Legion of Super Heroes centers on the young Superman’s adventures in the 31st century as he fights alongside a group of futuristic superheroes known as the “Legion of Super Heroes.” The series, which began airing on Saturday mornings on the Kids WB! Network in the fall of 2006. With a large stable of Legionnaires to choose from, the series’ creators stuck mainly with characters created in the early years of the concept including: Lighting Lad who shoots electricity from his hands; telepathic Saturn Girl; Brainiac 5, a genius android; Bouncing Boy whose rotund shape can morph into a giant bouncing ball; and Phantom Girl who can “phase” herself through solid objects. Also on the team, but not in every episode, are Shrinking Violet, Timber Wolf and Triplicate Girl who can turn into three of herself.


The premise of the first season is that a group of teenagers from the 31st century go back in time to recruit Superman in their fight against evil. The problem is, they’ve traveled too far back, to a time when Clark Kent was much younger and just about to move to Metropolis. While he was aware of his powers, he wasn’t yet sure how or if, he wanted to use them. The Legionnaires take the younger Clark/Superman back to their planet with them, and he does help them to fight evil.
For a kids cartoon, Legion of Superheroes actually tries to show quite a bit of growth and deal with some interesting issues. Clark Kent is trying to decide what to do with his future, while other members of the Legionnaires are with famous parents, feelings of loneliness, jealousy and other issues around teen angst. The storylines are fairly basic, as most cartoons for kids are, but there’s enough going on and solid character development that the basic storylines will still be of interest to fans.
In terms of the DVD release, I imagine fans have the same complaint I do. Why have they split the first season into separate releases? The first set of episodes came out in August of 2007; a second collection arrived in February of 2008. Now, this third volume comes to us in September 2008; at this rate, we should have all twenty six episodes of the series’ two seasons, by the beginning of 2010.
As with the first two volumes, “Volume 3” presents these last five episodes in their broadcast order.

“The Substitutes.” The auditions from the previous episode (“Lightning Storm,” available in Vol. 2) continue. Everyone’s favorite silver age hero, Matter-Eater Lad, makes the cut, as does Star Boy, but most do not. Those rejects (among them: Porcupine Pete, Infectious Lass, and Chlorophyll Kid) set out to prove their worth when the villainous Starfinger attacks.
“Child’s Play.” When a young sorcerer comes to Earth and wreaks havoc, particularly on a magic-vulnerable Superman, Phantom Girl must try to convince his elders to rein him in.
“Chain of Command.” Lightning Lad’s home planet is in peril when a major storm hits. The Legion arrives to find their former leader, Cosmic Boy, already at work. Will Lightning Lad be able to restrain his resentment for the leader who seemingly abandoned the group?
“Sundown Part 1.” The ancient organic weapon known as the Sun-Eater has been unleashed, and it lives up to its name. It heads toward Earth’s sun and not even the Legion can stop it.
“Sundown Part 2.” The Legion must turn to help from their greatest foes when they are unable to stop the Sun-Eater themselves. Meanwhile, Superman confronts the Sun-Eater’s controller but even he may be powerless before the alien.
Presented in the original 1.33:1 broadcast format, the animation looks great on this release. The bold lines and attention to detail are evident, in this remarkably clean transfer.
The Dolby 2.0 soundtrack is crisp and clear. A 2.0 French dub and optional English SDH subtitles are included.
There are no special features included here.