''Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show'' is an American

animated television series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

about a team of

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

es which ran from 1984 to 1985 on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

. It was produced by

Hanna-Barbera Productions Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...

and is based on the

Justice League The Justice League, or Justice League of America (JLA), is a group of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). Writer Gardner Fox conceived the ...

and associated

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

characters published by

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

Format

''Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show'' was the first ''Super Friends'' series in a new format since

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

's ''

The World's Greatest SuperFriends ''The World's Greatest SuperFriends'' is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes that ran from September 22, 1979, to September 27, 1980, on ABC. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and is based on the Justice ...

''. Continuing the previous three years' policy of producing short stories, this series' format was two 11-minute stories per half-hour. Furthermore, the

Wonder Twins The Wonder Twins (Zan and Jayna) are a fictional extraterrestrial twin brother and sister superhero duo who first appeared in Hanna-Barbera's American animated television series '' The All-New Super Friends Hour''. The pair can activate their ...

were largely supplanted as audience identification figures by

Firestorm A firestorm is a conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system. It is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires and wildfires. Although the term has been used ...

, a well-established teenage superhero in the DC Comics universe, but they were paired with other Justice League members, as opposed to always teaming up with

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superheroine who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''All Star Comics'' Introducing Wonder Woman, #8, published October 21, 1941, with her first feature in ''Sensation Comic ...

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

and

Robin Robin most commonly refers to several species of passerine birds. Robin may also refer to: Animals * Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae * Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), inclu ...

. In "Case of The Shrinking Super Friends", they are teamed with Firestorm and Robin. In "Uncle Mxyzptlk", they work with Firestorm and

Samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

. In "Village of The Lost Souls", they work with Wonder Woman and

Apache Chief Apache Chief is a Native American superhero from the various Hanna-Barbera '' Super Friends'' and '' Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law'' cartoons and the DC comic book series of the same name. He was one of the new heroes added (along with Black V ...

. For the next season, the show was retitled '' The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians''.

Toyline tie-in

Unlike the previous series, ''Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show'' was produced to tie in with the

Super Powers Collection The Super Powers Collection was a line of action figures based on DC Comics superheroes and supervillains that was created by Kenner Products in the 1980s. History In 1984, DC Comics awarded the master toy license of their characters to Kenner ...

toyline produced by

Kenner Kenner Products, known simply as Kenner, was an American toy brand owned by Hasbro. Kenner Products began as a toy company founded in 1946, going on to produce several highly recognizable toys and merchandise lines including action figures for t ...

, hence the name change. The general story, as detailed in the mini-comics that accompanied the figures, was that the major heroes of Earth had teamed up to fight

Darkseid Darkseid () is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer-artist Jack Kirby, the character first made a cameo appearance in ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #134 (December 1970), before being fully in ...

and his villains.

Characters

Super Friends/Justice League of America

The Super Friends consist of 13 heroes: *

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

Green Lantern Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness, ...

Black Vulcan Black Vulcan is an African-American superhero on the animated series ''Super Friends'' and ''Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law'' by Hanna-Barbera, voiced in the former by Buster Jones and the latter by Phil LaMarr. Fictional character biography ''Su ...

* Gleek *

El Dorado El Dorado () is a mythical city of gold supposedly located somewhere in South America. The king of this city was said to be so rich that he would cover himself from head to foot in gold dust – either daily or on certain ceremonial occasions � ...

(Zan and Jayna) According to DC writer/historian

Mark Waid Mark Waid (; born March 21, 1962) is an American comic book writer best known for his work on DC Comics titles ''The Flash'', '' Kingdom Come'' and '' Superman: Birthright'' as well as his work on ''Captain America'', ''Fantastic Four'' and '' Da ...

, Aquaman's sole appearance in ''The Legendary Super Powers Show'' is in the opening credits. The same is true for The Flash. This was the first time Wonder Woman was animated with the W symbol on her costume instead of the eagle design; this carried over into the final series, ''Galactic Guardians''.

Shannon Farnon Shannon Farnon (born Sharon Maureen Farnon;

was unable to reprise her voice work for Wonder Woman because the new voice director cast his girlfriend Connie Cawfield in her place. The series was also noteworthy for using

Adam West William West Anderson (September 19, 1928 – June 9, 2017), known professionally as Adam West, was an American actor. He portrayed Batman in the 1960s ABC series of the same name and its 1966 theatrical feature film, reprising the role in ...

as the voice of Batman, two decades after the end of his live-action television series of ''Batman''. West replaced

Olan Soule Olan Soule (February 28, 1909 – February 1, 1994) was an American actor, who had professional credits in nearly 7,000 radio shows and commercials, appearances in 200 television series and television films, and in over 60 films. He was the ...

and would continue through the subsequent ''Galactic Guardians'' series.

Villains

: Appearing outside of comics for the first time, Darkseid was still attempting to conquer Earth (often with help from other villains), but also had a secondary goal, of making Wonder Woman his bride. Darkseid brought a degree of seriousness to a show that had largely lacked it. *

Kalibak Kal-El Kaldur'ahm Kaleidoscope Kaleidoscope is a supervillain with photokinetic powers created by Robby Reed's villain personality, "The Master". She was originally created by two fans, Chris Lawton and Nancy Mae Lawton in 1982. Kaleidosco ...

: His appearance was not as brutish as in later TV incarnations, more like the original

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (; born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comics artist, comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew ...

design for the character. He was almost always depicted as boastful, dull-witted, and ineffectual against the heroes. *

DeSaad DeSaad (also spelled Desaad) is a supervillain, appearing in books published by DC Comics. He is one of the followers of Darkseid from the planet Apokolips in Fourth World (comics), Jack Kirby's Fourth World meta-series. As DeSaad serves as Darks ...

: A master torturer and one of Darkseid's acolytes. * Brainiac: The mechanical version of Brainiac appeared in the episodes "The Wrath of Brainiac" and "The Village of Lost Souls". In "The Wrath of Brainiac", Brainiac reveals that he shed his earlier appearance when he worked alongside Darkseid. *

Mirror Master Mirror Master is the name of several supervillains appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is a recurring foe of the Flash (comics), Flash with considerable technical expertise and skills involving the use of mirrors. Three ...

appeared in an episode entitled "Reflections in Crime". Despite Mirror Master being a Flash villain, The Flash does not appear in this episode. In the episode, Mirror Master sets about trapping the Super Friends in this particular episode inside mirrors called the sixth dimension. The Super Friends managed to escape and trap Mirror Master in a House of Mirrors. *

Lex Luthor Alexander "Lex" Joseph Luthor () is a supervillain in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the character first appeared in ''Action Comics'' #23 (published on February 22, 1940, with a cover d ...

appeared in the opening and the episodes "No Honor Among Super Thieves" (in which acquires his power suit from the comics of then), "Case of the Shrinking Super Friends" and "The Mask of Mystery". *

Mister Mxyzptlk Mister Mxyzptlk ( or ), sometimes called Mxy, is a character who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is usually presented as a trickster in the classical mythological sense. Mxyzptlk possesses reality-warping powers with ...

: In this series, Mxyzptlk's name is pronounced as Miks-ill-plik (backwards, Kilp-ill-skim) and he takes to tormenting all the members of the team, even when Superman is absent. * The Robber Baron and Sleeves * Dollmaker For this series, Lex Luthor and Brainiac were revamped to resemble their comic book counterparts.

Cast

Jack Angel Jack Angel (October 24, 1930 – October 18, 2021) was an American voice actor and radio personality. Angel voiced characters in shows by Hasbro and Hanna-Barbera such as '' Super Friends'', '' The Transformers'' and '' G.I. Joe'' and was involve ...

–

René Auberjonois René Marie Murat Auberjonois ( ; June 1, 1940 – December 8, 2019) was an American actor and voice actor, known for playing Odo on '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (1993–1999) and Clayton Endicott III on '' Benson'' (1980–1986). He firs ...

–

James Avery James La Rue Avery (November 27, 1945 – December 31, 2013) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Philip Banks in ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'', Judge Michael Conover on ''L.A. Law'', Steve Yeager in '' The Brady Bunch M ...

– Alien Auctioneer (in "Darkseid's Golden Trap"), Cromar (in "Darkseid's Golden Trap") * Michael Bell – Zan, Gleek *

Gregg Berger Gregory Alan Berger (born December 10, 1950) is an American voice actor. He is known for his roles as Jecht from ''Final Fantasy X'' and the ''Dissidia Final Fantasy'' games, Grimlock from ''The Transformers (TV series), The Transformers'', Myste ...

– Benny the Bungler (in "Mr. Mxyzptlk and the Magic Lamp"), Ernie (in "Mr. Mxyzpltlk and the Magic Lamp) *

Arthur Burghardt Arthur Napier Burghardt (born August 29, 1947) is an American retired actor, best known for portraying Jack Scott on the soap opera ''One Life to Live''. In animation, he is known for lending his deep bass voice as Devastator in '' The Transfo ...

– General Plankton (in "Mr. Mxyzptlk and the Magic Lamp") *

Howard Caine Howard Caine (born Howard Elmer Cohen; January 2, 1926 – December 28, 1993) was an American character actor, probably best known as Gestapo Major Wolfgang Hochstetter in the television series ''Hogan's Heroes'' (1965–71). He also played ...

– Dr. Dan Corwin (in "Island of the Dinosoids"), King Timon (in "The Royal Ruse") * Connie Cawlfield – Diana Prince / Wonder Woman * Danny Dark – Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman * Fernando Escandon –

Pat Fraley Pat Fraley is an American voice actor and voice-over teacher, known as the voice of Krang, Casey Jones, Baxter Stockman and numerous other characters in the 1987 ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' animated television series and voiced Falcon in ...

– Captain Mystery/Sidney Wanamaker (in "Mask of Mystery"), Bank Guard (in "Mask of Mystery"), Remlar (in "The Curator") * Liz Georges – Little Superman (in "Uncle Mxyzptlk") *

Buster Jones Edward Lorenzo "Buster" Jones (December 12, 1943 – September 16, 2014) was an American voice actor and television host. He is known for his roles as Black Vulcan in '' Super Friends'', Blaster in '' The Transformers'', Doc in '' G.I. Joe: A ...

–

* Stan Jones –

, Robber Baron (in "Mask of Mystery"), Sleeves (in "Mask of Mystery") *

Casey Kasem Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American disc jockey, actor, and radio presenter who created and hosted several radio countdown programs, notably ''American Top 40'', as well as the weekly syndicated televi ...

– Dick Grayson / Robin,

(in "Reflections in Crime") * Mary McDonald-Lewis –

Lois Lane Lois Lane is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1 (June 1938). Lois is an award-winning ...

* Mickey McGowan – Princess Tara (in "The Royal Ruse") *

Stanley Ralph Ross Stanley Ralph Ross (July 22, 1935 – March 16, 2000) was an American writer and actor. Born Stanley Ralph Rosenberg, he was raised in Brooklyn, New York, working at Nathan’s Famous and as a barker at the Coney Island freak show. His c ...

– Brainiac *

Michael Rye Michael Rye (born John Michael Riorden Billsbury; March 2, 1918 – September 20, 2012) was an American actor. His decades-long career spanned radio, television, animated cartoons and video games. Aside from his voice over work, Rye also acted in ...

–

, Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, Dan Corwin's Assistant (in "Island of the Dinosoids") *

–

Martin Stein Martin Stein is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is commonly associated with, and sometimes is, the superhero Firestorm. Stein has made several appearances in DC-related media. He is portrayed by ...

Mark L. Taylor Mark Lawrence Taylor (born October 25, 1950) is an American actor, known for his roles in such films as '' Innerspace'' (1987), '' Honey, I Shrunk the Kids'' (1989), '' Arachnophobia'' (1990), and '' High School Musical 2'' (2007), as well as t ...

– Ronnie Raymond/Firestorm *

Dick Tufeld Richard Norton Tufeld (December 11, 1926 – January 22, 2012) was an American actor, announcer, narrator, and voice actor from the late 1940s until the early 21st century. He worked constantly and continuously throughout this lengthy car ...

– Announcer * B. J. Ward –

Jayna Jayna is a female given name. It may refer to: * Jayna Altman, a U.S. beauty queen * Jayna Hefford (born 1977) a Canadian women's ice hockey player * Jayna Murray (died 2011) a murder victim killed by a coworker at a Lululemon store in Bethesda, ...

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American actor who specializes in voice acting. He began his career in the 1960s, and held around 850 film, television, and video game credits as of 2020, making him one of the most prolific v ...

– Uxas/Darkseid,

, Trucker (in "The Wrath of Brainiac"), Inspector Throckmorton (in "Mr. Mxyzptlk and the Magic Lamp"), Dollmaker (in "The Case of the Dreadful Dolls") *

– Bruce Wayne/Batman *

Bill Woodson William T. Woodson (July 16, 1917 – February 22, 2017) was an American film, stage, radio and voice actor, best known for his narration of the radio series '' This is Your FBI'', '' The Invaders'', the animated series '' Super Friends'' and al ...

– Narrator Note: Beginning with this version, Adam West replaced

as the voice of Batman.

Episodes

Home media

* On August 7, 2007,

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the American home video distribution ...

(via

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

and

Warner Bros. Family Entertainment Warner Bros. Family Entertainment was the family division label of Warner Bros. Entertainment. It released numerous theatrical and direct-to-video family-oriented films and television shows. History The division was founded in 1993 to produ ...

) released the complete series of ''Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show'' on DVD, featuring all 16 episodes of the eighth Hanna-Barbera-produced ''Super Friends'' series on a 2-Disc DVD boxed set, uncut and unedited, presented in its original broadcast presentation and original airdate order.

References

External links

''Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show''
at

Big Cartoon DataBase The Big Cartoon DataBase (or BCDB for short) was an online database of information about animated cartoons, animated feature films, animated television shows, and cartoon shorts. The BCDB project began in 1997 as a list of Disney animated f ...

* {{Hanna-Barbera 1984 American animated television series debuts 1985 American television series endings 1980s American animated television series 1980s American children's television series 1980s American science fiction television series 1980s American superhero television series Animated television shows based on DC Comics American animated television spinoffs American children's animated action television series American children's animated adventure television series American children's animated science fantasy television series American children's animated superhero television series Legendary Super Powers Show Animated Batman television series Animated Justice League television series Animated Superman television series Wonder Woman in other media Television series about shapeshifting Television series by Hanna-Barbera Television series set in 1984 Television shows based on Hasbro toys American Broadcasting Company animated television series