Today yo reviewed Mattel's new Steel figure in the DC Superheroes line, and declared it to be part five of "Mattel schools DC Direct," a continuing comparison of the ways in which even an old company set in its ways can really compete for fans' dollars by stepping up to face a new challenge. But a quick search of our site fails to turn up the first four, leading to many confused emails. So what are they?

Mattel's Scarecrow was right on par with DC Direct's, so that was too close to call. DCSH Doomsday and Supergirl were better than their DCD counterparts, but that could have been attributed to the passage of time. but enough of the ones that don't count! Here are the ones that do:

Part 1: Batman
Part 2: Darkseid
Part 3: Lex Luthor
Part 4: Brainiac
Part 5: Steel

That's five already, and DCD only got up to six before they were passed. If Mattel could get their lousy casepack ratios and unreliable distribution in hand (and seriously, fixing the first problem would almost instantly eradicate the second), they could blow past DCD and never look back.

Part 6: Supergirl