Samurai (Super Friends)
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| Samurai | |
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| Publication information | |
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| Publisher | DC Comics |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Toshio Eto |
| Abilities | wind manipulation, invisibility, fire manipulation |
Samurai is a fictional superhero in the Super Friends cartoons created by Hanna-Barbera. His real name is Toshio Eto, and he is of Japanese descent. He was one of the later additions to the team along with other ethnically diverse heroes in an effort for the show to promote cultural diversity. His voice actor is Jack Angel. In addition to being a prominent figure in several other animated shows, Angel also did the voice for The Flash and Hawkman.
Samurai appears in The All-New Super Friends Hour, Challenge of the Super Friends, Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians. Besides being inserted to create diversity, Samurai in a sense, took the place of Red Tornado, on which part of his character design is based[citation needed]. Although he was seen in almost every episode of this series, Samurai only had spoken lines in six out of the sixteen episodes of the series.
Samurai appeared in the DC Comics Mini Series Super Powers. He also had an action figure in the Super Powers Collection line produced by Kenner. A character resembling Samurai has recently appeared in a double page spread in the Infinite Crisis hard cover trade collection.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
Although not outwardly resembling a traditional samurai, Samurai upholds the code of the Bushido, sometimes relating everything he or someone else does to the ancient tradition. Although he displays a good number of powers, the one he relies on most often is the ability to manipulate wind. He can fly by creating a small tornado around his lower body and can conjure powerful gusts from his hands that can knock back even large objects.
In addition to controlling wind, Samurai can also call upon other abilities he learned during his years of training in the ancient arts[clarify]. He invokes them by speaking a phrase in Japanese:
- Kaze no Yō ni Hayaku — The most frequently used of Samurai's powers, all of Samurai's body (except sometimes his head) becomes a powerful tornado of wind that allows him to travel at superspeed and use his winds to pick up objects or blow them around. In later episodes of the series, he would frequently appear with only his lower body transformed into a tornado. (The phrase translates to "Swift as the wind")
- Tōmei Ningen — The second-most frequently used of Samurai's power, used twice, this allows Samurai to turn invisible. (The phrase translates to "transparent man/human")
- Igo Moen — Only used once or twice throughout the series, Samurai engulfs himself in flames. (The first half of the phrase is not proper Japanese, but the second half can be read as 'great fire/flame'.)
He first appeared in The All-New Super Friends Hour and then he mostly appeared in the Challenge of the Super Friends series as a fully active member of the team, he later made sporadic appearances in the later The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians series.
[edit] Origin
His real name is Toshio Eto, and he was an history professor prior to becoming a superhero. One day, Eto was struck by a beam of light sent by the New Gods of New Genesis, who were trying to create more superheroes to defend the world from Darkseid. Although Eto briefly ran wild with his new powers, the New Gods explained their intent to him and he vowed to become a superhero.[1][episode needed]
[edit] Other versions
Wind Dragon is a fictional Asian American character featured in the animated series, Justice League Unlimited, and is the leader of a government-sponsored superhero team called the Ultimen. His voice actor is James Sie.
[edit] Character history
As leader of the Ultimen, Wind Dragon serves as both their field commander and their spokesman to the public. While he appears very clean-cut and moralistic, he is actually quite an egotist, and doesn't object at all to "selling out" his team's image for money. His power is the manipulation of wind to allow flight (for himself and multiple people) as well as creating gusts of wind to knock back opponents or lift heavy objects. He 'remembers' idolizing Superman when he was growing up, and says that he was inspired by him to become a superhero.
In the Ultimen's first appearance (during the episode "Ultimatum"), Wind Dragon got his chance to fight alongside his lifelong hero while saving an oil platform. Even though he made a crack about Superman being old, he still retained much respect for him. However, his obligation to his benefactors disallowed him from joining the Justice League, despite pleas from his teammate Long Shadow. During the fight, Wind Dragon was able to create a cyclone of Arctic wind that froze the lava creatures attacking the platform, a power he had never exhibited before. Concerned, but not willing to dwell on it, he turned his attention back to the media, giving them a speech that even made Superman himself groan.
Maxwell Lord, concerned over Wind Dragon's newfound ability, gathered him and the rest of the Ultimen for testing. During this test, Long Shadow overheard Lord talking about certain experiments and decided to investigate. The team then realized that they were actually clones created by Project Cadmus with imprinted memories, and, even worse, their lives were about to end due to a fault in the cloning procedure.
Disillusioned, Wind Dragon ordered the Ultimen to find the person responsible, Amanda Waller, but when the Justice League intervened, he got a new idea: if he managed to kill them, it wouldn't matter if he died, he would be forever remembered as the one who finally put an end to the previously unbeatable team of superheroes. He then set his sights on Superman, almost killing him by creating a powerful whirlwind to cut off his breathing, but was stopped at the last minute by Long Shadow, who told him that killing his idol would go against everything he once stood for. Wind Dragon did agree, but cried as he did so, claiming all he ever wanted to be was a hero. Afterwards, he and the rest of the Ultimen, except Long Shadow, who stayed with the League, were taken into Cadmus' custody to await their eventual death in peace.
An army of Ultimen clones were later created by Cadmus in an attempt to finish off the Justice League once and for all. They were eventually defeated. Even three Wind Dragon clones working together were no match for Red Tornado.
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