The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians

The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians was the last incarnation of the Super Friends series that began in 1973 and continued for over a decade, undergoing numerous title, roster and format changes along the way. The inspiration behind the animated series was the Justice League of America comic book published by DC Comics, which banded together some of the world’s greatest superheroes to fight crime as a team.

Most of the Super Friend’s superhero mainstays were back for Galactic Guardians. Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and Robin shared the spotlight with Firestorm, who was a holdover from the previous season Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show. Also playing a prominent role was the team’s newest member Cyborg, a once-promising decathlon athlete who had a large portion of his body replaced by robotic components after an accident caused him serious injury. Other members who occasionally made appearances (normally as supporting characters) were Hawkman, Samurai, Flash, Aquaman and Green Lantern. Notably missing were the teenage Wonder Twins and their space monkey Gleek. The absence of the teens was in keeping with the tone of Galactic Guardians, which strove for more mature storytelling and in-depth characterization than previous incarnations of the show. The team remained headquartered at the high tech — and newly remodeled — Hall of Justice in the city of Metropolis.

The team faced such well known villains as Lex Luthor, The Joker, Scarecrow, Bizarro and Mr. Mxyzptlk, but Darkseid, the main bad guy from Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, continued to do most of the super villain heavy lifting in Galactic Guardians. A megalomaniacal usurper from another dimension, Darkseid was assisted by his son Kalibak and main flunky Desaad in his persistent attempts to conquer the planet Earth.