Summary[]
Super Friends (alternately spelled as "SuperFriends") is the collective name attributed to a series of animated programs produced by Hanna-Barbera between 1973 and 1984. Over the course of a decade, the series ran through several iterations including title changes such as, the All-New Super Friends Hour, Challenge of the Super Friends, the World's Greatest Super Friends, Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, and Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians.
The Super Friends functioned as a child-friendly version of the Justice League of America. They headquartered themselves inside of the Hall of Justice, a centrally located fortress set within the confines of Metropolis. The heroes routinely monitored global catastrophes with the aid of an automated warning system called the Trouble Alert (or TroubAlert).
Principal Cast[]
- Danny Dark as the voice of Superman
- Olan Soule as the voice of Batman (seasons 1-4)
- Adam West as the voice of Batman (seasons 5-6)
- Norman Alden as the voice of Aquaman
- Shannon Farnan as the voice of Wonder Woman
- Casey Kasem as the voice of Robin
- Sherry Alberoni as the voice of Wendy Harris (season 1)
- Frank Welker as the voice of Marvin White (season 1)
- Michael Bell as the voice of Zan (seasons 2-4)
- Liberty Williams as the voice of Jayna (seasons 2-4)
- Mark L. Taylor and Olan Soule as the voice of Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond) and Martin Stein (seasons 5-6)
- Ernie Hudson as the voice of Cyborg (Victor Stone) (season 6)
Original Characters[]
Guest Appearances[]
- Atom (Ray Palmer)
- Flash (Barry Allen)
- Green Arrow (Oliver Queen)
- Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)
- Hawkman (Katar Hol)
- Hawkwoman (Shayera Hol)
- Plastic Man
- Rima, the Jungle Girl
Recurring Villains[]
- Bizarro
- Black Manta
- Brainiac
- Captain Cold
- Cheetah (Priscilla Rich)
- Giganta
- Gorilla Grodd
- Lex Luthor
- Riddler
- Scarecrow
- Sinestro
- Solomon Grundy
- Toyman (Jack Nimball)
Other Characters[]
- Colonel Wilcox
- Hippolyta
- Commissioner Gordon
- Jonathan Kent
- Lois Lane
- Martha Kent
- Perry White
- Abin Sur
- Jor-El
Super Friends Episodes[]
Super Friends[]
- The Power Pirate
- The Baffles Puzzle
- Professor Goodfellow's G.E.E.C.
- The Weather Maker
- Dr. Pelagian's War
- The Shamon U
- Too Hot to Handle
- The Androids
- The Balloon People
- The Fantastic Frerps
- The Ultra Beam
- The Menace of the White Dwarf
- The Mysterious Moles
- Gulliver's Gigantic Goof
- The Planet-Splitter
- The Watermen
The All-New Super Friends Hour[]
- The Brain Machine/The Joy Ride/The Invasion of the Earthors/The Whirlpool
- The Secret Four/Tiger on the Loose/Voyage of the Mysterious Time Creatures/The Antidote
- Invasion of The Hydronoids/Hitchhike/City in a Bottle/Space Emergency
- Doctor Fright/Drag Race/The Day of the Plant Creatures/Fire
- The Monster of Dr. Droid/Vandals/The Super Friends Vs. The Super Friends/The Energy Mass
- The Enforcer/The Shark/Planet of the Neanderthals/Flood of Diamonds
- Forbidden Power/Pressure Point/The Lionmen/The Day of the Rats
- The Invisible Menace/Initiation/The Coming of the Arthropods/River of Doom
- Attack of the Giant Squid/Game of Chicken/The Water Beast/Volcano
- The Collector/Handicap/The Mind Maidens/Alaska Peril
- The Fifty Foot Woman/Cheating/Exploration: Earth/Attack of the Killer Bees
- The Man Beasts of Xra/Prejudice/Tiny World of Terror/Tibetan Raiders
- Frozen Peril/Dangerous Prank/The Mummy of Nazca/Cable Car Rescue
- The Marsh Monster/The Runaways/Will the World Collide?/Time Rescue
- The Protector/Stowaways/The Ghost/Rampage
Challenge of the Super Friends[]
- The Demons of Exxor
- Wanted: The Superfriends
- Rokan: Enemy From Space
- Invasion of the Fearians
- Battle At The Earth's Core
- The World's Deadliest Game
- Sinbad And The Space Pirates
- The Time Trap
- The Pied Piper From Space
- Trial of the Super Friends
- Attack Of The Vampire
- Monolith of Evil
- The Beasts Are Coming
- Secret Origins of the Super Friends
- Terror From The Phantom Zone
- The Giants Of Doom
- The Anti-Matter Monster
- Revenge On Gorilla City
- World Beneath The Ice
- Swamp Of The Living Dead
- Invasion Of The Brain Creatures
- Conquerors Of The Future
- The Incredible Space Circus
- The Final Challenge
- Batman: Dead Or Alive
- Fairy Tale Of Doom
- Battle of the Gods
- Doomsday
- Journey Through Inner Space
- Super Friends: Rest In Peace
- The Rise and Fall of the Super Friends
- History of Doom
The World's Greatest Super Friends[]
- Rub Three Times For Disaster
- Lex Luthor Strikes Back
- Space Knights of Camelon
- The Lord of Middle Earth
- Universe of Evil
- Terror at 20,000 Fathoms
- The Super Friends Meet Frankenstein
- The Planet of Oz
Super Friends II[]
- Bigfoot
- Ice Demon
- Makeup Monster
- Journey into Blackness
- Cycle Gang
- Dive to Disaster
- Yuna the Terrible
- Rock and Roll Space Bandits
- Elevator to Nowhere
- One Small Step for Mars
- Haunted House
- The Incredible Crude Oil Monster
- The Voodoo Vampire
- Invasion of the Gleeks
- Mxyzptlk Strikes Again
- The Man in the Moon
- Circus of Horrors
- Around the World in 80 Riddles
- Termites from Venus
- Eruption
- Return of Atlantis
- The Killer Machines
- Garden of Doom
- Revenge of Bizarro
- Outlaws of Orion
- Three Wishes
- Scorpio
- Mxyzptlk's Flick
- Sink Hole
- Alien Mummy
- Evil from Krypton
- The Creature from the Dump
- Aircraft Terror
- Lava Men
- Bazarowurld
- The Warlord's Amulet
- The Iron Cyclops
- Palette's Perils
- Colossuss
- Stowaways from Space
- The Scaraghosta Sea
- The Witch's Arcade
- Mxyzptlk's Revenge
- Roller Coaster
- Once Upon a Poltergeist
- Warpland
- Two Gleeks are Deadlier than One
- Bulgor the Behemoth
- The Krypton Syndrome
- Invasion of the Space Dolls
- Terror on the Titanic
- The Revenge of Doom
- A Pint of Life
- Day of the Dinosaurs
- Return of the Phantoms
- Bully for You
- Superclones
- Prisoners of Sleep
- An Unexpected Treasure
- The Malusian Blob
- Attack of the Cats
- One Small Step for Superman
- Video Victims
- Playground of Doom
- Space Racers
- The Recruiter
Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show[]
- The Bride of Darkseid (Part I)
- The Bride of Darkseid (Part II)
- The Wrath of Braniac
- Reflections in Crime
- No Honor Among Thieves
- Mr. Mxyzptlk and the Magic Lamp
- The Case of the Shrinking Super Friends
- The Mask of Mystery
- Darkseid's Golden Trap (Part I)
- Darkseid's Golden Trap (Part II)
- The Case of the Dreadful Dolls
- The Royal Ruse
- The Village of Lost Souls
- Curator
- The Island of the Dinasoids
- Uncle Mxyzptlk
Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians[]
- The Seeds of Doom
- The Ghost Ship
- The Bizarro Super Powers Team
- The Darkseid Deception
- The Fear
- The Wild Cards
- Brainchild/The Case of the Stolen Powers
- Escape from Space City
- The Death of Superman
Notes[]
- The title of this franchise has been known by several alternate spellings, including: Super Friends, SuperFriends and also as Super-Friends.
- Although they were commonly known as the Super Friends, the team also referred to themselves as the Justice League of America. Each member of the team had a Justice League communicator device with the JLA banner emblazoned upon it.
- Many episodes of the series included public service announcements tacked onto the conclusion of each episode. These epilogues traditionally featured only one or two Super Friends and warned younger viewers against societal ills such as talking to strangers and smoking.
- The Super Friends franchise spawned a DC Comics comic series aptly titled, The Super Friends. The series ran for forty-seven issues and was collected into a trade paperback in 2001, with a cover illustration by Alex Ross (based upon original concept art by Alex Toth). Although the Super Friends comic series took place outside the accepted DC Comics continuity of the time period, it is noted for introducing several canon DC Characters, namely the members of the Global Guardians.
Trivia[]
- Cartoon Network produced a series of Super Friends lampoon shorts as a means of marketing their action/adventure line-up. In one animated short, Aquaman and Wonder Woman meet the Powerpuff Girls.
- The Super Friends have also been lampooned on popular programs such as South Park, the Family Guy, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law and Robot Chicken.
- Wendy and Marvin, originally characters created specifically for the Super Friends, recently made their canon comic book debut in the pages of Teen Titans (Volume 3) #34.
- Late actor Ted Knight (no relation to Starman (Ted Knight)), more popularly known for his roles in the movie Caddyshack and the television sit-com Too Close for Comfort provided the voice of the Narrator on the Super Friends.
- In the third chapter of the Secret Origins pilot movie of the Justice League animated series, the Flash issues a nod to older fans by referring to the newly formed Justice League as a "bunch of Super Friends".
- Despite the fact that the series focused on high-flying heroes and evil, diabolical menaces, there has never been an overt scene of direct physical violence.
See also[]
External links[]
- Super Friends article at Wikipedia
- Super Friends article at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
- Super Friends entry at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB)
- The All-New Super Friends Hour entry at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB)
- Challenge of the Super Friends entry at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB)
- The World's Greatest Super Friends entry at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB)
- Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show entry at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB)
- Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians entry at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB)