Wonder Twins
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| Wonder Twins | |
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 The Wonder Twins with Gleek. Art by Alex Ross. |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Historical: Super Friends #7 (October 1977) Modern: Extreme Justice #9 (October 1995) |
| Created by | E. Nelson Bridwell |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Zan and Jayna |
| Team affiliations | Super Friends Justice League Young Justice |
| Abilities | Zan can transform into any form of water Jayna can transform into any animal. |
The Wonder Twins, Zan and Jayna, are teenage alien superheroes who were helpers to the Super Friends in the Hanna-Barbera animated television series of the same name. In the 1990s, these characters were heavily revamped by DC Comics for modern audiences. Some people believe that the Wonder Twins are responsible for originating the fist bump hand gesture with their "Wonder Twin powers, activate!" transformation maneuver.[1]
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[edit] Character history
The duo made their debut in The All-New Super Friends Hour. Zan (voiced by Michael Bell) and Jayna (voiced by Liberty Williams) are siblings from the planet Exxor (also spelled Exor) who were being informally trained by the superheroes. Unlike their predecessors, Wendy Harris and Marvin White, this pair was able to participate in combat with abilities of their own. Their powers were activated when the twins touched each other and spoke the words, "Wonder Twin powers, activate!" (In the comics, it was revealed that this phrase was unnecessary, just a habit of theirs.) As they were about to transform, they would each announce their intended form. For example, Zan would announce, "Form of a glacier!" Jayna would then announce her intended animal form.
Zan can transform into water at any state (solid, liquid, gas). In the case of becoming solid ice, he can also become any form he chooses, from a cage for a criminal to complex machinery (such as a rocket engine). He also changed into a gelatinous form at one point. On another occasion, he transformed into liquid nitrogen. By combining with already-existing water, Zan could also increase his mass or volume in the water form chosen. In addition, he could transform himself into weather patterns involving water, such as a blizzard, a monsoon, or a typhoon. Jayna can transform into any animal, whether real, mythological, indigenous to Earth or to some other planet, like Beast Boy, so long as she knows the name.
In addition, they had a pet Space Monkey called Gleek who had a useful prehensile tail and whose body could act as a conduit for the twins to activate their powers should they be out of reach. Gleek also served as a courier when the twins needed to travel: Jayna would typically transform into a large eagle, and Zan would transform into (plain) water, "jumping" into a bucket which Gleek conveniently would be holding. (This led to the joke by some fans that Gleek's superpower was to make a bucket appear and disappear at will. See hammerspace.)
The characters were introduced in the Super Friends comic (where they were far more competent, often being the key to solving major situations) and were ignored once the series was canceled. Jayna's powers in the Super Friends comic book were shown to be more extensive, allowing her to transform into even mythical creatures. In addition, by becoming an animal of Kryptonian origin, Jayna could gain both the creature's natural abilities and the super-powers that all Kryptonians possess under Earth-like conditions, and was even capable of overpowering Superman in the form of a larger and stronger Kryptonian animal.[2] Similarly, Zan was able to transform into anything tangentially related to water or ice, including a frost giant.
In addition, the two shared a telepathic link, enabling one to alert the other over a distance when in dire circumstances. Their mutual telepathy would also explain how they were able to assume forms that allowed cooperation without any previous discussion of strategy.
[edit] Super Friends version
According to the Super Friends comic book, Zan and Jayna are Exorian metas, genetic throwbacks to an ancient race of Exorian shapeshifters. Their parents died when they were still babies (during a plague), and, because of their origin, no Exorians wanted to adopt them. They ended up adopted by the owner of a Space Circus, who only wanted to use them as sideshow freaks. Fortunately, the circus's clown (or "laugh-maker") was a kind man and raised them. He also gave them Gleek as a pet. Eventually, as teens, the pair escaped the circus and hid on a planet where a space villain called Grax (an enemy of Superman) had set his headquarters. Spying on him, they learned that Grax was planning to destroy the Earth using hidden superbombs. The twins decided to travel to Earth and warn the Justice League; that was how they came to replace Wendy and Marvin (who were planning on retiring as heroes anyway) as their sidekicks. The heroes also arranged for the kids to live with an old scientist called Professor Carter Nichols, and they even took secret identities as John and Joanna Fleming. "Johan" and "Johanna" were supposedly transfer students from Esko, Sweden, disguised with blonde hair (Zan wore a wig, while Jayna used her powers to transform into a human to change her hair color and ear shape), to allow them to attend Gotham City High School.
[edit] Extreme Justice version
In the 1990s they were introduced into the main DC Universe in the series Extreme Justice. The series retconned their origin so that they are slaves of an alien villain, later rescued by the Justice League and were much more powerful than their previous cartoon incarnations. In Extreme Justice #9 (Oct. 1995), unable to speak English, they accidentally attack some civilians and the Justice League. They join Captain Atom's team in issue #16.[3] During their fight with the JLA, Zan became an ice golem, a water monster, and a demonic-looking whirlpool; while Jayna became a griffin, a werewolf, and a sea serpent. Although rarely seen today, this version of the Wonder Twins is still part of the current DC Universe. Later they appeared in Young Justice #49–51, wearing uniforms which resembled t-shirts and jeans, to help avenge the murder of Empress's parents. Apparently, the Wonder Twins enjoy the taste of CDs, as they ate several of Wonder Girl's favorite discs.
[edit] Other Media
[edit] Justice League Unlimited
In the Justice League Unlimited episode "Injustice For All", statues of the Twins are briefly seen in a museum devoted to super-powered heroes. Later in the same scene, the two statues are destroyed during the battle between the heroes and villains.
Two characters called Downpour and Shifter appear in the episode "Ultimatum". They are members of the Ultimen, a group of superheroes created by the government. The group is a pastiche of the heroes that were created for Super Friends, with Downpour and Shifter specifically a pastiche of the Wonder Twins. Downpour and his twin sister, Shifter, voiced by Grey DeLisle, have albino white skin and pointy ears. The characters later appear in the episode Panic in the Sky. Like their adaptions into the mainstream DC Comics before, these two had much greater control and use over their powers than their original cartoon versions.
[edit] Smallville
The season five episode Mortal which aired 6 October 2005, featured a pair of identical twins with kryptonite powers who generated a bright purple force field by putting their hands together. They appeared to be a more subtle reference to the Wonder Twins while not actually being a portrayal of Zan and Jayna themselves.
Zan and Jayna appeared in the Smallville season nine episode, Idol, which aired on 13 November 2009. Zan was played by David Gallagher (7th Heaven) and Jayna by Allison Scagliotti (Warehouse 13). They both carried cell phones that had an image of Gleek on the back and that made the sound of Gleek laughing as a ringtone. Though not explicitly labeled as aliens, the two are implied to be from another world and claim to be of Swedish descent in order to explain their odd sounding names.
The Twins are portrayed as being obsessed with "The Blur" (the name given to Clark Kent before he officially adopts the Superman identity), and attempt to impersonate him in order to build up his positive reputation. They send a crate to young reporter Lois Lane containing several bound and gagged drug dealers, who turn out to be undercover cops that Zan and Jayna abducted by mistake, thus ruining a calculated police drug sting. When an attempt at stopping a robbery accidentally causes a citywide blackout in Metropolis, the Twins are ambushed and abducted by Clark and his partner Chloe Sullivan. After being threatened into giving up their vigilante activities, Zan and Jayna prove their worth when Lois is thrown from the rooftop of the Daily Planet building by a crooked politician who wants to expose "The Blur"'s true identity. Jayna transforms into an attack dog and captures the politician as he attempts to flee the scene, while Zan transforms his body into a massive cloud of mist, slowly lowering Lois when Clark can't get her in time. After this, the Twins are encouraged by Clark to continue their super heroics outside of Metropolis, albeit on their reputations rather than attempting to emulate him.
[edit] Other versions
In Kingdom Come #2, Zan and Jayna have cameos as a waiter and waitress at a bar that caters to a superhuman clientele. On the animated TV series Justice League, in episode 9 of season one, "Injustice For All Part II", a statue of the Wonder Twins is destroyed during the final battle by Hawkgirl and the Shade.
[edit] In Popular Culture
- In the episode 'Ramble On' of That 70s Show, while in deep thought about superheroes, Michael Kelso imagines himself as Batman, Fez as Aquaman, Eric and Donna as Superman and Wonder Woman, and Hyde and Jackie as Zan and Jayna.
- In a cutaway gag in an episode of Family Guy, Peter shows himself as Zan and transforms into Jayna's tampon, going into her purse and saying that it was time for the waiting game.
- In a segment of Robot Chicken the roles of Zan and Jayna were taken by the Olsen Twins. The two young women had to defeat a monstrous Dragon creature. Gleek was killed in the process by a banana peel that the monster slipped on.
[edit] References
- ^ "A Brief History of the Fist Bump". Time. June 5, 2008. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1812102,00.html. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
- ^ Super Friends #42 (March 1981)--Jayna defeats Superman in a training exercise by becoming a Kryptonian Tanthou Flez ("Winged One")
- ^ Beatty, Scott (2008), "Extreme Justice", in Dougall, Alastair, The DC Comics Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, pp. 117, ISBN 0-7566-4119-5, OCLC 213309017
[edit] External links
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