Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show was the first Super Friends series in a new format since 1979's The World's Greatest Super Friends. Continuing the previous three years' policy of producing short stories, this series' format was two stories per half hour, so all the separate stories were ten minutes long each.
Toyline tie-in
Unlike previous series, this one was produced as a toyline tie-in (which was just becoming a very popular practice at the time). The toys were produced by Kenner. The general story as detailed in the mini-comics that accompanied the figures. The mini-series, published by DC themselves, was that the major heroes of Earth had teamed up to fight Darkseid and his villains. This series followed that storyline, and so was more in line with the very popular Challenge of the Super Friends series, which also featured actual super-villains from the comics as regular adversaries.
One of the most obvious tie-ins was the character of Brainiac, who had been given a radically different look for his toy (despite him appearing in his original form in the opening credits). His look on the show was similarly updated. Another obvious tie in was Lex Luthor in his power suit. Although Luthor appeared in 3 episodes, he wore his power suit in only one. Despite this, there was a Lex Luthor toy with him wearing his power suit. Being produced to promote toys, there were a few other departures from past Super Friends series in order for the series to appear more modern and have a higher profile in a more competitive television market.
Super Friends/Justice League of America
Fifteen heroes made up the Super Friends/Justice League of America. They were:
According to DC writer/historian Mark Waid, Aquaman's sole appearance in The Legendary Super Powers Show comes via his appearance within the opening credits. The same is true for The Flash and Hawkman.
After Olan Soule served as the voice of Batman on the Super Friends since the beginning of the series, he turned the part over to none other than the man who played Batman on the live-action 1960s TV series, Adam West, for the Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show series. For this season, Olan instead played the voice of Professor Martin Stein, one half of Firestorm the Nuclear Man.
