The Big Picture
- The classic DC animated series Super Friends is finally coming to Blu-ray this fall, marking its 50th anniversary.
- The iconic series featured Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and more, introducing kids to the DC Universe.
- While not as dark as later adaptations, Super Friends remains a valuable gateway for young fans into DC comics.
With the next DC era less than a year away, with The Creature Commandos and James Gunn’s Superman ushering in its new universe, the famous comic company has already had a rich history outside the page. In between Richard Donnar’s Superman and Tim Burton’s Batman, The Super Friends dominated the Saturday morning cartoon landscape. The campy Hanna-Barbera animated series was the last of its kind and, now 50 years later, The Super Friends are fighting their way to Blu-ray for the first time this fall.
The massive 9 disc set contains all 93 episodes (174 segments) that ran for over a decade from 1973 to 1985. In that time, the show received a handful of rebrandings with title changes, like Challenge of the Super Friends, The All-New Super Friends Hour and The World’s Greatest Super Friends. However, the tone of the series remained mostly the same. In the vain of the 60s Adam WestBatman series, this is a very colorful show geared toward children. The line-up of Batman, Robin, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman were 80s kids’ first exposure to the larger DC Universe. It even introduced lesser known characters like Cyborg and Firestorm in later seasons, who would soon become staple characters thanks to later shows like Teen Titans and the shared “Arrowverse”.
The Forgotten Era of DC Animation
While shows like Batman: The Animated Series and its larger DC Animated Universe, composed of Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League from the 90s/early 2000s get all the love from comic book fans, Super Friends was in an odd transitional period for the brand. When Super Friends premiered in 1973, the live-action Batman series had already been done for well over a decade. The comics had moved on from the campy space-age era that inspired that series and returned to its darker roots. Batman, thanks to writer Dennis O’Neil and artist Neal Adams, was more grounded and introduced scarier threats like Man-Bat. Batman in Super Friends didn’t reflect the comics, but that doesn’t mean he and his friends don’t have value. To this day, Super Friends remains a great gateway into the DC Universe for kids. Also, whether it be Batman and Robin’s adventures with Scooby-Doo or The New Adventures of Superman (which both preceded Super Friends), we wouldn’t have what we have now without it. A year after Super Friends ended its 9 season run in 1985, DC would publish Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. This was the most mature Batman story up to that point, changing the pop culture landscape forever.
Where Can You Stream ‘Super Friends’?
The DC series isn’t available to watch on any streaming service, but Super Friends is available to buy on most major VOD services, like Fandango at Home. The Complete Super Friends Collection will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 10, 2024. You can pre-order the set on Amazon for $107. 87 USD.