Wonder Twins

The Wonder Twins are a pair of teenage alien superheroes who were sidekicks to the Super Friends in the Hanna-Barbera animated television series of the same name.

The pair, Zan and Jayna, are siblings from the planet Exor who were being informally trained by the superheroes. Unlike their predecessors, Wendy and Marvin, these pair were able to participate in combat with abilities of their own.

Their powers were activated when the twins made physical contact together with the spoken command, "Wonder Twin powers, Activate!". (Note: in the comics, it was revealed that this phrase was unnecessary, just a habit of theirs.) Their powers were:

• Zan: Could transform into any form of water, including liquid, mist, or, perhaps most usefully, any kind of functioning ice structure. By combining with already-existing water, Zan could also increase his mass or volume in the water form chosen.
• Jayna: Could transform into any animal.

In addition, they had a pet Space Monkey called Gleek who had a useful prehensible tail and his body could act as a conduit for the twins to activate their powers should they be out of reach. Gleek also served as a courier when the twins needed to travel: Jayna would transform into a large eagle typically, and Zan would transform into (plain) water, "jumping" into a bucket which Gleek conveniently would be holding. (This led to the joke by some fans that Gleek's superpower was to make a bucket appear and disappear at will.)

These characters were derided by serious comic book fans as condescending intrusions in the show. Others noted that at least the characters were occasionally an asset to the main characters in combat compared to their predecessors. Regardless, the Wonder Twins were usually liked by the younger viewers, who found the twin characters less intimidating and easier to relate to, as the twins were novices who made mistakes, etc., yet the twins had powers which invited the viewers' imaginations.

The characters were introduced in the Super Friends comic and were ignored once the series was cancelled. However, in the 1990s they were introduced into the main DC Universe in the series, Extreme Justice.

According to the Super Friends comic, Zan and Jayna are mutants, evolutionary throwbacks to an ancient race of Exorian shapeshifters. Their parents died when they were still babies (during a plague) and, because of their origin, no Exorians wanted to adopt them. They ended up adopted by the owner of a Space Circus, who only wanted to use them as sideshow freaks. Fortunately, the circus's clown was a kind man and raised them. He also gave them Gleek as a pet. Eventually, as teens, the pair escaped the circus, and hid on a planet where a space villain called Grax (an enemy of Superman) had set his headquarters. Spying on him, they learned that Grax was planning to destroy the Earth using hidden superbombs. The twins decided to travel to Earth and warn the Justice League; that was how they came to replace Wendy and Marvin (who were planning on retiring as heroes) as their sidekicks. The heroes also arranged for the kids to live with an old scientist called Professor Potter, and they even took secret identities, as "Johan and Johanna" suposed transfer students from Esko (in Finland), disguised with blonde hair, to allow them to attend high school.

The Extreme Justice comics title has a version of the Twins, but with their origin modified so that they are slaves of an alien villain, later rescued by the Justice League. Although rarely seen today, this version of the Wonder Twins is still part of the current DC Universe.

The Wonder Twins have been ruthlessly parodied on animated comedy shows such as Family Guy, That '70s Show, and Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law. In 2002, a series of Wonder Twins shorts appeared on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, produced by J.J. Sedelmaier Productions, who also produced the Harvey Birdman series. The shorts portrayed the Wonder Twins and Gleek as naïve and ineffectual, usually resulting in a dark-humored outcome. For example, in one short, the Wonder Twins attempt to save a camper from a bear. Jayna transforms into a gopher and digs a trench, while Zan transforms into water, forming a moat. Their plan fails when the bear simply steps over the moat and mauls the camper. At the camper's funeral, the grieving mother chastizes the trio that even she knows "a one-inch gopher moat won't stop a bear." These shorts are parodies of segments during the Super Friends animated series in which the teens acted completely on their own in dealing with minor problems, usually involving some danger encountered in the life of an average teen, such as speeding.

On the TV series Justice League Unlimited, two characters have appeared, conspicuously similar to the Wonder Twins. Called Downpour and Shifter, the two are members of the Ultimen, a group of superheroes created by the government.