Zan (Super Friends)

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"Form of...an ice toboggan!"

--Zan

Real Name: Zan
Nicknames: Wonder Brother
Former Aliases: No known former aliases
Other Current Aliases: Johann “John” Fleming

Status

Occupation: Adventurer
Legal Status: Zan is a refugee of the planet Exxor (presumably still a minor).
Identity: Public, although the general populace of Earth is largely unaware of his alien heritage.
Marital Status: Single
Group Affiliation: Wonder Twins; Super Friends; reserve member of Young Justice
Base of Operations: Formerly Exxor; later the Hall of Justice; later Gotham City

Origin

When a warlike alien species invaded the planet Exxor, Zan and his twin sister, Jayna (along with their pet monkey Gleek) exiled themselves into outer space. They eventually arrived on the planet Earth where they met the Super Friends. The Super Friends took them in, allowing them to stay at their headquarters, the Hall of Justice. At the urging of Superman, the Wonder Twins learned Earth's languages and customs, and also trained to act as super-heroes. They briefly worked alongside the teen adventurers Wendy and Marvin, but soon replaced them as Super Friend sidekicks, when the former decided to retire from heroing. The siblings and their simian pet shared in many adventures with the Super Friends, and took special care to watch over the neighborhood's teenage populace.

Place of Birth: Exxor
Known Relatives: Jayna (twin sister)
First Television Appearance: Super Friends: The Demons of Exxor
First Comic Book Appearance: (Original) Super Friends #7; (Modern) Extreme Justice #9
Final Television Appearance: Super Friends One Small Step for Superman
Final Comic Book Appearance: (Original) Super Friends Special #1; (Modern) Young Justice #50 (last known appearance)

History

After engaging in several adventures with the Super Friends, the heroes arranged for the Wonder Twins to live with an old scientist named Professor Carter Nichols. They even took secret identities as John and Joanna Fleming. Commonly referred to as "Johan and Johanna", the supposed transfer students from Esko, Sweden, disguised themselves with blonde hair (Zan wore a wig, while Jayna used her powers to transform into a human to change her hair color and ear shape), to allow them to attend Gotham City High School.^[1]

Characteristics

Height: Height unknown
Weight: Weight unknown
Eyes: Purple
Hair: Black
Unusual Features: Zan and Jayna both have pointed ears and arched eyebrows, a common physical trait amongst their native populace.

Powers

Known Powers: Zan possesses the ability to alter his biological structure to take on the form of water or ice. While in this form, he can increase or decrease his mass and volume to accommodate the proportionate size of the form he is attempting to emulate. The exact range of this ability is unknown, but Zan has demonstrated that he can increase his size sufficiently enough to transform into an ice giant. He can also condense his liquid volume without affecting his overall mass if he so desires. This allows Jayna, or even Gleek the ability to carry Zan's liquid matter in small containers such as a water pail. Zan can remain in any chosen form for an indefinite period of time without discomfort or undue strain on his person. While assuming his various shapes, Zan always maintains full mental faculties and even possesses the ability to articulate while in liquid or ice formation. While in his liquid state, Zan likes to incorporate his own facial features onto the surface of his water form. Whether this is an automatic function of his powers, or something that Zan can do by force of will is unknown.

In the Super Friends comic book adaptation, Zan demonstrated an added ability to transform into localized bodies of air - usually taking the form a of a tornado or a hurricane. This is an ability exclusive to the comic book, and has never been shown in the Super Friends television series.

Weaknesses/Limitations: Zan's super-powers are contingent upon physical contact with his sister, Jayna. Direct flesh-to-flesh contact is required to prompt the transformation. Traditionally, this is achieved by one twin knocking their clenched fist against the opposing fist of the other. Zan is also fond of using spoken mantras while using his powers. To activate their abilities, both siblings usually shout "Wonder Twin powers...activate!", followed by a secondary spoken command signifying a chosen form such as, "Form of...a Smoothie!" To switch back into his Exxorian form, Zan made physical contact with Jayna a second time, with either one or both of them exclaiming, "Wonder Twin powers...deactivate!" Whether this spoken mantra is necessary to activate the Wonder Twin powers or whether they do so out of choice remains unclear.

Known Abilities: No known abilities.

Strength Level: Under Earth's gravity, Zan appears to possess the equitable strength level of a human male his age, size and weight who engages in moderate regular exercise. Whether his Exxorian physiology provides him with added physical strength while on other worlds remains unknown.

Miscellaneous

Equipment: Jayna and Zan both wore specially designed wrist watches, which contained a Teen Trouble Alert system. Similar to the larger Trouble Alert broadcasting system used at the Hall of Justice, this miniature version alerted the twins to local emergencies affecting the neighborhood teenage population.
Transportation: Jayna usually travelled by way of self-powered flight. This could only be done when she transformed into a winged creature, like a bird of a bat.
Weapons: No known weapons.

Notes

The character of Zan was originally developed for the Saturday morning Hanna-Barbera animated series, the Super Friends. Zan was also featured in the Super Friends comic book adaptation. In 1995, DC Comics writer Ivan Velez, Jr re-introduced the Wonder Twins as special guest stars in the Justice League spin-off title Extreme Justice.

Actor Michael Bell provided the voice for Zan on the Super Friends animated series.

Zan's origin was revealed in Super Friends #14.

Trivia

In general, comic readers and fans of the old Super Friends cartoon look upon the Wonder Twins in a largely unfavorable light. They are often viewed as a failed attempt at comic relief, and have become the subject of ridicule and numerous lampoons on television programs and web sites. The Internet personality known as Seanbaby hosts a Super Friends fan site which provides a humorous, if albeit mean-spirited, analysis of the Super Friends characters.

In the Adult Swim cartoon series Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, Zan and fellow Super Friends Wonder Woman, Black Vulcan and Apache Chief appear in an episode entitled A Very Personal Injury. Wonder Woman appears on the witness stand, and when asked about her failure to respond to the JLA Trouble Alert, she claims that she was having a "me" moment and decided to ignore monitor duty in favor of taking a bath. Zan appears as the next character witness and confesses to taking the shape of Wonder Woman's bath water.

Zan and Gleek both make cameo appearances in an episode of Adult Swim's Robot Chicken entitled The Deep End. Several super-heroes find the Exxorian and his monkey mate inside of a hallway closet in a scandalously compromising position. It can be assumed that the "in a closet" metaphor is intended to paint Zan and Gleek as homosexuals.

Also in Robot Chicken, in an episode entitled Kiddie Pool, teen super-stars Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen activate their Wonder Twin Powers in order to fight a misunderstood red dragon that is seen trouncing New York City.^[2]

In the fifth season episode of That 70's Show entitled Ramble On, Hyde fantasizes about what it would be like to be a super-hero. In his fantasy, he is dressed as Zan with his girlfriend Jackie dressed as Jayna. ^[3]

The canonical version of Zan has an appetite for compact disks. During the Wonder Twins' brief tenure with Young Justice, he was caught eating Wonder Girl's CD collection. ^[4]

Zan's closely cropped black hair, pointed ears and arched eyebrows are reminiscent of the Vulcan alien species popularized in the Star Trek mythos.

The Marvel Comics counterpart to the Wonder Twins are the mutant heroes Aurora and Northstar. Like the Wonder Twins, both mutants are identical twin siblings with pointed ears and black hair. Their powers intensify whenever they make physical contact with one another.

In 2002 Warner Bros. and Gaylord Films optioned the rights to film a feature length live-action Wonder Twins movie, but the project never progressed beyond the proposal stage.^[5]

Statues of the Wonder Twins were briefly featured in the fourth episode of the Justice League animated television series entitled Injustice for All. However, they were soon smashed to pieces by members of Lex Luthor's Injustice Society.

The concept of the Wonder Twins was revived again for the Justice League sequel series, Justice League Unlimited. In the first season episode Ultimatum a group of super-clones known as the Ultimen are introduced as the antagonists to the Justice League. The Ultimen are a tongue-in-cheek pastiche of the original Super Friends, with modernized incarnations of various members including the Wonder Twins. Zan's Ultiman counterpart is a shape-changer named Downpour.

External Links

References

↑ Wonder Twins article at Wikipedia
↑ Robot Chicken; Season One; Kiddie Pool
↑ That 70's Show; Episode 110; Ramble On
↑ Young Justice #50
↑ E! Online; Joal Ryan; 2002

[1] Wonder Twins article at Wikipedia

[2] Robot Chicken; Season One; Kiddie Pool

[3] That 70's Show; Episode 110; Ramble On

[4] Young Justice #50

[5] E! Online; Joal Ryan; 2002

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