Legion of Superheroes is a 2006 animated television series based on the same-named DC comic book series, which first appeared in 1958.
The sitcom was produced by Warner Bros. and lasted two seasons before being canceled. It revolves around a teenage Superman who arrives in the 31st century and battles alongside a group of future superheroes and supervillains.
The series features a brilliant cast of some of the most interesting and distinctive heroes from all around the United Planets, which is a governing organization that oversees a substantial chunk of the Universe.
Al Plastino and Otto Binder invented the Legion of Superheroes, and they are frequently linked to the more popular Justice League from a millennium ago through time-traveling adventures. The origins of the superheroes who take center stage in the Legion are discussed in this video.
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Who Are The Legion Of Superheroes?
The Legion works in a fashion similar to the Justice League – both in terms of story as well as the team framework. Just like the League, they fight the bad guys to save the day. But with reference to the team, what we mean is that similar to the League, the Legion boasts a long roster of superheroes working together were a select few happen to be more staple characters (basically how Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, etcetera happen to be the recurring characters).
In the case of the Legion, they are – Superman (duh!), Brainiac 5, Bouncing Boy, Phantom Girl, Timber Wolf, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, and Bouncing Boy. However, the difference lies in the fact that the events surrounding the Legion take place around the 30th and the 31st Century.
For the first season of the animated television series, the Legion goes back in time as they need Superman’s help to defeat the Fatal Five in their time. They accidentally end up in an era where a young Clark Kent is still learning how to use his powers instead of being a full-fledged superhero. Ultimately, Clark leaves his own time period to go to the future with the Legion and help fight the futuristic enemies. He later goes back to his time period.
The show returns for a second season and with that, Superman comes to the future once again, this time with elevated skills, thanks to his training. He helps the Legion fight the undefeatable galaxy destroyer called Imperiex. At the same time, a 41st century Superman (a DNA clone) also comes to this millennia to help the Legion.
And with this, it’s time to get down to the meat of today’s video – the primary members of the Legion and their origin stories.
Legion Of Superhero Members
Superman
This one’s a no-brainer. Everyone and their mother is aware of how our boy Kal-El became Superman, but a recap with the specifics wouldn’t cause any harm.
Kal-El was born on Krypton, a planet that was on the brink of destruction. His scientist father, Jor-El, ended up saving his life by sending him off in a rocket headed towards the Earth. He landed in Smallville, in Kansas, and was adopted by the Kents, where he took up the alias of Clark Kent.
Due to having a physiology that could withstand Krypton’s tremendous gravity and the Red Sun, the atmosphere and yellow sun of Earth powered Clark up to an incomprehensible extent, making him one of the most powerful beings to ever exist. With strong ethics, morals, and a love for humanity, Clark Kent became the legendary superhero we know and love as Superman and dedicated himself to protecting humanity.
He later moved to Metropolis and worked at the Daily Planet.
Brainiac 5
Brainiac 5 was the fifth robot in line after the original Brainiac from the DC Universe (the one that miniaturized the Kryptonian city of Kandor). Originally known as Querl Dox, he was born on the planet Colu, where everyone was 95% robot and had the DNA of Kryptonians.
He experienced the pain of being abandoned by his own mother, Virln Dox, who did not love him. His father was no better. It is believed that Brainiac 5’s father left him and formed an assassin’s group.
Dox dedicated his life to his studies and ended up becoming the most intelligent being to exist in his century. He became Brainiac 5 at the mere age of twelve. He then decided to leave Colu for Earth but was warned about Brainiac, who would be more than interested in controlling Dox. On Earth, Dox worked for the Time Institute and created the Time Bubble which would allow them to time travel. Naturally, the humans were shocked by the intelligence of this twelve year old boy.
One day, an attack took place outside the Time Institute and Dox stepped up with his robotic weapons to save the day. The Legion arrived at the scene as well and helped Dox out. Impressed by the superheroes, he attempted to get into the Legion and eventually became their main engineer and scientist.
Lightning Lad
Garth Ranzz, the superhero named Lightning Lad, is from the planet Winath. He had a twin, Ayla Ranzz, and an older brother Mekt Ranzz. Garth grew up as an introverted boy who excelled in sports.
During a joyride on space with his siblings, (yeah, 31st Century hobbies) they were all forced to land. Mekt decided to land on the planetoid known as Korbal to recharge their ship. However, things took a turn for the worse when they got attacked by Korbal’s predatory animals, the Lightning Beasts.
Garth and Mekt’s electrical superpowers helped them survive while Ayla phased into pure energy. Garth even received a scar on his face around this time. Every time he activated his electrical ability, the scar charged.
He later went to Earth later where he encountered Cosmic Boy a.k.a Rokk Krinn and Saturn Girl a.k.a. Imra Ardeen on a flight. Together, they saved the entrepreneur R.J. Brande from terrorists and then formed the Legion of Superheroes with his new allies.
Saturn Girl
Born on the largest moon of Saturn i.e. Titan, Imra Ardeen is an incredibly talented telepath. She is popularly known by her superhero name Saturn Girl.
She initially wanted to try for the Science Police. During this time, she met Garth Ranzz and Rokk Krinn a.k.a Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy. During their flight, a group of terrorists called the Dark Circle endangered the life of R.J. Brande. However, Saturn Girl detected the necessary danger and saved Brande with Garth and Rokk.
Unfortunately, the problem was far from over but as the most disciplined telepath of Titan, Imra kept following her hunch over something being very sus and of course, she was right. She managed to save Brande once and for all and then formed the Legion of Superheroes with her new friends.
Timber Wolf
Brin Londo was born on planet Zuun, a super uninhabitable planet. His father, Dr. Mar Londo, was a scientist, and not a righteous one at that. He wanted to create the ultimate fighting machine and in the process, chose his own son to basically be his lab rat. Anyway, his experiments turned Brin into a human-canine and they later shifted to a different planet called Rawl to proceed with the research.
During this time, Brin escaped his terrible condition and left the laboratory. He ran away to the forests of Rawl. However, Mar, being the model father that he is, sent seeker robots to track Brin down. Too bad, Mar’s research ended up working against his favor since Brin or Timber Wolf was powerful enough to decimate those robots.
The Legion of Superheroes visited Brin’s world around this time when they encountered the seeker robots in the forests. Brin rescued the Legion by destroying more robots but he also snatched Saturn Girl away from her team. During this time, Saturn Girl used her telepathic powers and learned more about Brin. She saw beyond his violence due to their empathic link and managed to calm him down. He finally reverted to his human-ish state and was later offered to be a member of the Legion. As a part of the organization, he adopted Timber Wolf as his superhero name.
Phantom Girl
She is also one of the OG members of the Legion of Superheroes. Known as Tinya Wazzo, she is the daughter of Winema Wazzo, the President of the United Planets. Growing up, she had to deal with a very strict household. Naturally, this caused her to become a rebellious teen.
She was born on planet Bgtzl, a planet that exists where Earth should, but in a different dimension. The natives of this planet have the ability to phase through solid objects and shift to the dimension that has Earth, generally with technological assistance. However, Tinya’s powers were way stronger than the average being on her planet.
Following the death of her father, Tinya headed to Earth on a freighter vessel. She initially worked at a spy ring and then tried out for the Legion of Superheroes.
To become a member of this Legion, one has to audition. However, Tinya didn’t go through that hassle and with her powers, bypassed the Legion’s security. She did end up becoming a member and then took upon the moniker of Phantom Girl.
Bouncing Boy
Charles Foster Tain was a regular guy from Earth. One day, he drank a superplastic fluid created by a scientist, which gave him his strange superpowers. He learned that he could now inflate his body and turn spherical.
He applied to be a part of the Legion of Superheroes but unlike the others who got selected without much of a hassle, Bouncing Boy failed constantly. Ultimately, it was his sense of humor that got him his membership alongside the others being convinced that Bouncing Boy is a great support superhero and that his powers have their offensive uses as well.
Legion Of Superheroes Is Getting A New Animated TV Show
We’ve already spoken about the 2006 animated television series for the Legion of Superheroes. As of 2022, a new animated series by HBO Max is on the way.
The show is in its early stages of development and will be produced as an adult animated show. Comic book writer Brian Bendis i.e. the developer revealed that he has been in on the project with HBO Max for quite some time now.
As of now, there’s no confirmation as to when the series will be released, primarily because animation is quite the hassle and takes a long time. Since it has already entered the early stages of its development, we can expect it to come out in 2023.
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