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Ever since their appearance, Superheroes have fascinated the media, specially Batman and Superman in their many incarnations both in live action and animation. But Wonder Woman, the third big superhero of DC Comics, have been elusive to the media, being the only exception the world-famous live-action series with Lynda Carter in the small screen. When it comes to animation, it never had a series of its own, though the character appeared in many animated forms as part of the SuperFriends series -and- more recently in Justice League.
Animated superheroes hit the small screen during the 60s, specially during the second half of the decade. A precursor was the "Marvel Superheroes" [Syndicated - 1966-1968], a half-hour series with basic animation featuring five Marvel heroes. DC Comics characters made their debut on television with the Man of Steel in "The New Adventures Of Superman" [CBS, September 16, 1966-September 2, 1967; Rebroadcast on CBS: September 2, 1969-September 5, 1970], a half-hour animated series produced by Filmation. One year after the debut of his Saturday-morning series, Supie returned in "The Superman / Aquaman Hour Of Adventure" [CBS, September 9, 1967 - September 7, 1968], an hour-long series which featured the leader of the lost continent of Atlantis, Aquaman, as his co-star. The series was basically made up of repeats of Superman and Superboy episodes from "The New Adventures of Superman" alternated with new episodes of Aquaman specially made for the series, along with guest-stars segments featuring Wonder Girl as part of the Teen Titans.
The next one was "The Batman / Superman Hour" [CBS, September 14, 1968 - September 6, 1969], another hour series teaming two of DC's superheroes. The Caped Crusader concluded the decade with "The Adventures of Batman" [CBS, September 13, 1969 - September 6, 1970].
For a few years animated superheroes left their original productions due to an allegedly violent content in the TV incarnations during the previous decade.
Nevertheless reruns continued with equal success and the network showed some renewed interest, specially considering the high ratings of these shows. In 1972 CBS aired two-hour length episodes of the New Scooby Doo movies with Batman and Robin as guest-stars, and ABC featured Superman and Wonder Woman in two episodes of Filmation's "Brady Kids" [ABC, September 16, 1972, August 31, 1974].
Considering all this, ABC saw the potencial in commisioning non-violent, moralistic adventures utilizing Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman and Aquaman, also known as the Justice League of America, downplaying its name to the more friendly group name of Super Friends, and initiating a long running series which lasted a glorius 12-year run from 1973 through 1986. The last time Wonder Woman was seen in the 80s was as a guest-star in an episode of "Superman" [CBS, September 17, 1988 through September 12, 1989].
In this 60s, Superheroes were imbued with life by Filmation, in the 70s and 80s by Hanna-Barbera and in the 90s it was the turn of Warner Bros. First it was the highly acclaimed animated Batman which followed the success of the cinematic live-action counterpart. In 1993, Wonder Woman almost had a shot of her own with "Wonder Woman And The Star-Riders," a proposed half-hour animated series by Warner Bros. Animation which was supposed to be accompanied by a line of Mattel toys, but it never saw the light. Then it came Superman and recently the much awaited "Justice League" also featuring Wonder Woman in a more stylized incarnation. Whether Wonder Woman will have an animated series of its own in the future remain as uncertain as the much-talked live-action version.
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