Legion of Doom

The Legion of Doom
Official Name:
Legion of Doom
Alias:	League of Evil; Legion of Good; Giants of Doom
Leader:	Lex Luthor
Headquarters:	Hall of Doom
Purpose:	Conquest of the Universe
First Appearance:
Episode:	Wanted: The Superfriends

"Banded together from remote galaxies, thirteen of the most sinister villains of all time - the Legion of Doom!" — 'SuperFriends, Narrator'

The Legion of Doom was an organized body of self-proposed supervillains. There was not a counterpart to the 'Legion of Doom' in the Earth-One universe.

Although they never seem to get the upper hand on their nemeses, the SuperFriends, they nevertheless quest for evil and the destruction of all that is good.

In each episode that they appeared, the Legion of Doom would enact various plots against the Super Friends, only to be met with defeat by the end of the story. Often, however, they would escape capture through a last-minute escape plan.

Background Information

In the Earth-1A universe, after several years of struggle against superheroes, both individually and collectively, it soon became apparent to Lex Luthor that working together with his fellow villainous cohorts was the only way to enact their sinister plans on an unsuspecting populous. So he assembled twelve supervillains, forming the most powerful and sinister group the world has ever seen.

Not long after their meeting, Sinestro remarked they needed a headquarters. Black Manta suggested the headquarters should be at the bottom of the ocean, while Captain Cold said it should be under the ice of the polar cap, and Grodd said the jungle was the only logical choice. Luthor responded with a compromise, where the headquarters would be located in the swamp hidden beneath its murky waters. The resulting dome-shaped headquarters was called the Hall of Doom and was capable of all sorts of travel.

Equipment

• Dream Machine: Allows the user to control the subject when they are dreaming. Luthor programmed the device to not work on the Legion of Doom.
• Mutation Device: Turns everyone it hits into Bizarros and Cheetahs.
• Cloaking Device: Can make an entire planet invisible.
• Interspacial Time Conveyor: Opens a "door" into the past. A variant of this device was incorporated into the Hall of Doom allowing it to travel through time. It is unclear if this device was further modified to allow travel between dimensions or that was another device.
• Radar Scrambler: makes the user virtually invisible to radar.
• Androids: robotic duplicates of actual people.
• Propulsion activator: allows the Hall of Doom to tunnel underground.

Transportation

• Hall of Doom
• Six wheelers

Weapons

• Crystalizing Ray: turns the person its hit into crystal.
• Noximum

Legion Members

Legion Members: Past and Present

Primary Thirteen (1978, 1983) Sivana's Line-up (1979) Other Members Lex Luthor (Team Leader) Brainiac Gorilla Grodd Black Manta Cheetah Sinestro Captain Cold Scarecrow Toyman Solomon Grundy The Riddler Giganta Bizarro League of Evil (year unknown) Abra Kadabra • Beautia Sivana • Captain Cold • The Cheetah • Doctor Sivana • Gorilla Grodd • Heat Wave • Joker • King Kull • Mister Atom • Penguin • Poison Ivy • Sinestro Team from Legends of the Superheroes (1979) Mordru • Weather Wizard • Sinestro • Riddler (secretary) • Dr. Sivana • Solomon Grundy • Giganta Reverse-Flash and the rest of the Legion of Doom. Doctor Nataz: Another member of the group was Doctor Nataz. (He was only referenced. He was not depicted on the show or comic book). He invented the noxium crystal, which was deadly to every member of the Superfriends, as it contained trace amounts of their weaknesses in it. Reverse-Flash: He was one of the later recruits to the team. The other thirteen members recruited him. Evil Sponge: A sentient sponge of unknown origin. It's unknown if he was an actual member or just a figment of Zan's imagination.

Legion Headquarters

The Legion of Doom's headquarters is the Hall of Doom, which lies in what can only be Slaughter Swamp.

The Hall of Doom was mobile, lowered below or raised above the swamp water's surface, and often flown through the air via rockets if needed, even remotely controlled. It was even capable of space travel. It also had laser defense weapons and at times was altered for time travel to the past or future.

The second incarnation of the Legion of Doom had a Domed Retreat at Hidden Island. When Darkseid, DeSaad and Kalibak joined Lex Luthor and Brainiac, they used a Domed Fortress. Although Luthor and Brainiac took part in this team-up adventure, it's unknown if they considered themselves the Legion of Doom or not, so calling the Domed Fortress one of their headquarters might not be entirely accurate. A similar question might be raised about the Supervillain's Lair that was used by Darkseid, Joker, Lex Luthor, Kalibak and DeSaad.

Gallery

The Legion of Earth-508A

Notes

• The Legion of Doom first appeared on the Super Friends TV series, debuting in the episode Wanted: The Superfriends written by Jeffrey Scott.
  • The Legion of Doom was a new creation by Hanna-Barbera for the Challenge of the SuperFriends.
• The original name was the "League of Evil" and was to be led by Captain Marvel's nemesis Doctor Sivana. However, Filmation was producing the Shazam! TV series (1974 to 1976) and The New Adventures of Batman (1977) which prevented the use of characters such as Mister Atom, King Kull, Beautia Sivana, Joker, Penguin, Mr. Freeze, and Catwoman. Early conceptual art drawn by Alex Toth also included Heat Wave, Poison Ivy, and Abra Kadabra.
• Prior to the first televised appearance of the Legion of Doom, a group called the Super Foes appeared in the first issue of the SuperFriends Comic Book in November 1976. Its membership featured Toyman, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Cheetah, Human Flying Fish, and their protégés Toyboy, Chick, Honeysuckle, Kitten and Sardine, respectively, in keeping with the theme of trainees, Wendy and Marvin and then Zan and Jayna.
• The episode "Superfriends: Rest in Peace" makes a reference to a former unseen member of the Legion, the only time such a reference has been made. This was Doctor Natas (Satan spelled backwards).
• The opening sequence for Challenge of the Super Friends states that the Legion's members had "banded together from remote galaxies". Brainiac (from Colu), and Sinestro (from Korugar) are extraterrestrials. The remaining eleven are native to Earth.

Appearances

Season 3 (1978):

1. Wanted: The Superfriends
2. Invasion of the Fearians
3. The World's Deadliest Game
4. The Time Trap
5. Trial of the Superfriends
6. Monolith of Evil
7. The Giants of Doom
8. Secret Origins of the Superfriends
9. Revenge on Gorilla City
10. Swamp of the Living Dead
11. Conquerors of the Future
12. The Final Challenge
13. Fairy Tale of Doom
14. Doomsday
15. Superfriends: Rest in Peace
16. History of Doom

The Legion also appeared in a few Super Friends shorts

• 'The Revenge of Doom' (1983 Short): All 13 Legion of Doon members appear, but only Lex Luthor, Sinestro and Solomon Grundy speak.
• 'Two Gleeks Are Deadlier Than One' (1983 Short): Though only Giganta and Grodd appear, the Legion is mentioned.
• 'The Krypton Syndrome' (1983 Short): After Superman saves Krypton in the past, he returns to an alternate present. Robin mentions that the Super Friends were defeated by the Legion of Doom.

Members of the team have solo appearances in later episodes

Lex Luthor appears in:

• 'Lex Luthor Strikes Back', The World's Greatest Super Friends (1979)
• 'The Case of the Shrinking Superfriends', Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show (1984)
• 'No Honor Among Thieves', Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show (1984)
• 'The Mask of Mystery', Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show (1984)
• 'The Seeds of Doom', The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (1985)

Brainiac appears in:

• 'Superclones', 1980 Short
• 'The Wrath of Brainiac', Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show (1984)

NOTE: Brainiac takes up a more robotic form from this appearance to Brainchild matching his current comic counterpart at the time.

• 'The Village of Lost Souls', Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show (1985)
• 'Brainchild', The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (1985)

Bizarro appears in:

• 'Bizarroworld', 1980 Short
• 'Revenge of Bizarro', 1980 Short
• 'Video Victims', 1980 Short

The Riddler appears in:

• 'Around the World in 80 Riddles', 1980 Short

The Scarecrow appears in:

• 'The Fear', The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (1985) - introducing his real name, Jonathan Crane

External Links

• Legion of Doom at Wikipedia
• Legion of Doom at the DCAU Wiki

Appearances in Other Media

Legion of Doom The 2006, DC comic miniseries Justice features a version of the Legion of Doom; series plotter/artist Alex Ross is a passionate Super Friends fan. In addition to the thirteen villains featured in the Super Friends cartoon, this version of the Legion counts Black Adam, Metallo, Clayface, Parasite, and Poison Ivy as members. The Joker and Doctor Sivana also make appearances. - Go to DC Database for more on the DC comic miniseries 'Justice'

Legion of Doom Legion of Doom was a supervillain organization put together by Gorilla Grodd to counter the expanded Justice League. Grodd brought many of Earth's villains together into a third incarnation of his Secret Society. They would pay a tribute to take care of overhead, and could rely on each other's help. All this had a greater goal, but Grodd was unwilling to reveal it. When the plan was revealed - Grodd wanted to rewrite human DNA into becoming gorillas - Luthor usurped the throne. Luthor also had his own agenda - he wanted to reconstitute Brainiac. Tala eventually released Grodd from captivity, and mounted a large attack on Luthor's camp. In the end, Grodd and Tala were killed, and Luthor won. However, only few survived as Darkseid blew up the spaceship they were in. - Go to the DCAU Wiki for more on the Legion of Doom