In 1989, Toy Biz was granted the license to the DC characters for action figure sales that had lapsed since Kenner's Super Powers line had folded in 1986. At the time, Toy Biz was a young upstart company who was happy with their first major license, but they were obviously confused on how to proceed with it. First making figures for the batman movie tie-in, and then following with a few more of the major DC characters, Toy Biz was feeling it's way around action figure production, and their inexperience resulted in some fairly shoddy derivative work. Seeing the poor craftsmanship, DC canceled the license and awarded it to Kenner, who had put together a quick and sparkling presentation of it's own for the Dark Knight line. Although Toy Biz later went to great heights with their X-Men line, eventually being swallowed by Marvel Comics, this first effort pales in comparison to Kenner's Super Powers. Unfortunately, some of these figures were so closely modeled after the Super Powers line that many collectors today still have trouble distinguishing them. Here then is a quick guide: Robin, Batman, Superman The Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern Aquaman, Hawkman, The Riddler The Penguin, Two-Face, Lex Luthor Mr. Freeze, The Joker, Bob the Goon Early Prototype Pictures of the Batman Movie line Although Batman and the Joker were first shown on cardbacks as simple repaints of SP, for the release version Toy Biz actually resculpted batman completely and reworked the Joker's body and gave him a new head and paint job. The Riddler figure is actually a slightly retooled SP Flash with a new (badly sculpted) head! Why doesn't the Riddler ever get his own body? Toy Biz released a second assortment, with all new sculpts, the next year. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late to save the line, expecially as the sculpts were pretty well below the standard that Super Powers had set. On the other hand, Superman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Penguin, and Mr. Freeze are harder to distinguish from Kenner's figures at first glance. While the overall quality and paint jobs of the figures are shoddy, there are a few tell-tale signs that a figure is made by Toy Biz: Superman has broader stomach muscles and a magnet inside him that rattles if you shake him. Robin has a lever sticking out of his back and his left hand is turned farther. Wonder Woman is chunkier and shorter. The Penguin has a different Umbrella that shoots either darts or the umbrella top. Mr. Freeze is missing the "shoelaces" on his sides and has less detail and is rubbery. All of these figures have squared off kneecaps and visible pins in the sides of their knee joints. Also, the paint jobs have brighter colors and are shinier. The faces are much less detailed, plus most are missing the seams that run along the front of the SP's legs. But the one definite way to tell if it is a Toy Biz figure is that the Toy Biz knock-offs do not have peg holes in their feet. Sadly, Toy Biz later became an action figure powerhouse, and today turns out some of the best toys around. It would have been nice if they had somehow hung onto the line, but if that had happened, it's very possible that we would have never seen the amazing resurgence of Marvel toys that happened throughout the 90s, leading to the situation where Marvel/Toy Biz are owned by the same parent company.   Don't be fooled; Knowledge is the collectors' best weapon.