The Super Friends! is a DC Comics franchise created by Gardner Fox, William Hanna, Joe Barbara and Alex Toth. It was based on the Justice League of America from DC Comics.
It began as an animated series that ran a total of nine seasons from 1973-1985 under a variety of titles. The franchise also gave birth to many products and spin-off shows and television commercials.
Among the most popular products, was the toys, such as the Super Powers Collection; and the books, such as the comic book series.
Genesis of the Super Friends[]
The roots of the Super Friends! franchise can be traced back to the '60s Filmation cartoons, such as The New Adventures of Superman, The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure and The Batman/Superman Hour, all of which served as preludes to the Super Friends!, as they clearly had some of the same voice actors, such as Ted Knight, Olan Soule and Casey Kasem, who would reprise their roles for the Superfriends, suggesting that they are part of the same universe.
Super Friends as a brand[]
The Super Friends! name became a brand throughout the 1970s and on into the present. Sometimes it is presented as Super Friends!, but also Superfriends, Super Friends and Super-Friends.
Other names used to license the brand was Super Amigos, Super Powers, Super Heroes and DC Super Friends. For the most part, the continuity of the franchise was set in the fictional universe known as Earth 1956, however this varied.[2]
Spin-off material and other shows in the Super Friends! universe[]
Although mostly conjecture, this wiki treats other DC Comics animated and live-action productions from Filmation and Ruby-Spears as part of the Super Friends universe, as well as DIC Entertainment's Swamp Thing.
The animated Wildstorm Productions are also considered part of, if not the universe itself, at least part of the multiverse. In the Gen¹³ film the Super Friends are referenced, implying they exist in that universe, but it's impossible to know for sure if it was supposed to be the Earth-1956 Super Friends or not. Furthermore, despite they were mentioned by the name "Superfriends," it's not entirely certain if real people were being referenced or fictional characters. Nevertheless, the simple reference is enough for them to be considered part of the franchise at least, after all Wildstorm was owned by DC Comics even when the film was released.[3]
Also, the classic sixties Batman television series is also included on this wiki, and anything related to it; however it's not part of the Super Friends universe, but a very closely related alternate universe. The fact that the two animated Batman cartoons from Filmation feature Adam West and Burt Ward in one and Olan Soule and Casey Kasem in the other shows that a strong connection between the two universes seems quite apparent. Not to mention the classic live-action specials with the Super Friends that starred West and Ward called Legends of the Superheroes. The relation between these to Earths is too noteworthy to not include that show. Not to mention that the two universes have crossed over before in Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
It's also noteworthy to mention, that it has been implied, although not directly stated, that many other Hanna-Barbera cartoons are also part of the Superfriends Universe; such as Space Ghost and Dino Boy/Space Ghost and Frankenstein, Jr., Frankenstein, Jr. and the Impossibles, Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, The Herculoids Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor and Space Stars. One example as to why this is, was that the Super Friends coloring book from Whitman Publishing that came out in 1975 was directly linked to an episode of Birdman and the Galaxy Trio. Both the cartoon and the coloring book featured the same aliens as guest stars. Because of this, those cartoons can be cataloged here as well.
What is considered canon?[]
If any comic, toy or any other product has any variant of the Super Friends! label on it, such as Super Powers, Super Amigos, DC Comics Super Heroes etc...this should be considered canon despite whether or not the story takes place in the Superfriends universe or not.
As far as in any other instance, if the Super Friends appear or are referenced...it is automatically considered a canon source for this wiki, regardless of whether or not it is in continuity with the series or comic books; or if it is considered official or not. What does this mean? It means it doesn't matter what universe a specific episode, book, movie or commercial is set in, if it features the Super Friends, it should be cataloged here. For example, there are numerous commercials that have aired over the years that are almost certainly not set on Earth 1956, such as Super Friends and the Powerpuff Girls and a variety of other cartoony crossovers that wouldn't fit into the slightly more "real" Super Friends universe.
Despite this, those cartoons should also be included here, just as long as it is treated as being set in a separate continuity. Sometimes it is difficult to determine just what "continuity" it might fall under, but usually, at least with shorts on Cartoon Network and MeTV Toons, they were often set in some version of the Scoobyverse or something similar. It's not overly as important to catalog each continuity as such a thing would be nothing more than conjecture and a waste of time, but as long as it's not treated like it is part of Earth 1956 or Earth-One or New Earth and so forth.
Other examples of out-of-continuity appearances of the Super Friends include The Dynamic Scooby-Doo Affair and Watch 'Em All Doc!, both of which are animated shows set in both the Scoobyverse and Looneyverse, but nevertheless have appearances by characters from the Superfriends franchise, like Batman for instance. This doesn't mean we should catalog EVERY episode, commercial or movie that features Batman. For example, Batman: The Animated Series and all of its' spinoffs clearly does NOT feature any version of the Super Friends Batman. He is a completely different version of Batman. Still, it's more about brand than continuity. But it's also important not to get carried away. The thing is, versions of the Super Friends have appeared or have been referenced in multiple Family Guy episodes. Obviously these episodes should be catalogued here, but certainly not the ENTIRE series. There are numerous Family Guy episodes and cataloging all of them would turn this wiki into something it was never meant to be. This is a Super Friends Wiki, and that's why restraint is needed as well.
Also, there are a number of injokes and references to Superfriends that have been seen in a variety of shows over the years, and including them here is a good idea, but that doesn't mean that they should all be cataloged in the same way we catalog other shows, even if they are shows based on DC Comics. For example, Static Shock has its' own page simply because in the first episode we see the Black Vulcan costume. But we don't catalog all of the characters that appeared in that episode. That's what the DC Animated Wiki is for. Then we have other shows such as GizmoGO!, Super Delicious Ingredient Force and other similar things, which might be thematically similar and somewhat parodical, but doesn't actually feature any Super Friends characters. These can have their own page, but please don't catalog them or any other show that doesn't have the actual Super Friends in them.
That isn't to say that there aren't a FEW (very few) exceptions to that rule. For example, a variety of clothing that is clearly parodying the brand might not have actual members of the Super Friends or related characters on them, but might feature other characters from outside the franchise -- this is the rare exception to the rule, because we do catalog anything that is clearly supposed to be mimicking the Super Friends brand. In short, that's why we have pages for characters such as Cable for example.
What types of things are catalogued on this wiki[]
Anything and everything that has ever been seen or referenced in the Super Friends franchise. Most fandom wikis don't do this, but here we do. We have pages for everything! There's a page for brain for example. It talks about the brain as it relates to the Super Friends franchise. Despite the fact that many articles exist on this wiki for things that are also in the real world, such as geography, gorillas, syringes to name a few examples; try to keep in mind that this is a Super Friends wiki. We use information from the Super Friends franchise, not the real world. Sometimes wherever information is vague, we might write a brief summary of info from the real world, but that's it.
For example, the page for "dehydration" says something about how getting dehydrated can cause someone to shrink. This is not true in the real world, but apparently it is in the Superfriends. Also, even though Venus is a real planet in our own solar system, the information about the atmosphere and flora and fauna is taken from Superfriends, not the real world, because in the real world Venus cannot even support life. This is one of many reasons why I believe it is important to include information like this, since a distinction must be made from things as they exist in the real world and as they do in the Super Friends franchise.
Another reason this is very important is because the inclusion of these real-world topics is to provide full context for the educational message that was central to the Super Friends brand. This focus on documenting the source material's educational intent. Anyone who remembers the Super Friends might remember just how educational the series could be at times. This is something that I believe is very important to document.
References[]
- ↑ This image was taken from Doctor Freelance.
- ↑ For example, the DC Super Friends brand from Fisher-Price was clearly part of a different universe, possibly the same universe that The Joker's Playhouse was part of. However the 2015 series was also part of a completely different universe as well.
- ↑ Although it should be noted that at the time the film was released in 2000, the Wildstorm Universe was still its' own world and hadn't yet merged with the greater DC Universe. This didn't happen until 2011. Still, this wiki isn't bound by the way things were in the comics at the time, as they are not canon from the perspective of the Super Friends.
External Link[]
- Super Friends! at the DC Database