History ComicBook / WonderTwins

** Zan. Jayna can turn into all sorts of creatures. Cool, right? Zan can turn into various forms of ''water''. That's it. Though with him, it depends on usage. In the show, he preferred a rather useless bucket of water. However, nothing's stopping him from using ice or water powers the way Franchise/SpiderMan villain Hydro-Man does. If not shackled to the IdiotBall, he could be the most powerful character on the show, bar Superman (incidentally, a ''lot'' of characters fitting into the lame power category are like this and become RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap when the writers said "wait a minute, what could you ''really'' do with this power?").

Created by artist Creator/AlexToth, the Twins (Zan and Jayna) were a replacement for the show's earlier {{Audience Surrogate}}s, Wendy, Marvin and Wonderdog. Unlike their predecessors, the Twins (and Gleek) have superpowers and so are more believably useful to the superheroes: Zan can change into any form of water, and Jayna can change into any animal, but they can activate their powers only by touching first. Gleek has an elastic and prehensile tail.

The Wonder Twins had their first comic book appearance in ''Super Friends'' #7 (October, 1977). The characters were further developed in the comic: it turns out they are mutants on top of being aliens. Because of this fact, after their parents' death (in a plague) they were adopted by the owner of a Space Circus, who only wanted them as part of their [[TheFreakshow freak show]]. Fortunately, the circus' [[NonIronicClown clown]] raised them well, and gave them Gleek. Eventually, however, they decided to escape and hid on a supposedly uninhabited planet... that turned out to contain the secret base of Grax, a (pretty obscure) Superman villain. They overheard him planning to blow up the Earth with hidden bombs. The Twins go to Earth and contact the League, who (with help from several international superheroes -- ''not'' the same ones seen in the TV show) foiled the plan. Afterward, the trio were allowed to succeed Wendy, Marvin and Wonderdog on the team, as Wendy and Marvin were conveniently retiring to go back to school.

Zan and Jayna then live with Professor Carter Nichols, an old friend of Batman. They, too, attend high school, under their own secret identities (as Johan and Johanna Flemming, a pair of "foreign transfer students" from "Esko", a real town in Sweden) and have adventures of their own.

The Twins eventually were phased out of the TV show (with no explanation) and when the comic was canceled, they pretty much disappeared. (Note that ''Super Friends'' was never canonical with the rest of DC Comics.) Eventually they were reintroduced (ComicBook/PostCrisis) as a pair of [[GrimDark alien slaves]] rescued by ComicBook/CaptainAtom's version of the League. This version of the Twins first appeared in ''Extreme Justice'' #9 (October, 1995).

The Twins eventually got their first solo title, written by Mark Russell, as part of Creator/BrianMichaelBendis's teen-focused Creator/WonderComics imprint in 2019.

A pair of characters based on them (Downpour and Shifter) also appeared in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' ("Ultimatum"[[spoiler:, and clones of them in "Panic in the Sky"]]). Another version of them also appeared on the the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' episode "Idol". They appeared in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' as well, with them briefly joining the team. Creator/AdultSwim once created five shorts called ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfTheWonderTwins'' which was a more adult, DarkComedy take on the twins.

* AllTheOtherReindeer: The Exorians didn't want to care for children with "mutant powers". Their hypocrisy is made obvious later in a story when they ''demand'' that the Twins save them from another duo of Exorian shapeshifters. This is also probably a ShoutOut to Creator/{{Marvel|Comics}}'s ''ComicBook/XMen''.
* AmazingTechnicolourWildlife: Gleek is a blue monkey. {{Justified|Trope}} since he's an alien.

* ChestInsignia: Stylized Z and J, respectively. Justified as they only added the letters to their SpaceClothes after joining the Superfriends. One of the comics has them getting the insignias specifically because of their admiration of Superman's "S" symbol.

* PrivateProfitPrison: The 2019 Wonder Twins comic series dealing with a privatized Prison owned by Lex Luthor. In the vein of commentary on at real-life issues relating to them, many inmates were incarcerated for minute crimes--such as overdue parking fines that even members of Lex Luthor's criminal organization aren't immune to their whims--and provided cheap labor in the form of a call center.

* SuperZeroes: Like ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}, the twins have a reputation of being lame characters from the TV show; in the comic, they are far more effective. Even on ''Superfriends'', they are fairly creative. Would ''you'' have thought of becoming a "[[TravelCool steam-powered ice jet]]"?

** Zan. Jayna can turn into all sorts of creatures. Cool, right? Zan can turn into various forms of ''water''. That's it. Though with him it depends on usage. In the show, he preferred a rather useless bucket of water. However, nothing's stopping him from using ice or water powers the way Hydro-Man does. If not shackled to the IdiotBall, he could be the most powerful character in the show, bar Superman. (Incidentally, a ''lot'' of characters fitting into the lame power category are like this and are RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap when the writers said "wait a minute, what could you ''really'' do with this power?")

** Lampshaded and defied in their ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' cameo. The Titans find Zan pretty much useless, but he does demonstrate some uses for his power -- redirecting a rhino by becoming the ice under her feet, managing to briefly evade capture (until Beast Boy turns into a pelican), and finally demonstrating the SwissArmySuperpower idea -- to turn into an ice unicycle.
* WonderTwinPowers: TropeNamer. Note that saying "Wonder Twin Powers, activate!" is ''not'' actually necessary, nor do they need to touch by the hands. In ''Smallville'', though, Clark stops a second round of LetsYouAndHimFight before it starts by putting his hand between theirs when they are going to touch and power up.

Zan and Jayna then live with Professor Carter Nichols, an old friend of Batman. They, too, attend high school, under their own secret identities (as Johan and Johanna Flemming, a pair of "foreign transfer students" from "Esko", an real town in Sweden) and have adventures of their own.

Zan and Jayna then live with Professor Carter Nichols, an old friend of Batman. They, too, attend high school, under their own secret identities (as Johan and Johanna Flemming, a pair of "foreign transfer students" from "Esko", an [actual] town in Sweden) and have adventures of their own.

* LawEnforcementInc: The 2019 Wonder Twins comic series dealing with a privatized Prison owned by Lex Luthor. In the vein of commentary on at real-life issues relating to them, many inmates were incarcerated for minute crimes--even for those working for Lex Luthor's criminal organization aren't immune to their whims--and provided cheap labor in the form of a call center.

** Lampshaded and defied in their ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' cameo. The Titans find Zan pretty much useless, but he does demonstrate some uses for his power -- redirecting a rhino by becoming the ice under her feet, managing to briefly evade capture (until Beast Boy turns into a pelican), and finally demonstrating the SwissArmySuperpower idea -- to turn into a unicycle.

** Lampshaded and defied in their ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' cameo. The Titans find Zan pretty much useless, but he does demonstrate some uses for his power -- redirecting a rhino by become the ice under her feet, managing to briefly evade capture (until Beast Boy turns into a pelican), and finally demonstrating the SwissArmySuperpower idea -- to turn into a unicycle.

* CallingYourAttacks: Doubles as the Twins' CatchPhrase. Each will say "Form of [X]!" before transforming.

Today, the twins are back in ComicBookLimbo, which, given how dark the DC Universe has become, is probably for the best. A pair of characters based on them (Downpour and Shifter) also appeared in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' ("Ultimatum"[[spoiler:, and clones of them in "Panic in the Sky"]]). Another version of them also appeared on the the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' episode "Idol". They appeared in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' as well, with them briefly joining the team. Creator/AdultSwim once created five shorts called ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfTheWonderTwins'' which was a more adult, DarkComedy take on the twins.

* ChestInsignia: Stylized Z and J, respectively. Justified as they only added the letters to their SpaceClothes after joining the Superfriends.

* ElementalShapeshifter: Zan.

!!Tropes:

* SuperZeroes: Like ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}, the twins have a reputation of being lame characters from the TV show; in the comic, they were far more effective. Even on ''Superfriends'', they were fairly creative. Would ''you'' have thought of becoming a "[[TravelCool steam-powered ice jet]]"?

Today, the twins are back in ComicBookLimbo, which, given how dark the DC Universe has become, is probably for the best. A pair of characters based on them (Downpour and Shifter) also appeared in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' ("Ultimatum"[[spoiler:, and clones of them in "Panic in the Sky"]]). Another version of them also appeared on the the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' episode "Idol". They appeared in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' as well, with them briefly joining the team. Creator/AdultSwim once created five shorts called ''The New Adventures of the Wonder Twins'' which was a more adult, DarkComedy take on the twins.

The Twins eventually were phased out of the TV show (with no explanation) and when the comic was canceled, they pretty much disappeared. (Note that ''Super Friends'' was never canonical with the rest of DC Comics.) Eventually they were reintroduced (PostCrisis) as a pair of [[GrimDark alien slaves]] rescued by ComicBook/CaptainAtom's version of the League. This version of the Twins first appeared in ''Extreme Justice'' #9 (October, 1995).

The '''Wonder Twins''' are a BrotherSisterTeam (and their pet monkey, Gleek) of superheroes owned by Creator/DCComics, best known for co-starring (alongside the Franchise/{{Justice League|OfAmerica}}) on the ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'' television show (and its comic-book SpinOff).

Created by artist Creator/AlexToth, the Twins (Zan and Jayna) were a replacement for the show's earlier {{Audience Surrogate}}s, Wendy, Marvin and Wonderdog. Unlike their predecessors, the Twins (and Gleek) had superpowers and so were more believably useful to the superheroes: Zan could change into any form of water, and Jayna could change into any animal, but they could activate their powers only by touching first. Gleek had an elastic and prehensile tail.

Zan and Jayna then lived with Professor Carter Nichols, an old friend of Batman. They, too, attended high school, under their own secret identities (as Johan and Johanna Flemming, a pair of "foreign transfer students" from "Esko", an [actual] town in Sweden) and had adventures of their own.

!!The Wonder Twins provide examples of the following tropes:

* AllTheOtherReindeer: The Exorians didn't want to care for children with "mutant powers". Their hypocrisy was made obvious later in a story when they ''demanded'' that the Twins save them from another duo of Exorian shapeshifters. This is also probably a ShoutOut to Creator/{{Marvel|Comics}}'s ''ComicBook/XMen''.

* DeathByOriginStory / TheUnseen: Their parents.

* ElementalShapeshifter: Zan

The Wonder Twins had their first comic book appearance in ''Super Friends'' #7 (October, 1977). The characters were further developed in the comic: it turns out they are mutants on top of being aliens. Because of this fact, after their parents' death (in a plague) they were adopted by the owner of a Space Circus, who only wanted them as part of their freak show. Fortunately, the circus' [[NonIronicClown clown]] raised them well, and gave them Gleek. Eventually, however, they decided to escape and hid on a supposedly uninhabited planet... that turned out to contain the secret base of Grax, a (pretty obscure) Superman villain. They overheard him planning to blow up the Earth with hidden bombs. The Twins go to Earth and contact the League, who (with help from several international superheroes -- ''not'' the same ones seen in the TV show) foiled the plan. Afterward, the trio were allowed to succeed Wendy, Marvin and Wonderdog on the team, as Wendy and Marvin were conveniently retiring to go back to school.

* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: Zan. Jayna can turn into all sorts of creatures. Cool, right? Zan can turn into various forms of ''water''. That's it. Though with him it depends on usage. In the show, he preferred a rather useless bucket of water. However, nothing's stopping him from using ice as a GreenLanternRing or water powers the way Hydro-Man does. If not shackled to the IdiotBall, he could be the most powerful character in the show bar Superman. (Incidentally, a ''lot'' of characters fitting into the lame power category are like this and are RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap when the writers said "wait a minute, what could you ''really'' do with this power?")

** Lampshaded and defied in their ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' cameo. The Titans find Zan pretty much useless, but he does demonstrate some uses for his power -- redirecting a rhino by become the ice under her feet, managing to briefly evade capture (until Beast Boy turns into a pelican), and finally demonstrating the GreenLanternRing idea -- to turn into a unicycle.

[[quoteright:240:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Wonder_Twins_3562.jpeg]]

The '''Wonder Twins''' are a BrotherSisterTeam (and their pet monkey, Gleek) of superheroes owned by Creator/DCComics, best known for co-starring (alongside the Franchise/{{Justice League|OfAmerica}}) on the ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'' television show (and its comic book SpinOff).

The '''Wonder Twins''' are a BrotherSisterTeam (and their pet monkey, Gleek) of superheroes owned by Creator/DCComics, best known for co-starring (along the Franchise/{{Justice League|OfAmerica}}) on the ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'' television show (and its comic book SpinOff).

The Wonder Twins had their first comic book appearance in ''Super Friends'' #7 (October, 1977). The characters were further developed in the comic: it turns out they are mutants on top of being aliens. Because of this fact, after their parents' death (in a plague) they were adopted by the owner of a Space Circus, who only wanted them as part of their freak show. Fortunately, the circus' clown raised them well, and gave them Gleek. Eventually, however, they decided to escape and hid on a supposedly uninhabited planet... that turned out to contain the secret base of Grax, a (pretty obscure) Superman villain. They overheard him planning to blow up the Earth with hidden bombs. The Twins go to Earth and contact the League, who (with help from several international superheroes -- ''not'' the same ones seen in the TV show) foiled the plan. Afterward, the trio were allowed to succeed Wendy, Marvin and Wonderdog on the team, as Wendy and Marvin were conveniently retiring to go back to school.

Today, the twins are back in ComicBookLimbo, which, given how dark the DC Universe has become, is probably for the best. A pair of characters based on them (Downpour and Shifter) also appeared in an episode of ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' ("Ultimatum"[[spoiler:, and clones of them in "Panic In The Sky"]]). Another version of them also appeared on the the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' episode "Idol". They appeared in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' as well, with them briefly joining the team. AdultSwim once created five shorts called ''The New Adventures of the Wonder Twins'' which was a more adult, DarkComedy take on the twins.

* AllTheOtherReindeer: The Exorians didn't want to care for children with "mutant powers". Their hypocrisy was made obvious later in a story when they ''demanded'' that the Twins save them from another duo of Exorian shapeshifters. This is also probably a ShoutOut to Creator/{{Marvel|Comics}}'s ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}''.

* WonderTwinPowers: TropeNamer. Note that saying "Wonder Twin Powers, activate!" is ''not'' actually necessary, nor do they need to touch by the hands.
** In ''Smallville'', though, Clark stopped a second round of LetsYouAndHimFight before it started by putting his hand between theirs when they were going to touch and power up.

** This was actually parodied in one of CartoonNetwork's commercials, with Zan griping about his useless powers -- he could be defeated by a sponge! "It wouldn't even have to be an ''evil'' sponge!"

Today, the twins are back in ComicBookLimbo, which, given how dark the DC Universe has become, is probably for the best. A pair of characters based on them (Downpour and Shifter) also appeared in an episode of ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' ("Ultimatum"[[spoiler:, and clones of them in "Panic In The Sky"]]). Another version of them also appeared on the the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' episode "Idol". They appeared in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' as well, with them briefly joining the team.

* {{Edutainment}}: The Wonder Twin segments.