Legion of Doom (Super Friends)

Legion of Doom
From left to right: Black Manta, Giganta, Toyman, the Riddler, Bizarro, the Scarecrow, Lex Luthor, Captain Cold, Cheetah, Solomon Grundy, Gorilla Grodd, Brainiac, and Sinestro.
Publication information
First appearance	"Wanted: The Super Friends" (Challenge of the Super Friends, Episode 1 - September 9, 1978)
In-story information
Base(s)	Hall of Doom
Member(s)	Bizarro Black Manta Brainiac Captain Cold Cheetah Giganta Gorilla Grodd Lex Luthor Riddler Scarecrow Sinestro Solomon Grundy Toyman

The Legion of Doom is a group of supervillains led by Lex Luthor that appeared in Challenge of the Super Friends, an ABC animated series that starred superheroes from DC Comics.

History

In each episode of Challenge of the Super Friends that they appeared, the Legion of Doom would enact various plots against the Super Friends, only to be met with defeat by the end of the story. In some episodes, they would escape capture through a last-minute escape plan, often contrived by Luthor. Other times, the Legion of Doom would end up captured in the end.

When the Challenge of the Super Friends season was originally conceived, it was named “Battle of the Superheroes” and featured the introduction of Captain Marvel to the Super Friends. The group that challenged the heroes was called the "League of Evil", led by Marvel's nemesis Doctor Sivana. However, Filmation produced Shazam! and The New Adventures of Batman which prevented the use of characters such as Mister Atom, King Kull, Beautia Sivana, Joker, Penguin, Mr. Freeze, and Catwoman. Early conceptual art drawn by Alex Toth would also include Heat Wave, Poison Ivy, and Abra Kadabra.

The Hall of Doom

The Legion of Doom's headquarters was the Hall of Doom, a facility most often located in Slaughter Swamp (just outside Gotham City). The Hall of Doom was mobile, lowered below or raised above the swamp water's surface, and often flown through the air via rockets if needed, even remotely controlled. It also had laser defense weapons and at times was altered to time travel to the past or future. It resembled Darth Vader's helmet.

Members

There were thirteen members of the Legion of Doom:

Member	Secret Identity	Description	Powers	Traditional enemy	Voice actor
Bizarro	Bizarro	Twisted doppelganger of Superman from Bizarro World	Same as Superman, but often behaves in an erratic and irrational manner	Superman	William Callaway
Black Manta	Unknown	Deep-sea diver and would-be ocean conqueror	Enhanced strength, water breathing ability (through artificial gills), high tech equipment, laser beams	Aquaman	Ted Cassidy
Brainiac	Brainiac	Evil android	Super-intelligence, advanced technology	Superman	Ted Cassidy
Captain Cold	Leonard Snart	Blue-suited master of low temperatures	Freeze ray	The Flash	Dick Ryal Michael Bell (additional dialogue)
Cheetah	Priscilla Rich	Cat-suit-wearing woman	Cat-like reflexes, claw-tipped gloves	Wonder Woman	Marlene Aragon
Giganta	Unknown	Stole Apache Chief's magic powder to duplicate his powers	Ability to grow, super strength	Wonder Woman and Apache Chief	Ruth Forman
Gorilla Grodd	Gorilla Grodd	Megalomaniacal exile from Gorilla City	Super-intelligence, super strength	The Flash	Stanley Ralph Ross
Lex Luthor	Lex Luthor	Leader of the Legion of Doom	Evil genius, highly-advanced weaponry	Superman	Stanley Jones
Riddler	Edward Nigma	Uses riddles to taunt and confuse adversaries with while committing crimes	Puzzle creation, problem solving	Batman and Robin	Michael Bell
Scarecrow	Professor Jonathan Crane	Uses his fear gas to bring peoples' worst fears to life	Fear gas	Batman and Robin	Don Messick
Sinestro	Sinestro	Renegade ex-Green Lantern	Yellow power ring	Green Lantern	Vic Perrin Don Messick (additional dialogue)
Solomon Grundy	Cyrus Gold	A super-powered zombie born from the swamp	Great strength, invulnerability	Green Lantern and Superman	Jimmy Weldon
Toyman	Jack Nimball	Dresses as a jester; uses toy-based tactics to commit crimes	Creates destructive toys	Superman	Frank Welker

• Despite the opening sequence for Challenge of the Super Friends claiming that the Legion's members had "banded together from remote galaxies", ten out of the thirteen are native to Earth; only Bizarro (from Bizarro World), Brainiac (from Colu), and Sinestro (from Korugar) are extraterrestrials. (Actually Bizarro is native to Earth; he later emigrated to Bizarro World, which Superman created for him.)

• The episode "Superfriends: Rest In Peace" makes a reference to a former unseen member of the Legion, the only time such a reference has been made. This was Doctor Natas (Satan spelled backwards), the inventor of the Noxium crystal that had the power to destroy all of the Super Friends. The Super Friends knew of this crystal and tricked the Legion into thinking that it had killed all of them (using android doubles of the Super Friends). They anticipated that the Legion would throw away the crystal when they no longer needed it. The crystal was retrieved by the Super Friends and launched into deep space. Natas' fate is unknown, and the Legion apparently was unable to recreate the crystal.

• Prior to the first televised appearance of the Legion of Doom, a group called the Super Foes appeared in the first issue of the Super Friends comic book (Nov 1976). Its membership featured Toyman, the Penguin, Poison Ivy, the Cheetah, the Human Flying Fish and, in keeping with the theme of trainees ala Wendy and Marvin, their proteges Toyboy, Chick, Honeysuckle, Kitten, and Sardine, respectively.

Other Legion episodes

While Challenge of the Super Friends was the series spotlighting the Legion of Doom, they appear in a few Super Friends shorts.

• The Revenge of Doom (Super Friend short): All 13 LOD members appear, but only Lex Luthor, Sinestro and Solomon Grundy speak.
• Two Gleeks are Deadlier Than One: Though only Giganta and Grodd appear, the Legion is mentioned. Like in "Superfriends: Rest in Peace", the Super Friends used androids to trick the villains into thinking they were destroyed.
• The Krypton Syndrome: After Superman saves Krypton in the past, he returns to an alternate present. Robin mentions that the Super Friends were defeated by the Legion of Doom.

Members of the team have solo appearances in later episodes.

Lex Luthor appears in:

• Lex Luthor Strikes Back (The World's Greatest Super Friends)
• The Case of the Shrinking Super Friends (Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show)
• No Honor Among Thieves Super Friends (Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show)
• The Mask of Mystery Super Friends (Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show)
• The Seeds of Doom (The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians)

Brainiac appears in:

• Superclones (Super Friends short)
• The Wraith of Brainiac (Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show)
  • Brainiac takes up a more robotic form from this appearance to Brainchild matching his current comic counterpart at the time.
• The Village of Lost Souls (Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show)
• Brainchild (The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians)

Bizarro appears in:

• Bizarroworld (Super Friends short)
• Revenge of Bizarro (Super Friends short)
• Video Victims (Super Friends short)

Riddler appears in, "Around the World in 80 Riddles" (Super Friends short).

Scarecrow makes an appearance in "The Fear", also introducing his real name, Jonathan Crane. (The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians)

Appearances in comics

• Members of the Legion of Doom made some appearances in the Super Friends spin-off comic title based on the TV series.

• A version of the Legion of Doom appeared in Extreme Justice #s 17-18 (June–July 1996), led by Brainwave Jr, during a time when he had become a villain. The other members were Killer Frost, Houngan, Major Force, the Madmen and a robot duplicate of Gorilla Grodd.

The Legion of Doom in their Justice incarnation. From left to right: Clayface, Poison Ivy, Solomon Grundy, Parasite, Toyman, Sinestro, Black Manta, Scarecrow, Brainiac, Lex Luthor, Gorilla Grodd, Captain Cold, Cheetah, Riddler, Bizarro, Giganta, Black Adam and Metallo. Art by Alex Ross and Doug Braithwaite.

• The 2006, DC comic miniseries Justice features a version of the Legion of Doom. Series plotter/artist Alex Ross is a passionate Super Friends fan. In addition to Lex Luthor, Bizarro, Black Manta, Brainiac, Captain Cold, Cheetah, Giganta, Gorilla Grodd, Riddler, Scarecrow, Sinestro, Solomon Grundy, and Toyman, this version of the Legion of Doom also counts Black Adam, Metallo, Clayface, Parasite, and Poison Ivy as members. The Joker and Doctor Sivana also make appearances. Sivana employs microscopic robots that resemble Mister Mind.
• The Hall of Doom serves as the headquarters for the Injustice League in Justice League of America: Injustice League Unlimited (though, this Hall is located in the Florida swamplands).
• The headquarters of the Justice League in the future of the Sorcerer Kings arc in Superman/Batman is the Hall of Doom.
• An alternate version of the team appeared in the mini-series Flashpoint: Legion of Doom, part of the company-wide Flashpoint event. This iteration of the team consisted of supervillains interred in Doom Prison, which is based on the Legion headquarters from Super Friends. The membership consisted of Heatwave, Plastic Man, Sportsmaster, Killer Wasp and Cluemaster.

• A new Legion of Doom lead by Superboy-Prime appeared in a Teen Titans storyline that ran from issues #98-100. The roster consisted of Sun Girl, Headcase, Persuader (Elise Kimble), Indigo, Zookeeper, three Superboy clones, and an imposter Inertia.

Appearances in other media

Television

Legends of the Superheroes

The two NBC televised specials of Legends of the Superheroes was based largely on Challenge of the Super Friends while featuring Adam West, Burt Ward, and Frank Gorshin of the 1966 Batman television series fame. The Legion of Doom featured Mordru leading Doctor Sivana, Riddler, Giganta, Sinestro, Weather Wizard, and Solomon Grundy (Superman, Wonder Woman, and their associate characters were absent due to the Superman film and Wonder Woman television series licensing the rights, respectively).

The Aquaman & Friends Action Hour

In 2003, Cartoon Network Latin America aired the spoof series The Aquaman & Friends Action Hour that starred Aquaman as a children's television show host and the Legion of Doom as his bankrupt villains.

Justice League Unlimited

An updated version of the Legion of Doom is the primary focus of Season 3 of the 2000s animated series Justice League Unlimited. Although clearly based on the original Legion (down to their skull-like swamp-base) the group is never referred to by this name in the series (According to a post from Bruce Timm on Toon Zone.net, this was a direct order from DC, every script his team worked on however addressed the group as the Legion, as does the cover of the DVD season release)^{[citation needed]}, and is treated simply as an expanded version of the Secret Society, previously formed by Gorilla Grodd in an earlier season and on camera referred to as such. Grodd is the leader of this "Legion," who refers to the group as a co-operative, a loose organization of super-villains that primarily work on their own, but back each other up when a member is challenged by the Justice League for a 25% portion of the requesting member's take of the crime commissioned at that time.

After the revelation that Grodd's ultimate plan in the creation of the new Secret Society was the ludicrous transformation of humanity into apes, Lex Luthor ousted him and assumed the position as leader with no objections from the membership. Solicitations for future episodes indicated that the team had a secret backer, but have turned out to be incorrect. Timm had also said he wanted to include The Riddler and Scarecrow as villains in the group as a nod to the original Legion, but was prevented from doing this by DC.

Confirmed members of this "Secret Society" (the DCAU take on the Legion) are as follows:

• Lex Luthor - Successor leader
• Gorilla Grodd – Founder & original leader
• Angle Man
• Atomic Skull (Joseph Martin)
• Bizarro
• Black Mass
• Blockbuster
• Bloodsport
• Blue Llama
• Cheetah
• Copperhead
• Crowbar
• Devil Ray (based on Black Manta)
• Doctor Cyber
• Doctor Destiny
• Doctor Polaris

• Doctor Spectro
• The Dummy
• Electrocutioner
• Evil Star
• Fastball
• Gentleman Ghost
• Giganta
• Goldface
• Heat Wave
• Hellgrammite
• Javelin
• The Key
• KGBeast
• Killer Frost
• Lady Lunar

• Livewire
• Major Disaster
• Merlyn
• Metallo
• Mirror Master
• The Monocle
• Neutron
• Parasite
• Psycho-Pirate
• The Puzzler
• Puppeteer
• Queen Bee
• Rampage
• The Shade
• The Shark
• Shatterfist

• Silver Banshee
• Sinestro
• Sonar
• Sportsmaster
• Star Sapphire
• Tala
• Tattooed Man
• The Thinker
• The Top
• Toyman
• Tsukuri
• Volcana
• Weather Wizard

During the two-part series finale, Lex Luthor tried to resurrect Brainiac by ordering the crew to transform the base into a spaceship, so that they could travel to the site of Brainiac's ruined asteroid base. With Tala's help, Grodd attempted a coup to retake control of the Secret Society, leading to a battle between members loyal to either Grodd or Luthor.

• The Secret Society members loyal to Luthor were: Atomic Skull, Bizarro, Cheetah, Doctor Destiny, Evil Star, Giganta, Heat Wave, Sinestro, Star Sapphire, Toyman and Volcana.
• The group loyal to Grodd included: Blockbuster, Copperhead, Electrocutioner, Goldface, KGBeast, Killer Frost, Neutron, Parasite, Rampage, Silver Banshee, The Key, The Monocle, Merlyn, Weather Wizard, Fastball, Shade, Major Disaster, and Tala.

After a pitched battle, Luthor defeated Grodd by turning his mental powers back on him and shunting the ape out an airlock. The rest of Grodd's forces were frozen solid by a turncoat Killer Frost to spare herself from any retribution from Luthor (Blockbuster, Copperhead, Fastball, Goldface, Hellgrammite, Key, Parasite, Rampage, Shade, and Weather Wizard were shown being frozen).

When the Secret Society reaches the site of Brainiac's defeat, Luthor used Tala's magic to restore Brainiac, despite a sudden warning from the New God, Metron. Luthor accidentally resurrected Darkseid instead, who rewards Luthor for his help by destroying the Secret Society's base in a fiery explosion. However, force fields produced by Star Sapphire and Sinestro saved Luthor's crew. Lightray, another of the Gods of New Genesis, spotted the explosion, and was subsequently robbed of his Mother Box, which allowed the remnants of the Secret Society to make it back to Earth to warn the Justice League of Darkseid's return.

At the conclusion of "Alive!", the first part of the finale, the only remaining members of the team are: Atomic Skull, Bizarro, Cheetah, Evil Star, Giganta, Heat Wave, Killer Frost, Lex Luthor, Sinestro, Star Sapphire, Toyman and Volcana. They team up with the League to face Darkseid's invasion of Earth by Parademons. Matt Wayne stated that he consciously tried to round up the original 13 Legion of Doom members in Luthor's team, and for that he cited this Wikipedia page as one source. In "Destroyer", (the series finale) Luthor acquires the Anti-Life Equation, which Darkseid was searching for, and shares it with him - or possibly uses it on him. Both villains disappear in a flash of light, and Darkseid's forces leave Earth. The remaining members of the Legion survive the battle, and as a reward are given a five-minute head start by the Justice League.

It is assumed that all other villains that weren't with Luthor were killed.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold

The Legion of Doom appear in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold series. In the teaser of "Triumvirate of Terror", they play a game of baseball against the Justice League International. Members of the Legion are Lex Luthor, Joker, Cheetah, Weather Wizard, Felix Faust, Chronos, Clock King, and Amazo.

Young Justice

In the Young Justice episode "Revelation", the team battles the Light's Injustice League in the Louisiana bayou. The group's headquarters and location is a homage to the Hall of Doom.

Six Flags

In 2007 at Six Flags New England, a live show written by Brandon T. Snider featured the Legion of Doom. This incarnation of the group involved Lex Luthor, Sinestro, Cheetah, Captain Cold, Riddler, and the Joker.

Film

Justice League: Doom

The Legion of Doom will appear as the central antagonists in the animated film Justice League: Doom. Confirmed members are Cheetah (Claudia Black), Vandal Savage (Phil Morris), Star Sapphire (Olivia d'Abo), Bane (Carlos Alazraqui), Metallo (Paul Blackthorne), Mirror Master (Alexis Denisof), and Ma'alefa'ak.

Video games

• The Hall of Doom appears in DC Universe Online. It is one of the hubs for the players that are on the villain campaign.

Miscellaneous

• The Legion of Doom is named and pictured in the opening sequence for the direct-to-video original animation DC Super Friends: The Joker's Playhouse (2010).

Cultural references

• In the Family Guy episode, "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One" Lois, when trying to get money from the town, convinced the people in a press conference that the Legion of Doom is conspiring with Adolf Hitler to assassinate Jesus. The scene then jumps to the Hall of Doom where Lex Luthor shouts "How did she discover our plan?!". Solomon Grundy admits he "kind of dropped the ball on that one." Almost all of the original Legion is portrayed, except for the Riddler. In Something, Something, Something Dark Side (which is a parody version of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back), there is a reference to "The Legion Of Doom" when the Hall of Doom begins to rise out of the swamp on Dagobah shortly after Luke Skywalker (portrayed by Family Guy character Chris Griffin) has landed. An announcer bearing resemblance to the narrative voice on Super Friends begins by saying "Meanwhile, at the Legion of Doom..." only to be cut off by Chris (playing Luke Skywalker) who says "Not now!" The narration then quickly says: "OK" as the apparent Hall of Doom sinks back beneath the water in the swamp.

• In Krypto the Superdog, the Intergalactic Villains Club that Mechanicat is a part of is a spoof of the Legion of Doom.

• In the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode "Peanut Puberty," the headquarters for the Legion of Doom was used for a club called the "Legion of Dance."

South Park's Legion of Doom.

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From left to right: Osama bin Laden, Doctor Doom, Black Manta, Saddam Hussein, Cheetah, Kim Jong-il, David Blaine, and Doctor Octopus.

• The Legion of Doom was referenced in the animated series South Park episode "Krazy Kripples" featured Christopher Reeve (who portrayed Superman in the movies) forming his own version of the Legion of Doom, complete with the Hall of Doom as their headquarters; its main goal, according to Reeve, was to kill Gene Hackman (aka Lex Luthor in the movies: as a news reporter said "if irony were made out of strawberries, we'd all be drinking a lot of smoothies right now"). It included both parodies of actual LoD villains (Solomon Grundy, Cheetah, and Black Manta), at least two Marvel villain parodies (Doctor Octopus and Doctor Doom) and villains from the South Park universe (such as Professor Chaos, General Disarray, David Blaine and Saddam Hussein, as well as Osama Bin Laden and Kim Jong Il).

• The first episode of Season 3 of Duck Dodgers titled "Till Doom Do Us Part" featured the Legion of Duck Doom, led by Agent Roboto and was composed of various villains from the earlier seasons made up of Crusher, Fudd, Catapoid, Count Muerte, New Cadet, Black Eel, Nasty Canasta, Commandante Hilgalgo, Baby-Faced Moonbeam, Long John Silver the 23rd, K'chutha Sa'am, and Taz. Black Eel (a parody of Black Manta) makes his first appearance in this episode.

• A Cartoon Network bumper featured The Powerpuff Girls saving Aquaman and Wonder Woman from the Legion of Doom's clutches. It can be seen here on YouTube

• In the mid to late 1990s, the Philadelphia Flyers forward line of John LeClair, Eric Lindros, and Mikael Renberg was nicknamed the Legion of Doom.

• Professional wrestling manager Paul Ellering named his wrestling stable The Legion of Doom after the supervillain group, eventually using the name to refer to his chief - and later sole - protegés, the tag team of The Road Warriors. When the Road Warriors arrived in the World Wrestling Federation in 1990, they changed their team name to The Legion Of Doom.

• An episode of the Drew Carey Show featured Drew and his friends getting in trouble being a "gang". Drew gets sent to a counseling session for gangbangers and enters the room to see a group of imposing bikers and gang members sitting around a large table. He quips, "the reason I've called you all here is to destroy Superman" as Lex Luthor would do when leading a Legion meeting.

• In the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "The Last One," the Mooninites tried to organize a league of every single villain that was from Season 1-3. Among its members are the Mooninites, Rabbot, Mothmonsterman, Happy Time Harry, Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future, Travis of the Cosmos, Randy the Astonishing, the Brownie Monsters, Romulox, MC Pee Pants's worm form, the Trees, Frat Aliens, Oog, Dumbassahedratron, Ol'Drippy, and Major Shake. However, almost all of them got foolishly killed leaving only a small force led by the Mooninites. Afterwards, the Rabbot called the team "Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday."

• In Johnny Test, The Evil Johnny Stopping Force Five have a secret base in a swamp that closely resembles the Legion of Doom's secret headquarters.