''DC Super Hero Girls'' is an American animated

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

television series developed by

Lauren Faust Lauren J. Faust (born July 25, 1974) is an American animator, writer, voice director, and storyboard artist, best known as the creator of the animated series '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic''. Faust has collaborated with her husband Craig ...

and produced by

Warner Bros. Animation Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a flagship of Warner Bros. Discovery. As the successor to Warner Bros. Cartoons, which was active from 1 ...

for

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

. Based on the web series and franchise of the same name, the series premiered on March 8, 2019, with a one-hour special. The series follows the adventures of teenage versions of

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

Batgirl Batgirl is the name of several superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, depicted as female counterparts and allies to the superhero Batman. Although the character Betty Kane was introduced into publication in ...

Bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related gener ...

Supergirl Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. The character made her fir ...

Green Lantern Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness, ...

, and

Zatanna Zatanna Zatara () is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson, and first appeared in '' Hawkman'' #4 (November 1964). Zatanna is a stage magician with a ...

who are students at

Metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big c ...

High School.

Premise

The show focuses on six female teenage superheroes with

secret identities A secret identity is a person's alter ego which is not known to the general populace, most often used in fiction. Brought into popular culture by the Scarlet Pimpernel in 1903, the concept was widespread in pulp heroes and is particularly prevalent ...

: Diana Prince / Wonder Woman (voiced by

Grey Griffin Grey DeLisle (; born Erin Grey Van Oosbree; August 24, 1973), sometimes credited as Grey Griffin, is an American voice actress, comedian and singer-songwriter. DeLisle is known for various roles in animated productions and video games. On Sept ...

); Barbara "Babs" Gordon / Batgirl (voiced by

Tara Strong Tara Lyn Strong (née Charendoff; born February 12, 1973) is a Canadian-American actress. She is known for her voice work in animation, websites, and video games. Strong's voice roles include animated series such as ''The New Batman Adventures ...

); Kara Danvers / Supergirl (voiced by

Nicole Sullivan Nicole Sullivan (born April 21, 1970) is an American actress and comedian best known for her six seasons (1995–2001) on the sketch comedy series ''MADtv''. She also played Holly Shumpert in five seasons (2001–2005, 2007) of the CBS sitcom '' ...

); Zee Zatara / Zatanna (voiced by

Kari Wahlgren Kari Wahlgren (born July 13, 1977) is an American actress who has provided English-language voices for animated movies, TV series, and video games. She got her start in anime voice-overs as Haruko Haruhara in '' FLCL'', and would later land ma ...

), Jessica Cruz / Green Lantern (voiced by Myrna Velasco); and Karen Beecher / Bumblebee (voiced by

Kimberly Brooks Kimberly D. Brooks (née Lawson) is an American voice actress who works in the voice-over, film, video games, and theatre industry. She has voiced in video games since the mid-1990s. She has played Ashley Williams in the ''Mass Effect'' serie ...

). The six girls meet at Metropolis High School and form a superhero team dubbed the "Super Hero Girls". The show tells the coming-of-age stories of the Super Hero Girls, dealing with their choices and decisions regarding their superhero identities and their secret identities. The show focuses on

physical comedy Physical comedy is a form of comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any ...

, emotional storylines, and a large gallery of villains.

Episodes

The new incarnation of ''DC Super Hero Girls'' debuted at the 2018

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is co ...

with the theatrical short ''#TheLateBatsby'' which screened in theaters before the film ''

Teen Titans Go! To the Movies ''Teen Titans Go! To the Movies'' is a 2018 American animated superhero comedy film based on the television series ''Teen Titans Go!'', which is based on the DC Comics superhero team of the same name. This film is directed by Peter Rida Mi ...

''. The online "Super Shorts" debuted on January 17, 2019 with ''#SuperSleeper'' on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. The TV series debuted with the one-hour special ''#SweetJustice'' on March 8, 2019.

Production

was approached by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

to develop ''DC Super Hero Girls'' into a television series, after previously working on '' Super Best Friends Forever''. The television iteration of the web series ''DC Super Hero Girls'' was announced in May 2017. Tara Strong and Nicole Sullivan reprise their roles as Batgirl and Supergirl respectively from ''Super Best Friends Forever'', while Grey Griffin, who previously voiced

Wonder Girl Wonder Girl is the alias of multiple list of superheroines, superheroines featured in comic books published by DC Comics. Donna Troy, the original Wonder Girl, was created by Bob Haney and Bruno Premiani and first appeared in ''The Brave and the ...

(

Donna Troy Donna Troy is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. She is the original Wonder Girl and later temporarily adopts another identity, Troia. Created by Bob Haney and Bruno Premiani, she first appeared in ''The ...

) from the ''

DC Nation Shorts ''DC Nation Shorts'' are animated shorts featuring characters from DC Comics that aired in a series on Cartoon Network on Saturdays at 10/9c. Production On March 3, 2012, the shorts premiered as part of the '' DC Nation'' block, produced by Warn ...

'', reprises her role as Wonder Woman from the web series. A year later, a poster showing the first look of the main characters was released. The series is animated by the Canadian studio

Jam Filled Entertainment Jam Filled Entertainment is a Canadian animation studio based in Ottawa, Ontario with additional facilities in Toronto and Halifax and is a division of Boat Rocker Media. It is best known for animating ''Thomas & Friends'' between 2013 and 2020, ...

and Hasbro's

Boulder Media Boulder Media Limited is an Irish animation studio founded by filmmaker Robert Cullen in 2000. It is currently a subsidiary of Australian media company Princess Pictures. History Cullen founded Boulder Media in 2000. On 13 July 2016, it b ...

from Ireland. The writers chose to model each character and their personalities after a teenager archetype, while also drawing inspiration for several characters on their incarnations from the

Silver Age of Comic Books The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and widespread commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those featuring the superhero archetype. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books and an int ...

. However, for the more modern Jessica Cruz, the writers heavily altered her characterization due to her original backstory contrasting heavily with the series' lighthearted tone. Several of the writers for this series had previously worked on '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'', another show created and developed by Faust. Also, her series is the second collaboration of Tara Strong and

John de Lancie John Sherwood de Lancie, Jr. (born March 20, 1948) is an American actor, television director, director, film producer, producer, writer, and comedian, best known for his role as Q (Star Trek), Q in various ''Star Trek'' series (1987–present); ...

, who respectively voiced

Twilight Sparkle Princess Twilight Sparkle, commonly known as Twilight Sparkle, is a fictional character who appears in the fourth incarnation (also referred to as the fourth generation or "G4") of Hasbro's My Little Pony toyline and media franchise, beginni ...

and

Discord Discord is a VoIP and instant messaging social platform. Users have the ability to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called "servers".The developer documenta ...

on ''Friendship Is Magic''. Natalie Wetzig, a director on ''DC Super Hero Girls'', referred to the second season of the show in an interview at the 2020 Annie Awards. She later clarified she stated the second half of season 1. Co-executive producer Amanda Rynda said the crew is "introducing lots of new villains and pushing the needle on new storylines" for season 2.

Broadcast

The show premiered on

Cartoon Network UK Cartoon Network (commonly abbreviated as CN) is a British pay television channel aimed at children which airs animated programming targeting children and young aged 6 to 12.

on 6 July 2019. It began airing on

CITV CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...

in September 2020. All 52 episodes of season 1 are available to watch on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

Video games

* ''DC Super Hero Girls Blitz —'' Budge Studios created a ''DC Super Hero Girls''

mobile game A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to ...

for Android and

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

devices which was released on August 8, 2019. It is a collection of microgames with difficulty-increasing-with-speed featuring the main heroines from the show, but some microgames needed to be bought separately each heroine to unlock those microgames. * ''DC Super Hero Girls: Teen Power —'' A

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

game published by

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

on June 4, 2021.

Reception

The series received generally mixed to positive reviews from critics. Emily Ashby of

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

described the series as fast-paced, focusing on teen heroes who use teamwork, and noted that strong messages about "girl power and the value of friendship" within the series.

References

External links

* {{Justice League in popular media 2010s American animated television series 2010s American high school television series 2019 American television series debuts 2020s American animated television series 2020s American high school television series 2021 American television series endings American children's animated action television series American children's animated adventure television series American children's animated comedy television series American children's animated fantasy television series American children's animated superhero television series American children's animated supernatural television series Animated Justice League television series Animated superheroine television shows Animated television shows based on DC Comics Cartoon Network original programming Child versions of cartoon characters DC Super Hero Girls English-language television shows Teen animated television series Teen superhero television series Television series by Jam Filled Entertainment Television series by Warner Bros. Animation Television series created by Lauren Faust Wonder Woman in other media