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Legends of the Superheroes: The Challenge (film)

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“ Could it be the superheroes have finally met their match? Don't go away! ”
- Narrator


For the Movie Jo Night presentation, see MJN - Legends of the Superheroes.

Legends of the Superheroes: The Challenge is a 1979 primetime TV special produced by Hanna-Barbera featuring heroes from DC Comics.

Plot[]

A group of superheroes must find a doomsday device and save the world. They encounter several villains along the way.

Cast[]

Notes[]

  • Originally broadcast on January 18, 1979 on NBC, it was followed the next week by the special Legends of the Superheroes: The Roast hosted by Ed McMahon.
  • This special marked the first time that Adam West and Frank Gorshin appeared as the characters they had originally portrayed in the 1960s Batman TV series and feature film since that series was cancelled.
  • This special is similar in format to the Challenge of the Superfriends animated series that had premiered on CBS the previous year, featuring many of the same heroes and villains.
  • Although similar to Super Friends, some notable DC heroes are absent. Superman had appeared in a major motion picture the previous year (played by Christoper Reeve), and Wonder Woman was appearing in a primetime TV adventure series on CBS at the time (played by Lynda Carter). It is unclear why Aquaman is not part of this show.
  • The original Captain Marvel had been the main character in The Adventures of Captain Marvel, a film serial in 1941 that has been used by The Mads and RiffTrax. He had also appeared in a Saturday morning live-action TV series on CBS from 1974 to 1977 from Filmation.
  • There does not seem to be any connection between Scarlet Cyclone and Red Tornado, a DC Comics hero who is a robot.
  • Comedian Jeff Altman later co-starred in the short-lived and widely-derided variety show Pink Lady and Jeff in 1980 opposite Pink Lady, a popular Japanese music duo.
  • Charlie Callas was a popular nightclub comedian who was known for making bizarre noises/sound effects with his mouth.
  • Howard Morris had been a star of the comedy/variety series Your Show of Shows with Sid Ceasar and Carl Reiner. He co-starred in the Mel Brooks film High Anxiety and would later voice Wade the Duck on the animated series Garfield & Friends (among other voice work).
  • Gary Owens had been the announcer on the 1960s sketch comedy show Laugh-In, as well as being the original voice actor of the animated heroes Space Ghost, Blue Falcon, and Roger Ramjet.
  • Comedian Marsha Warfield makes an uncredited appearance as the Woman in the Phone Booth.
  • This special and its follow-up are the topic of a notable anecdote about producer Joe Barbera. Barbera was supposedly so good at selling ideas to networks (and altering his pitches to suit the response he got from the executives that he was pitching to at the moment) that he sold NBC on two primetime specials, but almost immediately forgot what idea he had sold to them. The executives later called Barbera's office asking HIM to remind THEM what they had bought.

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