Legion Of Doom

The Legion of Doom is a group of supervillains who originated in '' Challenge of the Superfriends'', an animated series from Hanna-Barbera based on DC Comics' Justice League. The Legion of Doom has since been incorporated into the main DC Universe, appearing in comics, as well as further animated and live-action adaptations, and also video games.

History

In each episode of ''Challenge of the Superfriends'' that they appeared, the Legion of Doom would enact a plot against the Super Friends and a plot to take over the world only to be met with defeat by the end of the story. In some episodes, they would escape capture through a last-minute escape plan often contrived by Luthor. Other times, the Legion of Doom (or portions of it) would end up apprehended.

The episode "History of Doom" showed that Lex Luthor assembled 12 supervillains in order to form the most powerful and sinister group the world had ever seen.

Development

When the ''Challenge of the Superfriends'' season was originally conceived, it was named ''Battle of the Superheroes'' and featured the introduction of Captain Marvel to the Super Friends. The group that challenged the heroes was to be called the "League of Evil", led by Captain Marvel's nemesis Doctor Sivana. However, Filmation was producing '' Shazam!'' and '' The New Adventures of Batman'' which prevented the use of characters such as Mister Atom, King Kull, Beautia Sivana, Joker, Penguin, Mr. Freeze, and Catwoman. Early conceptual art drawn by Alex Toth also included Heat Wave, Poison Ivy, and Abra Kadabra.

The Hall of Doom

The Legion of Doom's headquarters was the Hall of Doom which was located in Slaughter Swamp (just outside Gotham City). The facility, which resembles Black Manta's helmet, could be lowered or raised above the swamp water's surface. It could fly or enter space using rockets. The Hall of Doom's mobility could be controlled through remote control helping the Legion to escape on several occasions. Its defenses included laser weapons and the ability to time travel.

In "Doomsday" after Sinestro, Black Manta and Cheetah are abandoned by the rest of the Legion after they take control of a mental device, they use it to create another Hall of Doom, which attacks the original one and enables the Legion to be captured.

In "History of Doom", the Hall is shown being constructed in a barn just after the Legion formed. Black Manta proposes that they have it in the ocean, Captain Cold proposes to have it underneath the polar ice caps, and Gorilla Grodd proposes that they have it in the jungle. As a compromise, Lex Luthor decides to have it within the waters of Slaughter Swamp as it is flown to that location.

Members

There were thirteen members of the Legion of Doom:

* Despite the opening sequence for ''Challenge of the Superfriends'' claiming that the Legion's members had "''banded together from remote galaxies''", ten out of the thirteen are native to Earth; only Brainiac (from Colu), Bizarro (from Bizarro World), and Sinestro (from Korugar) are extraterrestrials.
* The episode "Super Friends: Rest In Peace" makes a reference to a former unseen member of the Legion of Doom, the only time such a reference has been made. This was Doctor Natas, the inventor of the Noxium crystal that had the power to destroy all of the Super Friends like mimicking Kryptonite for Superman and mimicking a yellow energy for Green Lantern. The Super Friends knew of this crystal and tricked the Legion of Doom into thinking that it had killed all of them using android doubles of the Super Friends while the real ones hid in their space station. They anticipated that the Legion of Doom would throw away the crystal when they no longer needed it. The crystal was retrieved by Apache Chief in a hazmat suit and launched into deep space. It was not explained what happened to Doctor Natas.
* Prior to the first televised appearance of the Legion of Doom, a group called the Super Foes appeared in the first issue of the '' Super Friends'' comic book (Nov 1976). Its membership featured Toyman, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Cheetah, Human Flying Fish, and their protégés Toyboy, Chick, Honeysuckle, Kitten and Sardine, respectively, in keeping with the theme of trainees ala Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog.

Other Legion episodes

While ''Challenge of the Superfriends'' was the series spotlighting the Legion of Doom, they appear in a few ''Super Friends'' shorts:
* "The Krypton Syndrome": After Superman saves Krypton in the past, he returns to an alternate present. Robin mentions that the Super Friends were defeated by the Legion of Doom.
* "Two Gleeks are Deadlier Than One": Though only Giganta and Gorilla Grodd appear, the Legion of Doom is mentioned where the Super Friends investigate rumors that the Legion of Doom are getting back together. Like in "Super Friends: Rest in Peace", the Super Friends used androids to trick Giganta and Gorilla Grodd into thinking they were destroyed.
* "The Revenge of Doom" ('' Super Friends'' short): All 13 members of the Legion of Doom appear after getting back together, but only Lex Luthor, Sinestro and Solomon Grundy have dialogue. In this appearance, they salvaged the Hall of Doom disguised as construction workers with the cover-up that they were going to turn it into a museum. Batman and Robin came upon the "construction workers" and demanded to see their permit, which they did, having been obtained by the Department of Parks. When there was a mentioning that the Ion Engines were removed by the Super Friends which would've made it the first flying museum, the Dynamic Duo gets suspicious about the construction workers learning about the top secret operation as the lead construction worker claims that the info of that might've been leaked to the news. With the plot exposed, Lex Luthor and the Legion of Doom shed their disguises and capture Batman and Robin. After refurbishing the Hall of Doom and equipping it with new weapons, they have developed a crystallizing ray to immobilize Superman and Wonder Woman. Batman and Robin eventually escape, reverse the effects of the crystallizing ray on Superman and Wonder Woman, and apprehend the Legion of Doom.

Members of the team have solo appearances in later episodes.

Lex Luthor appears in:
* "Lex Luthor Strikes Back" ('' The World's Greatest Super Friends'') – using a special camera that would enable him to assume the disguise of everyone, Lex Luthor escapes from prison.
* "No Honor Among Thieves Super Friends" ('' Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show'') – Lex Luthor collaborates with Darkseid in order to steal the powers of the Super Friends.
* "The Case of the Shrinking Super Friends" ('' Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show'') – Lex Luthor uses a shrink ray to shrink the Wonder Twins, Gleek, Robin, Ronnie Raymond, and Professor Martin Stein.
* "The Mask of Mystery" ('' Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show'') – Lex Luthor steals data that the incompetent superhero wannabe Captain Mystery had tapped from the Hall of Justice's computers in order to trap the Super Friends.
* "The Seeds of Doom" ('' The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians'') – Lex Luthor attacks the city in a giant mechanical spider before he is defeated by the Super Powers Team and Cyborg.

Brainiac appears in:
* "Superclones" ('' Super Friends'' short) - Brainiac clones Aquaman and El Dorado creating supervillain counterparts of them as part of a plot to discredit the Super Friends.
* "The Wrath of Brainiac" ('' Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show'') – Brainiac collaborates with Darkseid to create android versions of Superman and Wonder Woman. Starting here, Brainiac takes up a more robotic form from this appearance to Brainchild matching his current comic counterpart at the time.
* "The Village of Lost Souls" ('' Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show'') – Brainiac brainwashes a village of people to serve him and help him rebuild his ship.
* "Brainchild" ('' The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians'') – Brainiac kidnaps Cyborg