Challenge of the Superfriends


Challenge of the Superfriends is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from September 9 to December 23, 1978, on ABC. The complete series was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and is based on the Justice League and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics and created by Julius Schwartz, Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky. It was the third series of Super Friends cartoons, following the original Super Friends in 1973 and Super Friends Hour">Super Friends (1973 TV series)">Super Friends Hour in 1977.

Format

First segment

As originally aired, this season featured adventures with Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and the Wonder Twins, similar to those that had aired the previous season in The All-New Super Friends Hour. These episodes were later shown using the opening credits of the All-New Super Friends Hour in syndication.

Second segment

The second segment of this season was Challenge of the Superfriends, a 16-episode series that came the closest to the comic books. Not only did Challenge have the Justice League of America, but it was also the first official Super Friends series to feature DC supervillains from the comics, and this series had 13 of them together as a group called the Legion of Doom. It included Superman foes like Lex Luthor, Brainiac, the Toyman, and Bizarro, and Batman foes like the Riddler and the Scarecrow. The Legion of Doom dwelt in a murky swamp and launched their attacks for global conquest from a sinister-looking, swamp-based, mechanical, flying headquarters called the Hall of Doom as a suitable contrast with the Superfriends' gleaming Hall of Justice. Every week, the Legion schemed to either get rid of or destroy the Superfriends so they could conquer the world. The Superfriends themselves consisted of 11 Justice League heroes. Thanks to the second segment alone being used with the Challenge of the Superfriends opening and confusing references to the show, it is often mistakenly believed that the first and second segments were two separate shows.

Production background

Early development

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

Narration, music and character designs

Bill Woodson provides the uncredited voice of the narrator in Challenge of the Superfriends, and the opening narration was by Stanley Jones. The show's main theme and original music was composed and arranged by musical director Hoyt Curtin. The music supervisor was Paul DeKorte. Character designs for this particular Super Friends series were done by Andre LeBlanc.

Team composition experimentation

Hanna-Barbera's writers experimented with team composition as well. Challenge of the Superfriends added The Flash, Green Lantern, and Hawkman who were members of the Justice League of America, as well as several new characters: Black Vulcan, Apache Chief, and Samurai. These characters were created to add racial and cultural diversity to the show.

Lineups

Super Friends/Justice League of America

Eleven heroes make up the Superfriends/Justice League of America. They are:

Legion of Doom

Thirteen villains comprise the Legion of Doom during the Challenge of the Superfriends series. They are:
Despite the claim in the program's title sequence that the Legion's members hail from "remote galaxies", only Brainiac and Sinestro are extraterrestrials; the remaining members are all natives of Earth. Solomon Grundy is a zombie, an animated dead person, as the episode Monolith of Evil makes clear. In "History of Doom", even Solomon Grundy supposedly dies from the solar flare.

Voice cast

Home media

Warner Home Video originally released this season of Super Friends on two separate DVDs on June 1, 2004, the first one being Challenge of the Superfriends: Attack of the Legion of Doom, which featured the "Challenge" segments, and the second being Challenge of the Superfriends: United They Stand, which featured the Superfriends segments. Both DVDs only featured four episodes. The first season with the Challenge episodes was re-released as Challenge of the Superfriends: The First Season on July 6, 2004. The second one with the Super Friends episodes was named Super Friends: Volume Two and was re-released on May 24, 2005.
TitleTypeNumber of episodesRelease date
Challenge of the SuperfriendsThe First Season16July 6, 2004
Super FriendsVolume Two16May 24, 2005

Spoofs

In 1998, Cartoon Network produced two commercials spoofing Challenge of the Superfriends:
  • One dealt with the idiosyncratic nature of the Legion of Doom and Brainiac's odd manner of dress.
  • The second, co-starring the Powerpuff Girls, dealt with Aquaman's powers as well as the level of violence compared to today's cartoons, as Wonder Woman and Aquaman look away while the Powerpuff Girls beat up the Legion of Doom, going so far as to set the Scarecrow on fire. Most notably was Bubbles' double entendre reply to Wonder Woman's compliment on how they were developing as superheroes: "Someday we'll be as developed as you". Lex Luthor, since he was a villain, began laughing. His allies understood the joke and all of them laughed as well. When a piece of the Hall of Doom's ceiling fell on Luthor's head, everyone laughed.
In 2003, Cartoon Network Latin America aired the spoof series The Aquaman & Friends Action Hour that starred Aquaman as a children's television show host and the Legion of Doom as his bankrupt villains.

''Legends of the Superheroes''

The two NBC televised live-action specials of Legends of the Superheroes produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions was based largely on Challenge of the Superfriends while featuring Adam West, Burt Ward, and Frank Gorshin of the 1966 Batman television series fame. The Justice League starred Batman, Robin, Captain Marvel, the Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, the Huntress, and the Black Canary against the Legion of Doom which featured Mordru leading Doctor Sivana, the Riddler, Giganta, Sinestro, the Weather Wizard, and Solomon Grundy.

''DC Super Friends''

Despite using the main theme from The World's Greatest SuperFriends, the 2010 DC Super Friends "The Joker's Playhouse" shares several elements of its opening sequence with Challenge of the Superfriends, including introducing the Legion of Doom.

''Robot Chicken DC Comics Special''

The opening sequence of the Robot Chicken DC Comics Special parodies the opening of Challenge of the Superfriends with the Legion of Doom substituted for Robot Chicken original characters Chicken, Mad Scientist, Nerd, Humping Robot, Composite Santa, Gummy Bear, the Unicorn, and Bitch Puddin'. The Legion of Doom, Hall of Doom, and Hall of Justice also feature prominently in the episode.