Legion of Doom (Super Friends)

".From left to right: Black Manta, Giganta, Toyman, Riddler, Bizarro, Scarecrow, Lex Luthor, Captain Cold, Cheetah, Solomon Grundy, Gorilla Grodd, Brainiac, and Sinestro.]

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

In each episode they appeared in, the Legion of Doom would enact various plots against the Super Friends, only to be met with defeat by the end of the story. Often, however, they would escape capture through a last-minute escape plan.

The Hall of Doom

The Legion of Doom's headquarters was the Hall of Doom, a facility located in an anonymous swamp. The Hall of Doom was capable of being lowered below or raised above the swamp water's surface, and could also be flown through the air via rockets if needed, even remotely controlled. It also had laser defense weapons and could time travel to the past or future.

Members

There were thirteen members of the Legion of Doom:

* 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, and all members were from the Milky Way galaxy.

* A popular misconception was that Joker was a member of the Legion of Doom. He appeared only once in a later iteration of the series, "". Though he was slated to appear in the Legion, his appearance in "The New Adventures of Batman" prevented that.

* Captain Marvel and a few of his enemies were to be part of "Challenge of the Super Friends", but Filmation bought the rights to the characters involved.

* 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 inventer of the Noxium crystal that had the power to destroy all of the Superfriends. The Superfriends knew of this crystal and tricked the Legion into thinking that it had killed all of them (using android doubles of the Superfriends). They anticipated that the Legion would throw away the crystal when they no longer needed it. The crystal was retrieved by the Superfriends and launched into deep space. It is assumed that Natas was deceased, hence the Legion's apparent inability to recreate the crystal.

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.
* 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 ("")
* No Honor Among Thieves Super Friends ("")
* The Mask of Mystery Super Friends ("")
* The Seeds of Doom ("")

Brainiac appears in:
* Superclones ("Super Friends" short)
* The Wraith of Brainiac ("")
** 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 ("")
* Brainchild ("")

Bizarro appears in:
* Bizarroworld ("Super Friends" short)
* Revenge of Bizarro ("Super Friends" short)
* Video Victims ("Super Friends" short)
* The Bizarro Super Powers Team ("")
** This episode had Bizarro voiced by Danny Dark, who had been voicing Superman, as well as giving Bizarro his more backward personality. Ironically, though Superman didn't appear on this episode.

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. ("")

Other appearances

The Legion of Doom made some appearances in the "Super Friends" spinoff 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 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 the thirteen villains featured in the Super Friends cartoon, this version of the Legion counts Black Adam, Metallo, Clayface, Parasite, and Poison Ivy as members. The Joker and Doctor Sivana also make appearances.

"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), 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.

Confirmed members of this "Secret Society" (the DCAU take on the Legion) are as follows:
* Lex Luthor "Justice League Unlimited" episode "I Am Legion"] - Successor leader
* Gorilla Grodd – Founder & original leader
* Angle Man "Justice League Unlimited" episode "Dead Reckoning"]
* Atomic Skull
* Bizarro
* Black Mass
* Blockbuster
* Bloodsport "Justice League Unlimited" episode "The Great Brain Robbery"]
* Blue Lama
* 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 "Justice League Unlimited" episode "Alive!"]
* Hellhound "Justice League Unlimited" episode "Grudge Match"]
* 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
* Roulette "Justice League Unlimited" episode "Grudge Match"]
* The Shade
* The Shark III
* Shatterfist
* Silver Banshee
* Sinestro
* Sonar
* Sportsmaster
* Star Sapphire
* Tala
* Tattooed Man I
* The Thinker
* The Top
* Toyman
* Tsukuri
* Weather Wizard
* Volcana

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, Lady Lunar, Sinestro, Star Sapphire, Toyman and Volcana.
* The group loyal to Grodd included: Angle Man, Blockbuster, Bloodsport, Copperhead, Crowbar, Doctor Cyber, Electrocutioner, Fastball, Goldface, Hellgrammite, Key, KGBeast, Killer Frost, Major Disaster, Merlyn, Monocle, Nuetron, Parasite, Rampage, Shade, Silver Banshee, Tala, and the Weather Wizard.

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. [cquote|One of the nicest bits in "Alive!" was consciously making Luthor's team the villains that the audience had seen most of, more or less, and cared about. Which was good, since we were hopefully making the audience worry about and root for Luthor's group. This also let us come as close as we could to the classic 13 LOD villains. Grodd was now the enemy; Captain Cold wasn't around; Devil Ray and Grundy were gone and we couldn't use Scarecrow or Riddler, so we were left with: Luthor (who kind of counted as Brainiac), Bizarro, Giganta, Cheetah, Sinestro and Toyman. (And no, I couldn't keep all 13 straight two years later without referring to my script and Wikipedia.)|15px|15px|Matt Wayne [http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/jlu/backstage/interviews/wayne01.php] ] 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.

Cultural references

* In the "Family Guy" episode, "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One" it is claimed 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 "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.----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 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. 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 The Powerpuff Girls saving Aquaman and Wonder Woman from the Legion of Doom's clutches. It can be seen [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91KK09FAux4 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.

* The professional wrestling tag-team of The Road Warriors was also known informally as "The Legion of Doom" while wrestling for the AWA, NWA, and WCW promotions. When they made the move to the WWF they took Legion of Doom as their official moniker and dropped the "Road Warriors" name entirely.

* 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 gang bangers 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 it's 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 the episode of the Daily Show after the Supreme Court stayed the Florida recount thereby ending the 2000 United States Presidential Election, when contemplating future legal actions the candidates can take, correspondent Stephen Colbert suggested that Vice-President Gore would appeal to the League of Justice while Governor Bush would appeal to the Legion of Doom.

Footnotes