http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/superfriends.jpg

-->''[[{{Narrator}} Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice...]]''

The show that determined more of what you (used to) know (or think) about superheroes than even the Adam West ''Series/{{Batman}}''.

This long-running {{Hanna-Barbera}} series, which ran on ABC from 1973 to 1986, featured superheroes from [[TheDCU DC Comics]]. The core heroes were {{Comicbook/Superman}}, WonderWoman, {{Aquaman}}, {{Comicbook/Batman}} and Robin. Originally, they were joined by "Junior Superfriends" Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog. The series' first season, in 1973-4, consisted of hourlong stories, most of which concerned current issues such as energy conservation; the "criminal" usually had benign motives as a WellIntentionedExtremist who is usually easily persuaded to a more reasonable stand at the end.

Subsequent seasons could conceivably be considered separate series, not unlike ''SuperSentai'' AKA ''PowerRangers'':

* The series was revived in 1977 as ''The All-New Superfriends Hour'', with some [[ReTool reworking]] of the concept. Most notably, the "Junior Superfriends" were replaced with the [[{{Metamorph}} shape-shifting]] Wonder Twins, Zan and Jayna, and their monkey, Gleek, who, unlike their predecessors, had actual semi-useful (if occasionally silly) superpowers. Episodes typically contained more action and less {{Anvilicious}} point-making and plodding stories. This and subsequent seasons included short segments on health, safety and stage magic. ''The All-New Superfriends Hour'' was divided into two parts: one half-hour episode, and another half hour of ThreeShorts, which typically followed a pattern: first, two of the original four heroes; then, a short spotlighting the new Wonder Twins; then, the main story with the entire team; and finally, an episode spotlighting one established hero and introducing another hero, who generally would later appear on the next series:
* ''Challenge of the Superfriends'' in 1978 had the largest cast of the various series: 11 heroes and 13 villains (see HeroesUnlimited). Three of the more notable heroes ''not'' present were the Wonder Twins and Gleek. By this time, the stories began to resemble those found in the actual comic books, although some of the heroes and villains existed only in animation, including three new "[[CaptainEthnic Minority]]" heroes, Black Vulcan (Black), Apache Chief (Native American), and Samurai (Asian). The most fondly remembered series, it evolved as it went on. Most episodes focused on a MacGuffin, and early episodes ended with a VillainExitStageLeft, as if actually capturing the Legion would end their threat, despite the fact that's ''never'' how it works in comic books (see FailureIsTheOnlyOption, JokerImmunity, CardboardPrison). Once they got over that, later episodes raised the stakes and had the Legion introduce ever greater threats, with episode titles starting to take on names like "The Final Challenge" and "Doomsday." The penultimate episode involved the Superfriends being picked off one by one by a "[[AppliedPhlebotinum Noxium Crystal]]" but ultimately being revealed as robots; the final episode ''begins'' AfterTheEnd, as we follow a group of {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s as they encounter the scene and wonder what happened. It turns out the Legion fired a solar flare at Earth, and with Superman out of commission, the Superfriends activated their "global force field"; the mixture of the two bathed the earth in deadly radiation. It ultimately ends with the aliens using TimeTravel to push the inevitable ResetButton, ''moving the moon'' in the path of the flare (). Originally was still part of an hour-long show; the episodes they ran with, which included the core five and the Wonder Twins, are now very rare and almost entirely forgotten, and the last six were out-and-out {{Missing Episode}}s until a 2005 DVD release contained this entire group.
* ''World's Greatest Superfriends'', 1979: Core five members and the Wonder Twins. Only eight episodes; one WholePlotReference after another. The only two exceptions are a MirrorUniverse and an {{Homage}} to ''Superman The Movie''. Mostly ran with reruns originally, which helps explain it.
* From 1980-3, new episodes came in the form of shorts, which generally followed a subtle form of A B A structure, with A teaming one or two of the Core Five with another hero, almost always one appearing on ''Challenge'', although these shorts did introduce El Dorado, essentially a TokenMinority. The second series aired in the first season not to be originally aired as an hour-long show. The third series were originally only shown abroad, as the show had been cancelled in the US, and made up another set of {{Missing Episode}}s until the 1990s.
* The show was revived ''again'' in 1984 as the MerchandiseDriven ''Superfriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show,'' intended to tie in with the Super Powers toy line from Kenner. The show consisted of two 15-minute shorts, except for some two-part half-hours. It introduced Firestorm, who was so heavily spotlighted as to be accused of being a MartyStu. This was also the series that introduced Darkseid and his fellow villainous New Gods of Apokolips to animation, a decade before ''SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', although many aspects of his personality were toned down from the original, and he was given a bizarre fixation on making Wonder Woman his bride.
* ''The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians'', 1985. Hanna-Barbera gave the show a ReTool, eliminating all but one of the characters they created themselves (including the Wonder Twins), introducing Cyborg from the comic books (nearly twenty years before he next appeared in animation on ''TeenTitans''), redoing the character designs, calling the group "The Super Powers Team" instead of the Superfriends, and adding a more HeroesUnlimited feel. The main connection to the previous series was the voices and the villains, as Darkseid was still around (now redesigned to look closer to how his creator, Jack Kirby, intended). Some of the episodes were darker and more somber than prior ones.

And that was that, until ''JusticeLeague'' came along. Many thanks to [[http://user1291318.sites.myregisteredsite.com/willsultimatesuperfriendsepisodeguide/index.html Will's Super Friends Episode Guide]] and [[http://members.aol.com/SprFriends/index.htm Challenge of the Superfriends]].

This show was very campy in its day, ''Challenge'' included (although the last couple of seasons began to veer away from this atmosphere), and used many of the [[LazyArtist worst]] [[AnimatedTrope tropes of animation]]. Despite many of the superheroes' portrayals as rather bland, the show also had the unfortunate effect of inexplicably tainting the character Aquaman's reputation among the general public (see ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman). Although Aquaman, especially recently, has been more of a KingArthur figure than a traditional brawler, the main problem was the show's general MediaWatchdogs-induced abhorrence of violence and actual fighting. While Superman could fly, lift heavy things and melt metal things, Batman had his cool gadgets, and Wonder Woman had her Lasso of Truth, Aquaman could basically swim and talk to animals. Check out the character of whom Aquaman's a CaptainErsatz, Marvel's Namor the Sub-Mariner, for a case where having little more than the ability to swim (and fly) can actually make you quite kick-ass.

There was also a tie-in ''Super Friends'' ComicBook series for a while. It wasn't half-bad, once it started departing from the strict guidelines of the television show. It's best remembered now for the CanonImmigrant "Global Guardians" team that it created as a team of CaptainEthnic heroes.

Recently, there's a new "Super Friends" toy line and associated comic book, this one featuring Superman, Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and the John Stewart GreenLantern. No word yet on whether there will be an animated adaptation.

See [[http://www.seanbaby.com/super.htm Seanbaby's Super Friends Page]] for a snarky and sarcastic take on the series.
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!!This series provides examples of:
* AliensSpeakingEnglish
* AnAesop
* AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle - Especially in ''All-New Super Friends'' where there are safety and health tips, a two part riddle pertaining the show's main story and simple arts and crafts projects.
* AnimatedSeries
* ButWhatAboutTheAstronauts- A spell sending the Earth back to the Stone Age doesn't affect Skylab in space, and the astronauts help the Superfriends save the day.
* CanonImmigrant: The Wonder Twins immigrated into the mainstream DC Universe as members of the ''Justice League International'' spin-off, ''Extreme Justice''. Wendy and Marvin also appeared in a 2006 issue of ''Teen Titans'', one year after ''[[CrisisCrossover Infinite Crisis]]''.
** Apache Chief also appears in CaptainErsatz form in the DCU, although with a DarkerAndEdgier backstory.
* CaptainEthnic (the Asian Samurai, the [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Black]] Black Vulcan, the Native American Apache Chief, the Hispanic El Dorado)
* CaptainErsatz: They created Black Vulcan, an electrically powered black man, instead of using DC's existing electrically-powered black man, Black Lightning. Rumor has it that this stems from a creative rights dispute with Lightning's creator, Tony Isabella; decades later, DC refused to let Black Lightning appear as a GuestStar on ''StaticShock''.
** The dispute has apparently been resolved, as Black Lightning, as part of the Outsiders, has appeared on ''Batman: The Brave and the Bold.''
* EasilyConqueredWorld: In ''Challenge of the Superfriends'', near the end of any given episode, there's a good chance that the Legion of Doom will either have temporary control of the world or ''just'' barely be thwarted.
* EigenPlot
* FetishFuel: Giganta is quite... popular amongst so called "macrophiliacs".
* FiveManBand
* FridgeLogic: In "The Fear", Jonathan Crane--the Scarecrow's true identity--is "helping" Commissioner Gordon and the Super Powers Teams (the episode was part of the ''The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians'' era) capturing his alter ego ala [[SilenceOfTheLambs Hannibal Lecter]] prior to the events of ''Red Dragon''. However, the Scarecrow was also a member of the Legion of Doom during ''Challenge of the Superfriends'' and hence the few times the Legion of Doom stayed captured, the Super Friends and the police should've learned the his identity prior to the episode.
* FunPersonified (The Wonder Twins)
* GreatGazoo (Mr. Mxyzptlk)
* HeyItsThatVoice: Casey Kasem as Robin
** In ''Superfriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show'' and ''The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians,'' AdamWest reprised his role of Batman from the 60s ''[[{{Series/Batman}} Batman]]'' series.
* ImpossiblyCoolClothes
* InkStainAdaptation: Aquaman...poor, poor Aquaman...
* JokerJury
* JunglePrincess (Rima)
* LimitedWardrobe (applies only to Wendy and Marvin)
* LeotardOfPower
* MirroredConfrontationShot: The cover of Challenge of the Superfriends
* MotionlessChin
* NonHumanSidekick (Wonder Dog in first season, Gleek afterward)
* SoBadItsGood
* StandardizedLeader (Superman)
* StepThreeProfit
* StockFootage
* SuperHero
* TalkingAnimal (Jayna in animal form, Gorilla Grodd)
* TheTeamNormal (Batman, Wendy, Marvin)
* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman
* UnderwearOfPower
* WeOnlyHaveOneChance (not technically the trope namer, but might as well have been)
* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway (Aquaman became this to viewers)
** On the villain's side, Scarecrow and Black Manta suffered from this as well.
* {{Why Dont Ya Just Shoot Him}} The villains on this show love death traps and other needlessly complex schemes.
** Averted in the episode "Super Friends: Rest in Peace" where Lex Luthor invents an amazing device: a gun...that can kill people! (Okay, so one of those people is Superman, but still.) The Legion of Doom seemingly takes out all the Super Friends with this incredible weapon, but then it turns out to have all been a ruse by the heroes, which they use to ambush the Legion and arrest them.
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