List of Super Friends members
The following is an overview of the members of the DC Comics superhero team known as the Super Friends (Super Powers Team in the final season), an adaptation of the Justice League of America.
Core Super Friends members
[edit]This is the list of Super Friends members that were on the show since its premiere in 1973.
Aquaman
[edit]Aquaman (voiced by Norman Alden in the first two series, subsequently by William Callaway) is the king of Atlantis. He possesses the ability to communicate with fish and survive underwater. The series has been blamed for making Aquaman unpopular and even laughable by toning down his powers and competence.[1]
Batman
[edit]Batman (voiced by Olan Soule, later by Adam West) is a billionaire who becomes a bat-themed vigilante to avenge the deaths of his parents and battle evil. The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians marks the first time that Batman's origin is portrayed on television.
Robin
[edit]Robin (voiced by Casey Kasem) is Batman's sidekick.
Superman
[edit]Superman (voiced by Danny Dark) is an esteemed superhero from the destroyed planet Krypton. His younger self, Superboy, also appears, voiced by Danny Dark in the episode "History of Doom" and Jerry Dexter in the episode "Return of the Phantoms".
Wonder Woman
[edit]Wonder Woman (voiced initially by Shannon Farnon, later by Connie Caulfield and B. J. Ward) is the princess of the Amazons. She wields the Lasso of Truth, a lasso that she can mentally command, and the Invisible Plane.[2]
Secondary Super Friends members
[edit]Cyborg
[edit]Cyborg (voiced by Ernie Hudson) is a former athlete who was converted into a cyborg to save his life after an accident destroyed most of his body.[3]
Firestorm
[edit]Firestorm is a composite superhero composed of Ronnie Raymond (voiced by Mark L. Taylor) and Martin Stein (voiced by Olan Soule). Ronnie is the matrix's primary host, with Stein acting as an incorporeal mentor who only he can perceive.
Flash
[edit]Flash (voiced by Jack Angel) is a core member of the Super Friends who possesses superhuman speed.
Green Lantern
[edit]Green Lantern (voiced by Michael Rye) is a core member of the Super Friends who can create energy constructs using his power ring.
Hawkgirl and Hawkman
[edit]Hawkgirl and Hawkman (voiced by Shannon Farnon and Jack Angel respectively) are extraterrestrial police officers and members of the Super Friends who can fly and wield Nth Metal maces.
International Super Friends members
[edit]These Super Friends members are original characters who were created to add ethnic diversity to the team.
Apache Chief
[edit]Apache Chief (voiced by Michael Rye) is a Native American member of the Super Friends who can grow to colossal sizes using the incantation "Inyuk-chuk" ("Big Man").
Black Vulcan
[edit]Black Vulcan (voiced by Buster Jones) is an African-American member of the Super Friends who can fly and generate electricity. He was created to replace Black Lightning, who could not be used due to disputes between DC and the character's creator Tony Isabella.[4]
El Dorado
[edit]El Dorado (voiced by Fernando Escandon) is a Hispanic member of the Super Friends who possesses telepathy and teleportation.
Rima
[edit]Rima the Jungle Girl (voiced by Shannon Farnon) is a South American member of the Super Friends who can communicate with animals. She was originally created for William Henry Hudson's 1904 novel Green Mansions.
Samurai
[edit]Samurai (voiced by Jack Angel) is a Japanese member of the Super Friends who can manipulate wind.
One-shot Super Friends members
[edit]The following is an overview of characters who only made one appearance on the series.
Green Arrow
[edit]Green Arrow appears in the Super Friends episode "Gulliver's Gigantic Goof", voiced by Norman Alden.
Plastic Man
[edit]Plastic Man appears in the Super Friends episode "Professor Goodfellow's G.E.E.C.", voiced by Norman Alden.
Junior Super Friends
[edit]Wendy and Marvin
[edit]Wendy Harris and Marvin White are two junior superheroes in training who were created in an era in which many cartoons featured main characters with sidekicks who were supposed to serve two purposes: comic relief and viewer identification. In the comics, some additional information was given. Wendy is the niece of Harvey Harris, a detective who trained Batman when he was a teenager.[5] Marvin is the son of Diana Prince, the nurse whose identity Wonder Woman assumed, and her husband Dan White. Wendy and Marvin would later be revamped and used in the Teen Titans comic book as support characters. Marvin was killed and Wendy (who in this version was revealed to be the daughter of the villain the Calculator) was left with spinal cord injuries, denying her the use of her legs.
Wonder Dog
[edit]In the Super Friends animated series, Wonder Dog is portrayed as the pet/sidekick of Wendy and Marvin. He appears in all 16 episodes of the original television series. This version of Wonder Dog also appeared in the first six issues of the Super Friends comic book series.
Wonder Twins
[edit]The duo made their debut in The All-New Super Friends Hour and went on to appear in Challenge of the Superfriends, The World's Greatest Super Friends, Super Friends, and Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show. Zan (voiced by Michael Bell) and Jayna (voiced by Liberty Williams[6][7]) are siblings from the planet Exxor (also spelled Exor) who were being informally trained by the superheroes. Unlike their predecessors, Wendy Harris and Marvin White, this pair was able to participate in combat with abilities of their own. Zan can transform into any form of water, while Jayna can transform into any animal.
Gleek
[edit]Gleek (voiced by Michael Bell) is a monkey-like alien and the Wonder Twins' sidekick.
References
[edit]- ^ Bradley, Laura (December 12, 2018). "A Brief History of Pop Culture Dumping on Aquaman". Vanity Fair.
- ^ The Ultimate Super Friends Companion: Volume 1, The 1970s (BRBTV Fact Book Series) (Volume 5) Paperback
- ^ The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians animatedsuperheroes.com
- ^ Morse, Ben (3 March 2007). "LIGHTNING ROD: How Black Lightning hurdled racism, knockoffs and wars between creators to become the new powerhouse of Justice League of America". WizardUniverse.com. Archived from the original on 11 January 2008.
- ^ Super Friends #1 (Nov. 1976)
- ^ Liberty Williams at tcmdb
- ^ "TV Q&A". Boston Herald. 23 October 2011. Retrieved 14 October 2022.