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October 1966 - September 1967, CBS
Terrytoons
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he Mighty Heroes were a team of
five superheroes who protected the city of Newhaven from the
evil deeds of power-hungry and greedy supervillains. The
greatest danger to The Mighty Heroes was not, however, their
super-powered foes, but their super-powered teammates. The
heroes spent the better part of each episode getting in each
other's way, helping the villain elude capture through their
own inept actions and knocking each other out. Only in the last
minute or two did they come together as a team and get the job
done.
The leader of the team was Diaper
Man, who was either an infant with the voice of a 50 year-old
chain smoker, or a man disguised as an infant. Diaper Man
dressed in a diaper and cape and was armed with a baby bottle,
which he used as an improvisational tool for all types of
purposes. At times he also suckled the contents of the bottle to
gain a bit of extra strength. The episodes didn't dedicate any
time to the civilian lives of the heroes, but the scene
with the cartoon's theme song (which was shown approximately
1-minute into every story) gave some indication of their
professions by showing the heroes changing from their everyday
occupations into their crime fighting alter egos. In his
civilian identity Diaper Man laid in a crib and sucked his
thumb.
Strong Man was representative
of the most mainstream type of hero, having super-strength and the
ability to fly. Occasionally he drank from Diaper Man's
bottle, which worked to give him additional strength as
well. By trade, Strong Man was a mechanic.
Rope Man was knot your typical
superhero *groan,* his body was made entirely of rope and was
capable of everything rope is capable of, including getting
bunched into an incredibly tangled mess. When not fighting
crime, Rope Man was a sailor in the navy.
In keeping with the theme of
having a moniker based on the literal interpretation of the
hero's ability, Tornado Man could create a vortex around himself
in the form of a tiny tornado. He could fly, he could vacuum
things up and propel them out… he could bungle the job as well
as the rest of the heroes. For his profession, Tornado Man was a
meteorologist.
Cuckoo Man appeared to run a bird
store, from where he changed into his costume by passing through
a cuckoo clock hanging on the wall. He could flap his arms and
fly but otherwise had no discernable powers.
The Mighty
Heroes originally shared a Saturday morning time slot with
Mighty Mouse as part of the half-hour program, Mighty Mouse
and The Mighty Heroes. Some weeks two Mighty Mouse and one
Mighty Heroes segments were shown (each of which was 7-minutes
in length), and other weeks one Mighty Mouse and two Mighty
Heroes segments were shown. For all their good deeds, The Mighty
Heroes never achieved the same level of notoriety or post series
success as their super-powered rodent costar. They're only other
original appearance was in an episode of the 1987 series,
Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures. |