, short-lived on shelves, but long-lived in the memory of sixties kids. With Captain Action, kids were given a super-hero figure with swappable Uniform Sets similar to the original G.I. Joe, enabling them to turn the Captain into a variety of other heroes, including the first-ever articulated Marvel and DC Comics action figures. As happened with comic books, those fond action figure memories loomed large as the kids who grew up on Captain Action became adults, with adult spending money. The only trouble was that demand outstripped supply, and through the late eighties and early nineties, rarities like original figures and Uniform Sets for lines like Captain Action soared in value.
Major companies like Mattel and Hasbro took notice, and became the first to accommodate the burgeoning collector market, producing reproduction versions of classic figures for lines like G.I. Joe and Barbie. As the majors revived their iconic toys of yesteryear, smaller manufacturers began to acquire the licenses and branding for defunct lines. Captain Action was among the first to be resurrected, and although the character’s return to shelves over the past four decades has been turbulent, the brand and hero have endured. Charting this journey is a walk through the evolution of toy collecting culture from its emergence in the eighties and nineties, to its rise in the early internet era, to its place as a pop cultural mainstay in the present.
Image courtesy of Captain Action Enterprises, LLC.
In the early 1990s, Illinois businessman Thomas Lowe discovered that the trademarks for some of his childhood favorite toys had lapsed, and acquired them under his business “Safe Care” (at the time a manufacturer of products like a parental lock for video game consoles). Changing its name to “Playing Mantis,” Lowe inaugurated the rebranded company with a revival of the Johnny Lightning race-car line in 1994. That same year, Lowe acquired the trademark to Aurora Model Kits, reproducing Aurora kits under the cheeky name “Polar Lights.” It was the return of Johnny Lightning that, in a roundabout way, brought Captain Action back to shelves. Then-Captain Action collector, today Captain Action Enterprises Managing Partner Joe Ahearn read about Playing Mantis’s Johnny Lightning line in a toy collecting magazine, inspiring him to approach Lowe and Playing Mantis with a pitch for a Captain Action revival in 1996.
Playing Mantis acquired the rights to use the Captain Action name and characters from Karl Arts Publishing, who had obtained the trademark during the early 1990s. They began producing Captain Action toys in 1997, with Ahearn serving as a consultant on the line. The revived Captain Action came to shelves in 1998, and followed a formula familiar to modern revival toylines like Super7’s ReAction Figures or McFarlane’s Super Powers. In addition to a reproduction of the classic Captain Action, six additional hero figures were made: the Lone Ranger, Tonto, the Green Hornet, Kato, Flash Gordon, and the Phantom. As would become standard with revival toylines, Kato and Tonto represented “filling in the gaps” of the line, logical complementary characters to classic figures (Green Hornet, Lone Ranger) that kids back in the day could only wish they had. The figures were released both in retro-style packaging and window-boxes, and improved on the originals in a couple key ways. One of the limiting factors for the original line was its gimmick: to play with (or display, for the modern breed of collector) multiple characters, you had to buy multiple of the base Captain Action figure. For the new line, alternate Uniform Sets were available complete with figure – as well as with just the Uniform Set, for those who wanted the new releases to be faithful to the original line.
Interviewed over email for this piece, Ahearn and the rest of the Captain Action Enterprises Team (co-founder Ed Catto and partner Michael Polis), had these insights on outside licensing for Captain Action, crucial to the line’s central character-change conceit:
“Licensing is part wish list, part timing and part math. We may love a character, but are the rights available in the category we need? Do the fans want it? Can we manufacture it at a quantity and price that make sense? Does the other rights holder understand what makes Captain Action different? A character can look perfect on paper and still be impossible to make work at that particular moment. Playing Mantis largely worked with pulp and comic-strip characters because many of the major superhero action-figure rights were tied up elsewhere. But the team never thought of those characters as consolation prizes. Captain Action fans knew the Lone Ranger, Tonto, Flash Gordon, the Green Hornet and Kato. Those choices made sense for the audience and gave collectors Uniform Sets with real nostalgic and cultural meaning.”
Another key addition was that for the first time, alternate Uniform Sets were designed for Captain Action’s nemesis Dr. Evil. As Captain Action could become the Phantom or Flash Gordon, so too could Dr. Evil become Ming the Merciless or Kabai Singh (arch-foe of the Phantom, for those of you not up on your golden age comics). Unfortunately, sales weren’t as strong as the toy’s passionate design team had hoped, and Playing Mantis’s Captain Action was discontinued in 2000. Several items were left unproduced, including a Racer X Uniform Set for Captain Action, based on the original 1960s Speed Racer cartoon. An additional two unknown unproduced characters were planned, teased on the back of the box alongside Racer X.
Playing Mantis continued to produce Johnny Lightning and other brands until 2004, when it was purchased by model car manufacturer Racing Champions.
The Captain Action brand stayed dormant until 2005, when Joe Ahearn acquired the rights from Lowe and Playing Mantis, who had obtained control over the trademark from Karl Arts Publishing. As the Captain Action Enterprises team explains, “Joe had consulted with Playing Mantis, knew the property and knew the fans, so he simply asked what they planned to do with it. Sometimes that’s how these things begin—with someone asking the question at the right moment. That eventually gave Joe the opportunity to acquire the rights.” Partnering with Ed Catto, whose background was in advertising and marketing, Ahearn formed Captain Action Enterprises, and the pair embarked on a gradual, grassroots reintroduction of the brand into the crowded collector hobby space. In the years since Playing Mantis’s Captain Action line, collector-geared action figure lines had grown immensely in popularity, helped by early online forums and the increased popularity of comic book conventions. Or, put simply: “Joe recovered the opportunity. Ed helped build the company and reestablish the brand.”
Captain Action Enterprises began by partnering with Moebius Models to reproduce Aurora’s 1968 Captain Action model kit, as well as returning Captain Action to the world of comics. Like the updated Playing Mantis figures, the new model kit balanced faithful reproduction with improving the original toy: Moebius included an all-new, detailed headsculpt as well as a reproduction of the 1968 kit’s head. Captain Action also appeared in comics published by Moonstone (known for working with cult properties like Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Buckaroo Banzai) beginning in 2010. In a six-issue arc written by Deadpool co-creator Fabian Nicieza, Captain Action was reimagined as a United States Marine turned sixties-era super-spy, battling alien parasites in the name of shadowy extra-governmental organization the A.C.T.I.O.N. Directorate. The series also followed Captain Action’s son and successor (based on the character of Captain Action’s son from the toylines, referred to as “Action Boy” in the original line and “Kid Action” during the Playing Mantis revival) in the modern day. The toy’s signature identity-changing gimmick was reimagined as the byproduct of a chemical called “plastiderm” that enabled the original Captain Action to imitate the appearance of any person he chose, and enabled his son to take on their physical abilities as well as appearance.
In 2011, Captain Action Enterprises was able to reach a new deal with Marvel Comics for new, Marvel-based Captain Action Uniform Sets, partnered with Toys R Us. The team recalls that this transition to a new action figure line was one of the greater hurdles faced by Captain Action Enterprises: “Bringing Marvel aboard for the 2011-2012 relaunch was a much bigger undertaking. You can’t walk into Marvel and say, ‘Trust us, the fans will love it.’ We had to demonstrate that there was a real market, show support from Toys ‘R’ Us and Diamond [Diamond Distribution, who filed for chapter eleven bankruptcy in 2025], and explain why Captain Action offered something different from a conventional Marvel action figure.”
Manufactured through Lowe’s new company, Round2, the line included seven new and reimagined Marvel Uniform Sets alongside reissues of Captain Action and Dr. Evil. Two of the three Marvel characters featured in the original line, Spider-Man and Captain America, were recreated, along with five new characters. Era-appropriate additions of Iron Man and Thor were made, along with a Loki Uniform Set for Dr. Evil. By virtual obligation, Wolverine rounded out the line, though the character was created long after the end of Captain Action’s mid-to-late 1960s shelf-life. The 2011 line made unique use of the then-popular build-a-figure concept, featuring a “build-a-uniform” with pieces spread across the six sets. The result was a Captain Action Hawkeye, which is perhaps the only figure of the character to be modeled explicitly after his silver age appearances (the box art for the character was lifted from a Don Heck-drawn panel).
While the 2011 line only lasted for one wave, Captain Action comics and even pulp novels were produced throughout the decade, with the Moonstone Comics series running until 2012 and a five-issue miniseries from Dynamite Entertainment in 2013. The world of Captain Action was expanded with the introduction of new heroine Lady Action in the mid-2010s. Lady Action’s personality and background were created by Ahearn and Catto, Captain Action Enterprises explains that “Their idea was that she was essentially the daughter of a Roger Moore-era James Bond: capable, self-possessed and determined not merely to stand beside Captain Action, but to be Captain Action.” UK writer Tony Lee built upon Captain Action Enterprises’ ideas for Lady Action and scripted her first adventures. The character proved popular with fans, appearing in comics, novels, and even in-person at Captain Action’s comic-con booth, with actress and model Niki Rubin serving as Lady Action’s live-action promotional face.
Later, additional hero Major Action was added to the line, providing “a much-needed Black hero—and, first and foremost, a strong new character who belongs on the team.” For Major Action, the diversity and inclusion he adds to the line serves a secondary purpose, making new Captain Action Uniform Sets possible: “If the company were ever fortunate enough to secure licenses for Black Panther or John Stewart’s Green Lantern, Major Action could wear those Uniform Sets authentically. Major Action gives the line a way to pursue those possibilities respectfully—while also being a character with his own story, personality and future.”
In 2017, Michael Polis joined Joe Ahearn and Ed Catto as a partner in Captain Action Enterprises, after advising the company since 2013, bringing expertise in entertainment, licensing, consumer products and transmedia development. Most recently, Captain Action Enterprises has taken advantage of the rise of direct-market online collectibles to revive the character again, this time as a high-end 1:6 collector figure, made together with licensed development and production partner Let’s Be Onyx (LBO) Toys. At present, the line consists of a new Captain Action, as well as a Uniform Set based on the Rocketeer, both targeting a first-quarter 2027 release date. New figures of Dr. Evil and Major Action are also planned, along with new Uniform Sets. Another new character, Professor Fangs, will join the line, following his introduction in a 2024 comic, Captain Action vs. Al Capone, Vampire. With Professor Fangs, Captain Action Enterprises describes their enthusiasm at being able to explore “supernatural stories, gothic pulp and even a little horror. He looks as though he belongs in the Captain Action world, but he also stretches that world.” Professor Fangs was conceived by Michael Polis, Steve Forde and Acori Honzo, with Ed Catto contributing artwork and creative input and Joe Ahearn helping connect the character to the established Captain Action mythology.
With greater detail and a higher price-point, the new Captain Action is a distillation of what’s changed in sixty years of action figures, with playability now held in equal value to detail. The team at Captain Action Enterprises explained that it is a response to how “the toy business changed underneath us,” necessitating a shift from mass retail and large-volume production runs to boutique, collector-focused e-tail. The team elaborates that “Tooling, sewing, materials, freight and small production runs all cost more. Then add changing tariffs on goods made in China, retailer closures, factory closures and disruptions throughout the production pipeline,” the same problems faced by larger companies and other collector lines, though magnified by the smaller scale of Captain Action Enterprises and LBO: “Any one of those can derail a project. We’ve had to navigate all of them.” Like the move from Kenner’s barely-articulated, durable Star Wars figures to photo-accurate collectibles, Captain Action has aged with his fans, now meant to stand sentinel on a shelf instead of adventuring in the backyard. To some, the character is an enduring memory of childhood, to others, a symbol of their hobby’s earliest years. No matter when they were introduced to Captain Action, collectors agree the hero’s legacy is undeniable, paving the way for the universes of Marvel and DC super-heroes that line their shelves today.
Comic Book.com thanks the team at Captain Action Enterprises, LLC (Joe Ahearn, Ed Catto, and Michael Polis) for their contributions to this article.
