Mattel lands DC licence for 2026 – what does it mean for LEGO?

Mattel has secured licensing rights to DC characters including Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and more from the second half of 2026.

Toy industry giant and LEGO competitor Mattel’s first adult-focused building sets are just starting to appear on shelves, serving up Hot Wheels-branded cars at a variety of scales and budgets under the Mattel Brick Shop banner. But a press release over on Mattel’s website confirms that its wider product portfolio will be expanding to licensed DC characters in 2026, including Batman and Superman.

The press release (dated February 27) reveals that Mattel has been awarded ‘the global licensing rights to develop and market a full range of DC-themed action figures, playsets, accessories, role play products, and adult collectibles’, with the partnership due to begin in the second half of 2026. It specifically name-drops Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Joker and Harley Quinn as examples of characters included in the licence.

“It is an incredibly proud milestone to welcome DC back to Mattel,” said Nick Karamanos, Senior Vice President of Entertainment Partnerships at Mattel. “We look forward to leveraging our Mattel Playbook approach to brand management, product design, and innovation to bring DC’s popular characters to life across all channels. This renewed partnership will reflect our shared passion for engaging and inspiring fans and collectors of all ages.”

What’s not clear from this press release is whether Mattel will hold exclusive rights to DC characters from the second half of next year, or whether it will share the licence with the LEGO Group. The specific mention of ‘playsets’ and ‘adult collectibles’ could reasonably cover construction toys as part of Mattel Brick Shop, but there’s also a chance that this licence only extends to Mattel’s other products, and the LEGO Group will still retain rights to DC construction sets.

That would be in similar fashion to the company’s relationship with Disney and Lucasfilm for the Star Wars licence, which grants the LEGO Group rights to produce Star Wars construction toys. Merchandising rights for other Star Wars toys are held by other companies, such as Hasbro, which has the licence for Star Wars action figures (a fact the LEGO Group has repeatedly pointed to when explaining its inability to sell standalone Star Wars minifigures).

The LEGO Group has had the rights to DC characters since 2012 as part of its broader Super Heroes theme (which also includes Marvel). But while its early output covered a broad spectrum of Justice League superheroes, from Batman and Superman to Green Lantern and Hawkgirl, recent sets have only featured the Caped Crusader (save for a single Superman mech earlier this year).

We don’t yet know whether there will be any LEGO DC sets arriving on shelves in 2026, as the current list of rumoured Super Heroes sets for next year only includes Marvel products. But given the Mattel press release says it will hold ‘global licensing rights’ from the second half of 2026, we’ll probably have to wait until the summer range to see if the LEGO Group can still produce DC sets.

From Warner Bros.’s perspective, sharing the rights to construction toys across both the LEGO Group and Mattel could make sound financial sense, although whether either of those brands would be happy to have such closely competing products on the market is another question – and in the case of Pokémon, for which the LEGO Group recently acquired exclusive rights from Mattel, the answer is no.

The LEGO DC theme is still alive and kicking for now, debuting its first-ever modular building in September with 76300 Arkham Asylum. A new Batman set will also hit shelves on Friday in 76304 Batman Forever Batmobile.

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