Legends of the Super-Heroes
Legends of the Super-Heroes was a two-episode miniseries produced by Hanna-Barbera and telecast on NBC in February, 1979. Both episodes were live-action. This series is non-canonical in Legion history.
Contents
Background
Legends of the Super-Heroes featured a number of DC super-heroes and super-villains in an apparently low-budget show reminiscent of the Saturday morning live-action shows for kids. They were produced by the Hanna-Barbera Studios, more commonly known for their animation. Adam West, Burt Ward, and Frank Gorshin reprised their 1960's "Batman" roles as Batman, Robin, and Riddler, respectively, and the rest of the cast were relatively unknown in these types of roles. Some were new faces (Jeff Altman as Weather Wizard first appeared in the mid-70s) while others had been in the business for decades (William Schallert as Scarlet Cyclone had acted since 1947), and for others this was the high point of their career (Danuta Wesley as Black Canary had done two TV episodes before this and one episode afterwards).
The actor who played Mordru, Gabriel "Gabe" Dell, started his career as a teenager in the "Dead-End Kids" series in 1937, and by the 1970s was primarily doing episodic TV work. He made one movie after this series and then retired. He died in 1988.
Cast
The cast included several heroes and villains from various Earths in the DC Multiverse, with no explanation of how (or why) the events were taking place, and who was there.
- Earth-1
- Heroes: Black Canary, The Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Batman, Robin, The Atom
- Villains: Weather Wizard, Giganta, Sinestro, Riddler, Mordru (from the 30th century)
- Earth-2
- Heroes: The Huntress
- Villains: Solomon Grundy
- Earth-S
- Heroes: Captain Marvel
- Villains: Dr. Sivana, Aunt Minerva
- Earth-TV (created for this series)
- Heroes: Scarlet Avenger (aka Retired Man), Ghetto Man
Ghetto Man, The Atom, and Aunt Minerva only appeared in the second episode. Everyone else appeared in both.
Superman and Wonder Woman did not appear in this show. Superman's rights were held by those making the Superman movies in the late 1970s, and Wonder Woman's rights were held by those doing her TV show on another network.
Episodes
The first episode, The Challenge, was more or less an action show, but with a laugh track. In short, the villains plan to destroy the world with a doomsday device, but the heroes disable the device and save the day. Batman chases Mordru on jet-skis.
The second episode, The Roast, was a celebrity roast of Batman and Robin by their friends and foes. Ed McMahon was the host. Mordru does a song-and-dance routine.
