First appearing for just three segments in the Filmation DC series, 1973's Super Friends reunited the Justice League and this time it would stick... with a little determination.
While this first incarnation of Super Friends would last for just 16 episodes, the phoenix would rise from the ashes, over and over again. By the mid-80's seven or so retooled Super Friends series would air for a total of over 200 adventures. But I am getting ahead of myself.
Having acquired the rights to DC's superheroes, Hanna-Barbera's version of the Justice League differed from the Filmation version. For one thing, the line-up was almost completely different. Both teams had Superman, but whereas the 60's League only featured Aquaman in the title sequence, A-Man was a full fledged member of the team. Gone were Hawkman, Green Lantern, the Atom, and Flash (aside from a cameo) and in were Batman and Robin, as well as Wonder Woman. Another major difference was the addition of teen sidekicks (in addition to Robin).
Perhaps building off of what was perceived as a successful pairing of Batman with the Scooby gang and Wonder Woman with the Bradys, this series created non-powered Wendy Harris, Marvin White, and Wonderdog as junior detectives. The characters were eventually fleshed out in the comics with Marvin being revealed as the son of Diana Prince (not Wonder Woman, but the real Diana Prince, the woman Wonder Woman was impersonating) and Wendy was niece of a detective that believed in a young Bruce Wayne.
Another drastic change made for this series was the running time. Whereas the first three Justice League adventures ran for a lean 6-minutes each, Super Friends ran for an over-sized 40+ minutes a pop. Lets just say watching one of these a day for the next 16 days is going to be a bit of a challenge (of the Super Friends).
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