BLACK GREEN LANTERN BATMAN TRIAL

BLACK GREEN LANTERN BATMAN TRIAL

In “Trial of the Super Friends,” the villains stole Wonder Woman’s lasso, Green Lantern’s power ring, and Batman and Robin’s utility belts before putting the heroes on trial and making them fight robot doubles. Several of the Challenge episodes dove deep into DC Comics lore. When Hanna- Barbera pushed back that nobody watching the show could actually single-handedly destroy the world, ABC relented. S&P wrote that “destroying the world” was an imitable act, which was bad for young viewers who might want to copy it. One planned episode in particular caught Standards & Practice’s notes: “History of Doom,” the season’s final episode produced, in which the villains wanted to destroy the world. Hanna-Barbera’s team didn’t always follow that rule, and even if the villains were caught at the end of one episode-instead of escaping at the last moment-the next episode would find them back plotting villainy in their swampy Hall of Doom, with no mention of incarceration of punishment. The villains could still have plans to conquer the world, or destroy things, but they had to be caught by the heroes for punishment. So the stories were often softened just a bit. After all, even the opening credits ended with the Darren McNeil-designed shot of the heroes and villains charging towards each other about to fight. Hanna-Barbera was allowed to keep Batman villains Riddler and Scarecrow, though.ĪBC’s Standards & Practices censorial department was nervous about Challenge because it would contain actual conflict between heroes and villains. Freeze, which had been-or possibly might be-used in future Filmation New Adventures of Batman episodes on NBC. Out went the hero and his villains, as well as Joker, Penguin, Poison Ivy, and a proposed Mr. One problem, though: Filmation held the animated rights to Captain Marvel and related characters. Atom were included… as Captain Marvel was also intended to become a member of the Super Friends. In 1978, Hanna-Barbera had picked up the live-action rights to Captain Marvel and his villains, which is why the Sivanas, Kull, and Mr. Sivana, Sinestro, Captain Cold, Joker, Beautia Sivana, Penguin, Abra-Kadabra, Poison Ivy, Heat Wave, King Kull, Gorilla Grodd, Mr. Toth did design sheets for most of the villains, some of which never made it into the series, including Catwoman, Riddler, and Scarecrow.Įarly presentation art for the “Legion of Evil” (also called “League of Evil” for a time) showed Dr. But the villains’ line-up was not always the same 13 bad guys.Īlex Toth was the legendary lead designer and storyboard artist on the series, and he visually controlled almost everybody’s look (though Andre LeBlanc did some for this season). For those keeping count, that was two females, and no villains of color… unless one counted magenta or lime-green aliens (the African-American Black Manta never unmasked). The 13 well-known comic-book villains included Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Cheetah, the Riddler, the Scarecrow, Toyman, Sinestro, Black Manta, Captain Cold, Bizarro, Gorilla Grodd, Solomon Grundy, and Giganta. Members included Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Black Vulcan (gone too were his pants!), Apache Chief, and Samurai, but while Hanna-Barbera had diversified its cast by featuring the minority heroes more regularly, it short-shrifted its female viewers, now offering them Wonder Woman as the token female.įighting against the heroes was the Legion of Doom, whose headquarters in a swamp, the Hall of Doom, blatantly resembled Darth Vader’s helmet from the year-old theatrical megahit Star Wars. Gone for this incarnation were the Wonder Twins, and the group was now called the Justice League more often. The subtitle was, for a brief time, “Battle of the SuperHeroes,” but everyone knew that opening word would never make it past ABC’s Standards & Practices. Scott Saavedra’s history of dangerous toys is a must-read!ĪBC’s Challenge of the SuperFriends was designed to be radically different than other entries of the show.

Black green lantern batman