Super Heroes DC

Lex Luthor Mech Takedown

A hulking green mech with a rogues' gallery of minifigs that rarely see plastic.

Brick Rated Score

4.2/5

Set 76097 · 2018

Pieces415

Minifigs5

Year2018

Set number76097

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The verdict

I went into this one expecting a fairly generic hero-versus-vehicle set and came out surprised by how sturdy and posable that mech actually is.

It twists at the waist, swivels at the shoulders, and holds a pose without flopping over, which is not something I can say about every LEGO mech I've built. The real draw for me, though, is the lineup standing next to it. Cheetah, Firestorm, and this particular Lex Luthor design were all new to plastic form when this set came out, and that alone makes it worth a look for anyone building out a DC minifig shelf.

Best for: DC minifig collectors who want Cheetah and Firestorm without hunting down a pricier set

The full review

What it is

This set showed up in the same DC wave as the Superman and Flash sets, and it ended up being the sleeper hit of the three. The mech itself is the size of a small end table topper, chunky and green with Lex Luthor's smug face peeking out of the cockpit like he's driving a tank instead of piloting a battle suit. What won me over was how solid the whole thing feels once it's built. You can pick it up by one arm and it holds together, which matters if this is going on a shelf where curious hands might grab at it.

The catch

I'll be honest about the tradeoffs. The knees are fixed straight, so you're stuck with a stiff marching pose no matter how much you fiddle with the hips and ankles. It's also not a small build for a $40 set, which is great value on paper, but that also means it eats up real shelf space once it's finished. And because it's been retired since the end of 2018, you're not finding this one at retail anymore, so the price has climbed into resale territory that takes some of the shine off the deal.

Who it's for

If you collect DC minifigures and don't already have Cheetah or this Firestorm, this is genuinely one of the more efficient ways to get them both in one box. If you're mainly after the mech as a display piece and don't care about the figures, I'd still say it's worth it, the build quality surprised me. Skip it if you're purely after playability for younger kids who want a crouching, kneeling action figure feel, because the fixed knees will frustrate that kind of play.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

Building this one is a quick, satisfying afternoon project rather than a marathon. The mech goes together in distinct chunks, torso, then each arm, then the legs, so you get that little hit of progress every fifteen minutes instead of staring at a half-finished pile for an hour. The cockpit section where Lex clips in is the cleverest bit of engineering here, it locks him in place snugly while still letting the whole torso rotate freely on top of the hip joint.

The parts pack punches above its price. You get a good haul of green and lime-green panel pieces that are handy for other mech or vehicle MOCs, plus the guns that double up on either forearm. But the real story is the prints. Cheetah's spotted torso and head print made her LEGO debut here, Firestorm's fiery torso print is unique to this set, and Lex Luthor's expression alone (that smirk) makes him worth grabbing loose off Bricklink if you ever see him listed. For 415 pieces and five meaningful minifigs, the part-count value holds up well even years later.

Fun facts

01This was Cheetah's first-ever appearance as a LEGO minifigure, years before she showed up in the 2020 Wonder Woman 1984 movie sets.
02The mech can plug into the buildable Energy Infuser accessories from the companion sets 76096 (Superman & Krypto Team-Up) and 76098 (Speed Force Freeze Pursuit), letting kids combine the wave's builds together.
03It retired quickly, less than a year after release in January 2018, and its secondary market value has more than doubled since going out of production.
04Brick Fanatics called it the best set of its entire wave, ahead of both the Superman and Flash sets it launched alongside.