''DC Super Hero Girls'' or ''DC Superhero Girls'' (in various countries) is an American

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

web series and franchise Produced by

Warner Bros. Animation Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a flagship of Warner Bros. Discovery. As the successor to Warner Bros. Cartoons, which was active from 19 ...

for

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, ...

based on characters from

DC Entertainment DC Entertainment is an American entertainment company that was founded in September 2009 and was based in Burbank, California. The company is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery that manages its DC Comics units and characters in other unit ...

that launched in the third quarter of 2015. In 2017, DC revealed that the ''DC Super Hero Girls'' line would be reimagined by Lauren Faust, who had previously worked on ''

The Powerpuff Girls ''The Powerpuff Girls'' is an American superhero animated television series created by animator Craig McCracken and produced by Hanna-Barbera (later Cartoon Network Studios) for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Telev ...

'', ''

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends ''Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends'' (also known as ''Foster's Home'', or simply ''Foster's'' for short) is an American animated television series created by Craig McCracken for Cartoon Network. It was produced by Cartoon Network Studios as ...

'', and '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic''. This resulted in a full rebrand for the franchise which happened in January 2019, centralized around an eponymous television reboot of the same name, which began airing on

in March 2019. The rebooted series was heavily inspired by Faust's '' DC Nation Shorts'' entry ''Super Best Friends Forever'' from 2012, while carrying over certain themes from the earlier ''DC Super Hero Girls''

web show A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...

Overview

Premise

At Super Hero High School, well-known DC heroes, both male and female, attend challenging classes and deal with all the awkwardness of growing up with the added stress of having unique superpowers.

Announcement

The multipronged franchise was announced in April 2015. The announced range included an animated web series, a graphic novel line, books from

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

Lego Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocki ...

tie-ins and action figures from

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in mor ...

. The intended audience is girls aged 6–12.

Website

The website was launched in early July 2015. Characters featured at launch were:

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byrne, are credited as bein ...

Batgirl Batgirl is the name of several superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, depicted as female counterparts and allies to the superhero Batman. Although the character Betty Kane was introduced into publication in ...

Supergirl Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. The character made her fir ...

Harley Quinn Harley Quinn is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Quinn was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm as a comic relief henchwoman for the supervillain Joker in '' Batman: The Animated Series'', and debuted in i ...

, Poison Ivy,

Katana A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge ...

, and

Bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only Extant taxon, extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct r ...

. Other characters including

Hal Jordan Harold "Hal" Jordan, one of the characters known as Green Lantern, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created in 1959 by writer John Broome and artist Gil Kane, and first appeared in ''Sh ...

, Barry Allen, Star Sapphire,

Beast Boy Garfield Mark Logan, better known as Beast Boy, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He has also gone under the alias Changeling. Created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Bob Brown, he is a shapeshifter who po ...

Cheetah The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...

Hawkgirl Hawkgirl is the name of several superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original Hawkgirl, Shiera Sanders Hall, was created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Dennis Neville, and first appeared in ''Flash Comics' ...

and

Catwoman Catwoman is a fictional character created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Batman. Debuting as "the Cat" in ''Batman'' #1 (spring 1940), she is ...

also appear.

Amanda Waller Amanda Blake Waller (née White), also known as "the Wall", is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''Legends'' #1 in 1986 and was created by John Ostrander, Len Wein, and ...

is featured as the principal of the series' setting Super Hero High. Many other

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. ( doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with the ...

Heroes and Villains appear in the background as cameos.

Publication history

''DC Super Hero Girls'' was originally launched in 2015 with an animated web short on YouTube. Over the course of 2016, the franchise was expanded with a graphic novel line, additional animated and digital content, toys, and apparel.

Diane Nelson Diane Dezura (born July 1, 1958 in Burnaby, British Columbia as Diane Nelson) is a Canadian retired curler and Olympic medalist. As Diane Nelson, she played lead on for the Kelley Law rink in the early 2000s, one of the best teams in the world ...

, president of both

and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, stated in 2016: "We think DC Super Hero Girls can be bigger than a $1 billion brand". A relaunch of the franchise was announced in 2017; the relaunch began with the 2019 ''DC Super Hero Girls'' TV series. Also in 2019, the DC Zoom imprint "launched with the continuation of he''DC Super Hero Girls''" graphic novel line. The

DC Ink DC Graphic Novels for Young Adults, formerly known as DC Ink, is an Imprint (trade name), imprint of American comic book publisher DC Comics consisting of original One-shot (comics), one-shots, graphic novels and reprints of books previously publi ...

and DC Zoom imprints were built off both the creative success of the post-

New 52 The New 52 is the 2011 revamp and relaunch by DC Comics of its entire line of ongoing monthly superhero comic books. Following the conclusion of the " Flashpoint" crossover storyline, DC canceled all its existing titles and debuted 52 new series ...

DCYou program, which "employed younger creators than the New 52 titles, with the titles having a more contemporary feel", and "the financial success of the ''DC Super Hero Girls'' property".

Dan DiDio Dan DiDio (; born October 13, 1959) is an American writer, editor, and publisher who has worked in the television and comic book industries. From February 2010 until February 2020, he was the co-publisher of DC Comics, along with Jim Lee. '' Wizar ...

, DC's co-publisher from 2010-2020, explained that "a lot of that had also to do with our interest in getting the young adult marketplace. That was DC testing the waters and wondering what a young adult book would be from DC Comics".

Cast and characters

''DC Super Hero Girls'' has various characters inspired by the

DC Universe The DC Universe (DCU) is the fictional shared universe where most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place. Superheroes such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Martian Manhunter, The Flash, Green L ...

. Certain characters are voiced by actors who have performed as the same characters previously. The characters listed below are listed on the franchise's website:

Voice cast

Media

Web series

The ''DC Super Hero Girls'' has a series of animated shorts on YouTube and their site centered on the young heroes and villains attending Super Hero High. The first season premiered on 1 October 2015. The second season premiered on 21 April 2016. The third season premiered on 26 January 2017, while the fourth season premiered on 18 January 2018. The fifth and final season premiered on 2 August 2018 and ended on 27 December 2018 as a cliffhanger.

Television series

In 2019, the ''DC Super Hero Girls'' franchise was rebooted as a TV series developed by Lauren Faust, with a continuity separate from that of the previous version of the franchise. Shorts connected with the series began to be released online on 10 January 2019 (the first short had previously received a sneak peek screening with showings of ''

Teen Titans Go! To the Movies ''Teen Titans Go! To the Movies'' is a 2018 American animated superhero comedy film based on the television series '' Teen Titans Go!'', which is based on the DC Comics superhero team of the same name. This film is directed by Peter Rida ...

''), and the full series premiered on

on 8 March 2019.

Films and specials

Special (2016)

Direct-to-video films (2016–2018)

Novels

is publishing a series of text-only novels.

Original series

Lisa Yee wrote every novel for the original series which each focus primarily on one character's experiences as a student at Super Hero High. American "big box" retailer Target has released special editions of the Wonder Woman and Batgirl novels that include additional materials (character profiles and posters).

Rebooted series

The novels for the rebooted series are written by Erica David.

Graphic novels

The

DC Graphic Novels for Kids DC Graphic Novels for Kids, formerly known as DC Zoom, is an Imprint (trade name), imprint of American comic book publisher DC Comics consisting of original One-shot (comics), one-shots and reprints of books previously published under other imprin ...

imprint is publishing a series of graphic novels.

Original series

=Rebooted series

Toys

From 2016 to 2018,

featured a product line using ''DC Super Hero Girls'' logo. 12 Lego sets were distributed. These sets used

Lego Friends Lego Friends is a product range of Lego construction toys designed primarily for girls. Launched in 2012, the theme introduced "mini-doll" figures, which are about the same size as traditional Lego minifigures but are more detailed and realist ...

style mini-dolls figures rather than traditional

Lego minifigure A Lego minifigure, commonly referred to as a minifig, is a small plastic articulated figurine produced by Danish toy manufacturer The Lego Group. They were first produced in 1978 and have been a success, with over 4 billion produced worldwide ...

, a design aimed at feminine market.

Video games

References

External links

*
DC launches female centric universe
–

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts. The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media ...

DC Unveils New Interactive Look at Its Promising "Super Hero Girls" Line
–

The Mary Sue Daniel Abrams (born May 20, 1966) is an American media entrepreneur, television host, legal commentator, and author. He is currently the host of the prime-time show ''Dan Abrams Live'' on NewsNation, ''On Patrol: Live'' on Reelz and ''The Dan Ab ...

* {{Superhero toy lines 2015 web series debuts 2010s American animated television series 2010s American high school television series American animated web series American children's animated action television series American children's animated adventure television series American children's animated comedy television series American children's animated drama television series American children's animated superhero television series Superhero web series DC Comics action figure lines Fashion dolls DC Comics animation DC Comics franchises Animated television series about teenagers Television series by Warner Bros. Animation Mass media franchises introduced in 2015 Mattel Lego themes Child versions of cartoon characters DC Comics superheroes DC Comics characters DC Comics supervillains Superhero schools