Can someone give me the origin of each superhero from the Hall of Justice? For example, did Superman start on the radio or comic book? What about Batman and Robin? Batgirl? Batfink, or was it Batmite? Wonder Woman? Spiderman? Aquaman? Green Hornet? (I’ll assume the Wonder Twins was a poor attempt to appeal to teens?) - Thanks, Jinx
“Hall of Justice” ? Are you referring to the headquarters on the old Superfriends cartoon? All of them have comic-book origins (with the exception of the teen sidekicks, Wendy and Marvin and later Zan and Jayna), and only Superman (I believe) was ever successful as a radio character.
Green Hornet never appeared on that show. Batmite was only a comic-book character.
If you want a complete rundown of every DC character… well… got a couple of days?
First, Green Hornet, Bat-mite and Spider-Man weren’t in the Super Friends.
Second, where are you FROM? I read somewhere that Superman was one of the 3 most known fictional characters on Earth! I thought everyone knew his origin. Anyway…I’ll give the origins of the versions of the characters used on Super-Friends (so other comic geeks, don’t quibble about Earth-2 or Post Crisis origins!)
[ul]
[li]Superman: Action Comics #1. Rocketed from the dying planet Krypton, Superman gained powers and ablities far beyond those of mortal men when exposed to the lighter gravity and yellow sunlight of Earth.[/li]
[li]Batman: Detective Comics #27. After seeing his parents parents murdered, Bruce Wayne devoted his life to avanging their deaths and protecting others. After years of training, he was inspired by a bat flying through a window to become Batman[/li]
[li]Robin: Detective Comics #38. At a circus, young Dick Grayson was member of a family of trapeze artists. After his family was murdered, Batman took him under his wing.[/li]
[li]Batgirl: Detective Comics #367. Comissioner Gordon’s daughter was going to a costume party dressed in a homemade bat-outfit. She foiled a robbery and found she was good at crime-fighting.[/li]
[li]Bat-Mite: Detective #267 A pest from another dimension who idolizes Batman and tries to help Bats be more heroic by creating giant menaces for Batman to beat.[/li]
[li]Aquaman…er…More-Fun #73? Mom was a princess of Atlantis, Dad was a lighthouse keeper. [/li]
[li]Wonder Woman: All-Star Comics #8. On Paradise Island, Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons wanted a daughter. The (Greek and Roman) Gods told her to sculpt a baby out of clay. She did, they brought the kid to life and granted her powers (Speed of Mercury, etc). [/li]
[li]The Wonder-Twins: Super-Friends um…6-8? 7-9? IIRC, though they were created for the TV show, the comic came out before the first broadcast of their first TV appearance. Anyway, they had found out that an old Superman villian (Grax) was going to blow up Earth, so they came here to warn us. [/li][/ul]
Um … Green Fool? Don’t poke the moderators with sticks. They don’t like it.
On an OP-related note, where the heck did Marvin and Wendy come from? Was there any reason the Super Friends let them hang around? Apart from providing them with people to rescue, I mean.
Heh…Grimjack’s origin was given as something like “Mama Grimjack, Papa Grimjack, a bottle of Thunderbird and the back of '57 Chevy. Nine months later: Grimjack!”
[quoteby SauronOn an OP-related note, where the heck did Marvin and Wendy come from? Was there any reason the Super Friends let them hang around? Apart from providing them with people to rescue, I mean.[/quote]
Sauron…I’m going to end up as the SDMB uber-Geek, but yes…
The Origins of Wendy and Marvin (and kinda Wonder-Dog).
Wendy Harris is easy. Harvey Harris is the guy who trained young Bruce Wayne how to be a detective (Detective #226). Wendy is his daughter.
Marvin White’s origin is somewhat more complicated. We’ll have to go back to Wonder Woman’s origin.
After growing up, Wonder Woman (Princess Diana) saw a plane crash. She rescued the pilot (Steve Trevor) and nursed him back to heath…somewhat. Anyway since men weren’t allowed on Paradise Island, someone had to take him back. There was a big contest and Wonder Woman won. She got the invisible plane and flew him back to America. After depositing him in a hospital, she saw a nurse crying on the steps. The nurse explained that her name was Diana Prince and she was upset that she couldn’t be with her signifigant other (boyfriend? Husband) in um…Brazil? Chile?
Wonder Woman, realizing that by an AMAZING CO-INCIDENCE the two of 'em looked alike, offered to give her money to be with her husband (Don White?), but wanted her identity. Diana agreed, and left and Wonder Woman took Diana Prince’s life (with little-or-no consequences).
Anyway, the point of all this is that Marvin is Diana Prince’s (the nurse)'s son.
Wonderdog has been speculated to be related to Ace, the Bat-Hound, but I’ve never bought it (Ace was a German Shepherd for one, and WonderDog is a sort of Great Dane).
The whole point of the Super Friends was to train new young heroes…like Wendy, Marvin and Wonder-Dog. When Zan, Jayna and Gleep came in, Wendy went off to Paradise Island to get more training and I don’t remember where Marvin and Wonder-Dog went…
Wonder Woman’s origin, I have a different recollection.
We are talking about the Hall of Justice/Justice League.
The Gods and Goddesses told Queen Hippolyta, that the outside world needed a champion, and Paradise Island/Themyscira needed to send their very best.
This is how the Contest became, to choose Wonder Woman.
The Queen forbade Princess Diana, to compete but she disobeyed
and masked herself and got into the contest. Because of her Goddesses given gifts when she was created (from the sand)
Diana won the contest, and became Wonder Woman (the outfit, Tiara, The Belt with the Magic Lasso, Bracelets, The Boots).
She got the Invisible Jet went into the world, and met up with the other heroes and saved the world. She was always Wonder Woman, she never had the other personalities, either Princess Diana or Diana Prince.
The Comic Book and the Wonder Woman Show origin is pretty much the same, she rescued Steve Trevor, and took him back to America. Wonder Woman/Diana decided Steve trevor needed to be looked after. So, she decided to take up the Diana Prince
persona, his secretary (Yeoman Diana Prince). She decided her last name should be Prince, since she couldn’t think of a better last name.
Just did a quick google for “superfriends cartoon” and got a list of the mutli-ethnic supporting cast created specifically for the cartoon. Strictly speaking, there were at least 7 seperate shows from 1973 to 1985 as ABC kept retooling the premise and retitling the product. In a way, it’s kinda like the later years of Charlie’s Angels.
Anyhoo:
[ul][li]Black Vulcan (arguably original, though similar to the comic book “Black Lightning” character, which debuted around the same time)[/li][li]Samurai[/li][li]Apache Chief[/li][li]El Dorado[/li][/ul]
As far as I know, origins were never provided for any of these characters.