Legion of Super Heroes cartoon

Introduction

Legion of Super Heroes is an animated show on the CW Network that debuted on Sept. 23, 2006. The premise of the show is that in order to defeat the Fatal Five in the 31st century, the Legion travels back in time to find the young Superman. However, they go back to a time where Clark Kent has not taken on the Superman mantle yet, and is still learning his powers. He decides to go to the 31st century to help the Legion and become proficient at his powers. The series centers on the young Superman's adventures in the 31st century, fighting alongside a group of futuristic superheroes known as the "Legion of Super Heroes".

The show somewhat follows the Justice League Unlimited format in that there is a core group of Legionnaires present throught most or all episodes, and a rotating cast of recurring characters that appear from time to time. The regular cast, as seen in promotional material, consists of (alphabetically) Bouncing Boy, Brainiac 5, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Saturn Girl, Superman, and Timber Wolf. Other Legionnaires seen and/or mentioned include Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Shrinking Violet, and Triplicate Girl. Many others are seen or mentioned by their Mission Monitor Board symbols in the opening credits or shown as computer screen images. For a full list of members, see the List of members/LSH cartoon.

This series is not in the same continuity as the Legion episodes in the Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited, which took place in the "DC Animated Universe" or "Timmverse".

Press Release

LEGION OF SUPER HEROES, 11:00-11:30 am: In the year of "Superman Returns" at Warner Bros., Kids' WB! is proud to present a new series developed especially for the "Too Big For Your TV" block by Warner Bros. Animation, inspired by the DC Comics legend. One thousand years from now, a group of teenage super heroes travel back in time to recruit the greatest hero of all, Superman, and enlist him their fight against evil in the 31st Century. While their intentions were good, their time travel skills were not, and Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5, Phantom Girl, Bouncing Boy and Timber Wolf end up going too far back into the past, accidentally retrieving the young Superman, before he moved to Metropolis. Together, this unlikely Legion of Super Heroes bands together to defend the rights of all free worlds and uphold the laws of the newly formed United Planets. That is, if they don't kill each other first. LEGION OF SUPER HEROES combines humor with high-stakes, grand-scale super heroics to create the ultimate sci-fi, super hero fantasy for kids of all ages. Each episode of this fast-paced, character-driven action comedy will pit Superboy and the Legion against otherworldly threats and adversaries who challenge the team on both super heroic and emotional levels. The series is executive produced by Sander Schwartz, and produced by Linda Steiner and James Tucker for Warner Bros. Animation.

Legal status issues

The show was originally to star Superboy, but legal issues involving the ownership of the character arose in the summer of 2006 and led Warner Bros. to rename the character Superman instead. The original press release said that the Legion landed in the time of "the young Superboy", while the revised press release description said that the Legion retrieved "the young Superman, before he moved to Metropolis".

Cast

The series revolves around a core group of seven Legionnaires but others will be seen from time to time in recurring roles. The "core team" consists of Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5, Phantom Girl, Bouncing Boy and Timber Wolf.

Main or recurring protagonists

Character	Voice Actor
Bouncing Boy	Michael Cornacchia
Brainiac 5	Adam Wylie
Cosmic Boy	Wil Wheaton
Lightning Lad (field leader)	Andy Milder
Phantom Girl	Heather Hogan
Saturn Girl	Kari Wahlgren
Superman	Yuri Lowenthal
Timber Wolf|	Shawn Harrison
Triplicate Girl	Kari Wahlgren

Other Legionnaires

During the show's development, some information was uncovered or released:

• Concept sketches of XS were seen during the show's development, along with sketches of other Legionnaires. All but XS have appeared on the show to date.
• The episode description list suggests the Legion of Substitute Heroes and Ferro Lad.

Other Legionnaires have been mentioned or shown as images, but have not made an appearance:

• The opening credits sequences includes a glimpse of the Mission Monitor Board signs for a myriad of Legionnaires as well as shots of flying Legionnaires not yet seen on the show.
• In episode 1.01 ("Man of Tomorrow"), Cosmic Boy, Shrinking Violet and Colossal Boy are mentioned as active Legionnaires.
• During the coda of episode 1.02 ("Timber Wolf") images of Legionnaires Cosmic Boy, Shrinking Violet, Colossal Boy, Sun Boy, Element Lad, Blok, Dream Girl, and Tyroc can be seen on computer monitors during Timber Wolf's induction into the Legion.
• In episode 1.05 ("Champions"), Ultra Boy and Matter-Eater Lad appeared as participants in the Intergalactic Games, and were shown to have their traditional powers. Both appeared in their civilian identities and did not appear to be Legionnaires yet.

Below is a list of other Legionnaires mentioned or shown in some way that have not yet appeared on the show. As they appear, they will be moved to the Main/Recurring Character list above.

Character
Blok	symbol, computer monitor (1.02)
Chameleon Boy	symbol
Chemical King	symbol
Colossal Boy	symbol, flying sequence, in-episode mention (1.01), computer monitor (1.02)
Dawnstar	symbol
Dream Girl	symbol, computer monitor (1.02)
Element Lad	symbol, flying sequence, computer monitor (1.02)
Ferro Lad	symbol
Karate Kid	symbol
Polar Boy	symbol
Quislet	symbol
Shadow Lass	symbol
Shrinking Violet	symbol, flying sequence, in-episode mention (1.01), computer monitor (1.02)
Star Boy	flying sequence
Sun Boy	computer monitor (1.02)
Tyroc	computer monitor (1.02)

Villains

Character	Voice Actor
Fatal Five
Emerald Empress (leader)	Jennifer Hale
Mano	N/A
Persuader	N/A
Tharok	David Lodge
Validus	N/A
Dr. Mar Londo	Harry J. Lennix
Alexis Luthor	Tara Strong
Drax	Greg Ellis
Legion of Super-Villains
Esper Lass	unknown
Hunter	unknown
Mekt Ranzz/Lightning Lord	James Arnold Taylor
Ron-Karr	unknown
Tyr	Khary Payton
Wave	unknown
Starfinger	Taylor Negron
Sun-Eater	N/A

Other characters

Character	Voice Actor
Mekt Ranzz, brother of Lightning Lad	James Arnold Taylor
Jo Nah of Rimbor	James Arnold Taylor
Kem of Bismoll	N/A
Winema Wazzo, President of the United Planets, mother of Phantom Girl	April Winchell

Staff and Crew

This is not a complete list.

Job title/description	staffer(s)
Executive Producer	Sander Schwartz
Producer	James Tucker, Linda Steiner
Associate Producer	A. J. Vargas
Series Story Editor	Rob Hoegee
Series Directors	Ben Jones, Tim Maltby, Lauren Montgomery
Main Title Theme	Kristopher Carter
Music	Kristopher Carter, Michael McCustion, Lolita Ritmanis
Casting and Voice Director	Kelly Ward
Writers	Stan Berkowitz, John Esposito, Rob Hoegee, Rob Hummel, Marty Isenberg, David Slack, Scott Sonneborn, Matt Wayne, Amy Wolfram
Art Director	Dave Johnson
Character Designer	Derrick J. Wyatt, Glenn Wong
Storyboards	Irineo Maramba, Jay Baker
Backgrounds/Props	Norm Ryang, Eric Canete, Chad Townshend
Voice editing/ADR, post-production	Mark Keefer

List of episodes

Episode number	Episode Title	Original Air Date
1.01	Man of Tomorrow	Sept. 23, 2006
1.02	Timber Wolf	Sept. 30, 2006
1.03	Legacy	Oct. 7, 2006
1.04	Fear Factory	Nov. 18, 2006
1.05	Champions	Nov. 11, 2006
1.06	Phantoms	Nov. 4, 2006
1.07	Child's Play
1.08	Lightning Storm
1.09	Brain Drain
1.10	The Substitutes
1.11	Chain of Command
1.12	Sundown pt. 1
1.13	Sundown pt. 2

External links

• KidsWB! official site
• Michael Grabois' Legion Omnicom
• The Legion Clubhouse
• Legion World Cartoon Message Board
• LEGION of SUPER HEROES Cartoon Fan Site
• Legion of Super Heroes Episode schedule (ToonZone)