"SuperFriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show" (1984)TV series

Writers:

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

8 September 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Animation

Plot:

The Justice League battle the forces of Darkseid with the additional help of Firestorm, the Nuclear Man.

Plot Keywords:

DC Comics | Batman | Based On Comic | Superhero | Superman

Cast

Constance Cawlfield	...	Wonder Woman (8 episodes, 1984)
Danny Dark	...	Superman (8 episodes, 1984)
Mark L. Taylor	...	Firestorm (8 episodes, 1984)
Adam West	...	Batman (8 episodes, 1984)
Casey Kasem	...	Robin (7 episodes, 1984)
Frank Welker	...	Darkseid / ... (6 episodes, 1984)
Olan Soule	...	Professor Martin Stein (4 episodes, 1984)
Michael Rye	...	Apache Chief / ... (3 episodes, 1984)
Jack Angel	...	Samurai (2 episodes, 1984)
Michael Bell	...	Zan, Gleek (2 episodes, 1984)
Fernando Escandon	...	El Dorado (2 episodes, 1984)
Buster Jones	...	Black Vulcan (2 episodes, 1984)
Stan Jones	...	Lex Luthor (2 episodes, 1984)
Stanley Ralph Ross	...	Brainiac (2 episodes, 1984)
B.J. Ward	...	Jayna (2 episodes, 1984)

Also Known As:

SuperFriends V (USA) (short title)

Runtime:

30 min (16 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Hanna-Barbera Productions

Trivia:

The new-look Brainiac debuted in this series. Brainiac's new look came about as a result of the decision to alter the character radically in time to celebrate the anniversary of ACTION COMICS, Superman's debut title. After his radical transformation, Brainiac appeared as essentially a big metal walking skeleton with a giant pink braincase containing his altered computer brain - the same altered appearance that he boasts on this show.

Movie Connections:

Followed by "The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians" (1985)

Vast improvement

After "Worlds Greatest Superfriends," I had pretty much given up on the Super Friends. But they brought back a new series which introduced Firestorm (a very popular character in comics) and Darkseid (major villain). There had been a lot of updating with some characters, such as the return of DC villians like Lex Luthor and Brainiac, a little more detail in characters (Wonder Woman and her boyfriend Steve Trevor), etc. It wasn't perfect, but it was a step in the right direction and a welcome relief.

The Wonder Twins were pretty much gone, I think. By the way, the Twins were introduced in mainstream comics in 1995 in a Justice League-related title, EXTREME JUSTICE, with a revised origin and (thank God) no Gleek. They were last seen in YOUNG JUSTICE.