JLA ON TELEVISION
Legends of the Superheroes
I don't surpose anybody out there remembers the Legends of the Superheroes?
NO?
I'm not surprised it was back in 1979 and the Wonder Woman TV series was going strong along side such competition as Spider-Man, the Hulk and Buck Rogers. Now the management at NBC wanted to put out their own superhero show to cash in on this fad. They initially fought about using Batman but decided that an animated series and re-runs of the 60's show meant the public were a little over exposed to Batman. If it was going to be Batman they would have to go with something a little different, a la Legends of the Superheroes.
Functioning as a mini series of two, one hour programmes it featured Adam West (with a little extra weight) and Burt Ward back in their original roles. They were joined by Garret Craig as Captain Marvel, Bill Nuchols as Hawkman, Rod Haase as the Flash, Barbara Joyce as the Huntress, Danuta as Black Canary and Willian Schallert as Retired Man (a character of NBC's creation who was meant to be a mystery man from the 1940's who came out of retirement to aid the heroes and to provide comic relief).
The first episode was called the "Challenge" while episode two was called "The Roast". Both featured as an impressive array of villains as heroes with Mickey Morton as Solomon Grundy, A'leshia Brvard as Giganta, Howard Morris as Dr Sivana, Jeff Altman as the Weather Wizard, Frank Gorshin back as the Riddler, Charlie Callas as Sinestro and Gabe Dell as Mordu. Narrated by the dramatic tones of Ed McMahon the two shows retain that essence of the camp superhero shows of yester-year.
-Based on an "To be continued... Part Three" from Batman Monthly (a British reprint magazine) #19 published by London Editions Magazines, 1990.