In 1938, the DC Universe as we know it was born with the introduction of Superman in Action Comics #1. An equally important event occurred three years later, when brothers Max and Dave Fleischer released the first Superman animated short. From that moment on, animation became inextricably tied to Superman, Batman, and the Justice League.cnx.cmd.push(function() {cnx({playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530",}).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796");});For that reason, DC has seen its characters appear in cartoon series that range from the goofy but influential Super Friends to the perhaps perfect Batman: The Animated Series to the exciting Creature Commandos. But not every DC animated series has been as influential or as remembered. So let’s look back at some of the cartoon adventures of DC heroes that haven’t had quite the same legacy.The New Adventures of Superman (1966–1970)Given how well the fluid and dynamic Fleischer cartoons are today, the Filmation series cannot help but pale in comparison. Even Super Friends and its spinoffs are more well-remembered for their embrace of the wild, weird DC Comics world than for their quality. For that reason, it’s easy to dismiss the 68 shorts that Filmation released as The New Adventures of Superman as janky time wasters. Indeed, they do suffer from stiff animation, inconsistent models, and voice-over narration that explains exactly what’s on screen. Yet, as silly as they are, The New Adventures of Superman does have a jolt of pop art energy that matches the hip Batman animated series or the comics published by Marvel.The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure (1967–1969)We’re cheating a bit here, because The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure is effectively the second and third seasons of The New Adventures of Superman. But we’re including it because enough material was added to Superman and Superboy stories to count as its own show. The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure plays like a test run of Super Friends, with Filmation digging deeper into the DC bullpen to give animated adventures to the Atom, the Teen Titans, and more. Surprisingly enough, the standout hero was Aquaman, whose underwater confines gave Filmation’s animators something to play with.Plastic Man (1979–1981)Few superheroes are better suited to animation than Plastic Man. The original comics by Jack Cole stretched the limits of the comic book form as much as Plas himself reshaped his body, and movement would only make his exploits more wacky. Some of that playfulness certainly makes it into the Plastic Man cartoon show, which eventually expanded into The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show. However, the series mostly avoided stuff from the comics, making Plastic Man into a secret agent, replacing his comic sidekick Woozy Winks with a Polynesian man named (ugh) Hula-Hula, and eventually giving him a wife and a child called Baby Plas. The series was a hit for about a year, but the buzz quickly died, living today only as a half-memory for Gen Xers.The Kid Super Power Hour With Shazam! (1981-1982)Like Plastic Man, the hero originally called Captain Marvel (now called Shazam, for copyright reasons) is uniquely well-suited to cartoons. After all, what kid wouldn’t want to see themselves in Billy Batson, the boy who gets Superman-style powers whenever he says “Shazam!” The series did a nice job adapting Captain Marvel’s whimsical adventures to animation, and Filmation hoped to capitalize on the appeal by pairing them with Hero High, a series about students at a superhero high school. However, the potential never paid off and The Kid Super Power Hour With Shazam! ended after one season.Swamp Thing (1990–1991)As a big green pile of mush who protects the environment, Swamp Thing makes perfect sense as the star of a Captain Planet-type show. But the Swamp Thing cartoon that ran for five episodes across 1990 and 1991 was less a standard comic book adaptation and another instance of that strange ’80s phenomenon of making a kid’s cartoon out of an R-rated property. Instead of drawing from Swamp Thing’s more superhero stories, the cartoon followed the 1982 Wes Craven movie and the horror-focused live action series that debuted on the USA Network at the same time. Despite a toy line and a theme song based on “Wild Thing” by The Troggs, Swamp Thing failed to grow on kids.Wild C.A.T.s: Covert Action Teams (1994–1995)We’re going to cheat a bit here, as Wild C.A.T.s was not a DC property when the cartoon aired for one season on CBS. Instead, creator Jim Lee published the series through Image Comics. When X-Men: The Animated Series became a big hit using his art style, Lee managed to bring his Wild C.A.T.s to the screen. But like their comic book counterparts, the animated Wild C.A.T.s didn’t have nearly the same level of characterization or drama as Marvel’s mutants, and the series remains a footnote, especially now that the team is part of the DC Universe.Lobo (2000)Writer Keith Giffen may have introduced Lobo in the 1980s, but the character hit it big in the ’90s, when Giffen, co-writer Alan Grant, and artist Simon Bisely used him to parody the edgy comics of the era. So it makes a certain amount of sense that Lobo would star in a then-relevant and now dated cartoon series in 2000. A series of webtoons animated in Flash, Lobo offered 14 episodes of swears and gory, random violence, all presented in herky jerky movements that would stress the graphics card on your new Dell.Gotham Girls (2000–2002)Like Lobo, Gotham Girls spun out of the DCAU that began with Batman: The Animated Series, even bringing producer Paul Dini along to co-write the episodes with veteran Hilary Bader. Watched today, the choppy animation distracts, but the rest of the show is classic DC animation. While Dini and Bader go for a more comedic tone for the first two 10-episode seasons, the final set of episodes tell a more coherent story. Even better, Gotham Girls retains the great voice actors from the mainline Batman show, including Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn, Adrienne Barbeau as Catwoman, and Diane Pershing as Poison Ivy.The Zeta Project (2001–2003)Even more than Gotham Girls, The Zeta Project is the lost Timm-verse show. The Zeta Project takes place within the DCAU and has designs consistent with Bruce Timm‘s work on the Batman and Superman animated series. Moreover, the show spins directly out of Batman Beyond, following the Infiltration Unit Zeta introduced in season two episode “Zeta.” However, Warner Bros. wanted a lighter, more kid-friendly show than the other DCAU series, which meant that The Zeta Project felt very different from Batman Beyond. The network gave the show two seasons to catch on and canceled it after 26 episodes.Krypto the Superdog (2005–2006)Speaking of kid-friendly projects, Krypto the Superdog attempted to launch Krypto-mania twenty years before James Gunn made him a screen king in Superman. Krypto the Superdog comes from Batman: The Animated Series producers Paul Dini and Alan Burnett, but it takes a decidedly more silly approach.Krypto (voiced by Samuel Vincent) is still Superman’s pet from his home planet, but he has now been adopted by a nine-year-old named Kevin, who thinks he’s just a normal dog. When duty calls, Krypto joins with fellow super-pets Streaky the Supercat (Brian Drummond) and Ace the Bat-Hound (Scott McNeil) to stop animal-based baddies.Legion of Super-Heroes (2006–2008)The Legion of Super-Heroes are one of DC’s oldest and most beloved superhero teams, having spun out of Superboy comics in the 1950s. But the Legion has yet to break out into the mainstream, in part because they exist 1000 years from the future, which separates them from more well-known heroes.Across two seasons, the cartoon show Legion of Super-Heroes tried to fix that problem by putting the team into the spotlight. Creator James Tucker, formerly a producer on Justice League Unlimited, gives viewers a clean entry point by focusing on a teenage Superman (Yuri Lowenthal), who goes to the future to learn about being a hero from a streamlined Legion line-up, which includes visually-interesting characters Bouncing Boy (Michael Cornacchia) and Triplicate Girl (Kari Wahlgren).DC Nation (2011–2014)Again, a bit of a stretch here, but we have to pay tribute to perhaps the most wonderful set of DC animated episodes, the shorts that aired as part of the DC Nation programming block. Each short lasted a couple of minutes, and while some featured well-known characters—including a comedic take on the Teen Titans that eventually became the mega hit Teen Titans Go!—the best either went deep into character bench or reimagined familiar characters.The Animal Man shorts starred Weird Al Yankovic as a particularly ineffective hero who’s more interested in pets than people. Indie comics legends Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer created episodes about the robot team the Metal Men. And Rich Webber of Aardman Animations created claymation versions of the Justice League for “Worlds Funniest.”Beware the Batman (2013–2014)Even to this day, Batman: The Animated Series remains the most beloved and well-known cartoon about the Dark Knight. However, later entries such as The Batman and Batman: The Brave and the Bold have acquired their own followings. The same cannot be said about Beware the Batman, the strange CGI cartoon produced by Glen Murakami of Teen Titans fame. The series paired a younger Batman (Anthony Ruivivar) with former MI6 agent Alfred (JB Blanc) and Katana (Sumalee Montano) instead of Robin. The series had some interesting ideas, but between scheduling shenanigans by Cartoon Network and its radically different visual style, Beware the Batman never had the chance to catch on.Vixen (2015–2016)Vixen is truly an odd series, and not just because it starred a perennial C-lister and played on the streaming platform CW Seed. Rather, Vixen takes place in the Arrowverse, and features cameos by Grant Gustin as the Flash and Stephen Amell as Green Arrow, as well as others from the franchise. Vixen itself isn’t a bad idea, as the character’s animal-based powers are always compelling and star Megalyn Echikunwoke gives a strong performance. But the exuberance that made the Arrowverse shows so exciting in live action gets dulled in animation.Justice League Action (2016–2018)Justice League Action is to Justice League Unlimited what Batman: The Brave and the Bold is to Batman: The Animated Series. That is, the silly, young kid-friendly Justice League Action doesn’t try for the dramatic depths of Justice League Unlimited. But it does take full advantage of the weirder corners of the DC Universe. Shazam (formerly known as Captain Marvel) gets a lot more attention than one would expect, but that leads to delightful moments, such as a story in which Space Cabbie (voiced by Patton Oswalt, of course) helps Superman and Hawkman protect the evil inchworm Mister Mind from Lobo. Thematically rich? No. Ridiculously fun? Yes!Batwheels (2021–Present)Even for a superhero show, the premise of Batwheels sounds insane at first. Its heroes are not Batman and Robin, but rather the Batmobile (Jacob Bertrand) and Robin’s car (Jordan Reed and Titus Blake) and Batgirl’s motorcycle (Madigan Kacmar). Also, Ethan Hawke voices Batman. Yet, the show totally works for its young audience by injecting the energy of the Cars franchise into Batman’s wonderful toys.Beast Boy: Lone Wolf (2024)Beast Boy: Lone Wolf may be the most forgotten of the forgotten series on this list, at least outside of the U.K., where it played on Cartoon Network. The 10 three-minute shorts find Beast Boy taking a break from the Teen Titans and going on his own adventures under the moniker Lone Wolf, fighting mostly animal-themed villains. The series splits the tonal difference between the original Teen Titans cartoon from 2003 and the far goofier Teen Titans Go!, letting Beast Boy do superhero things while still leaving plenty of room for silliness. However, after voice actor Greg Cipes was fired for reasons that are still unclear, the show is unlikely to make it to the US, let alone continue for more seasons.The post Revisiting the Forgotten DC Animated Series: Batwheels, Vixen, Plastic Man, and More appeared first on Den of Geek.