| Wendy and Marvin | |
|---|---|
 Marvin, Wonder Dog, and Wendy on the cover ofTeen Titans vol. 3 #62. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Super Friends "The Power Pirate" |
| First comic appearance | Limited Collectors' Edition #C-41 (January 1976) |
| Created by | E. Nelson Bridwell Alex Toth |
| In-story information | |
| Full name | Wendy Harris Marvin White |
| Supporting character of | |
| Notable aliases | Marvin and Wendy Kuttler |
Wendy Harris,Marvin White andWonder Dog are fictional characters from the 1973 American animated TV seriesSuper Friends, based on the famoussuperheroes published byDC Comics. The series featured a lineup of DC's most popular characters, includingSuperman,Batman andWonder Woman, butHanna-Barbera, the show's producers, wanted to include youngsidekick characters that the children in the audience could identify with. This led to the creation of Wendy, Marvin and their hero pet Wonder Dog, who appeared alongside their more famous friends. Because of the success of theSuper Friends cartoon, aSuper Friends comic book was also created, in which the trio made their first comics appearance.
Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog did not have superpowers, so they often did not add much to the story progression, and they were dropped after the show's first season. Wendy and Marvin were replaced in the 1977 seriesThe All-New Super Friends Hour with theWonder Twins—extraterrestrial twins with the power to transform into animals and water. Wonder Dog's comedy relief role was filled by the Wonder Twins' pet monkey,Gleek.
Wendy's voice was played bySherry Alberoni, and Marvin and Wonder Dog were voiced byFrank Welker.
The duo were reintroduced in theTeen Titans comic book as the caretakers ofTitans Tower, as twins Wendy and Marvin Harris.[1] Wendy eventually became the protégée ofBarbara Gordon, while the latter was operating as Oracle, and adopted the codename Proxy. Stories published in this era also revealed that the twins were the children of the supervillainCalculator.
Wendy Harris and Marvin White are two sidekicks who were created in an era in which many series featured main characters with sidekicks who were supposed to serve viewer identification. They are not given backstories in the series, but were later given origin stories following their inclusion in mainstream comics. Wendy is the niece of Harvey Harris, a detective who once trainedBatman when he was still a teenager. It was postulated in an editorial column that she may have been theEarth-One version of Wendi Harris Tyler, wife of the firstHourman.[2] Marvin (who was given the last name of White in the comics) was the son ofDiana Prince, the nurse whose nameWonder Woman took when she came to Man's World, and her husband Dan White. Thus, Marvin had a sort of familial connection to the Super Friends. The Super Friends were designed to help teach young crimefighters how to be superheroes. While Wendy never wore any special costume, Marvin was always dressed with a cape and a big letter "M" on his chest.
DC's superhero comics were aimed at an older audience thanSuper Friends, andHanna-Barbera was careful to present a bland, inoffensive version of the comics' sometimes violent approach. In the bookSaturday Morning Fever, writers Timothy and Kevin Burke cite the inclusion of Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog as examples of the Hanna-Barbera aesthetic's intrusion into the superhero narrative:
Wendy and Marvin were the ultimate degenerate form of the kid sidekick, about as useful to the Superfriends as a burst appendix. They existed primarily to be rescued and to help illustrate the moral message of the week... Wonder Dog was aFred Silverman-inspired dog sidekick, part of a shameful lineage which would eventually result in a later incarnation ofSpider-Man being burdened with a little white yap-yap dog. Silverman and other kidvid producers had anidée fixe that the presence of a dog inevitably made a cartoon attractive to kids.[3]
E. Nelson Bridwell, the writer onSuper Friends, shed some light on the characters' names inSuper Friends #1 (Nov. 1976):
"Wendy Harris, I decided, was the young lady's full name. She is a niece, not of the Batman, but of a detective named Harvey Harris. This man gave young Bruce Wayne his first crack at real detecting when Bruce was in his teens. Years later, when Harris dies, he left a sealed letter to be delivered to Bruce, revealing that he had indeed known who he was — for Harris was certainly one of the all-time greats in the field".
"Marvin, I decided, is Marvin White — no relation toPerry White. His father is Daniel White, inventor, and his mother is the formerDiana Prince".
Neither Marvin nor Wendy had any special abilities. However, once on the cartoon, Marvin was shown "practicing" flying, though not very well. In fact, in the cartoon, although very nice and very bright, Marvin was shown to be somewhat bumbling, often needing to learn the day's moral, such as looking up "photosynthesis" for himself rather than havingRobin tell him. In the comics, however, Marvin and Wendy's cleverness and resourcefulness made them invaluable to the other Super Friends. The one notable resource Marvin provided to the Super Friends was his pet dog, Wonder Dog (or just "Wonder" for short), who was preternaturally intelligent, though bumbling as well.
After two seasons of theSuper Friends cartoon, it was cancelled, though re-runs were shown through 1976. When the show returned asThe All-New Super Friends Hour in 1977, Wendy and Marvin had been replaced by two other teenagers, Zan and Jayna, theWonder Twins, along with their pet, the alien monkeyGleek. Marvin and Wendy did not appear on TV again for another 35 years, and they were also replaced by the Wonder Twins in theSuper Friends comic after "graduating" from the Super Friends as full-fledged superheroes.[4]
Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog were first introduced in DC Comics with the January 1976 tabloid comicLimited Collectors' Edition presents: Super Friends #C-41, in which the newcomers are welcomed to the Hall of Justice to meet the entireJustice League of America, including characters who did not appear on the show. Their story was mostly a frame to bookend reprints of olderJustice League comics, but each character got their own spotlight.Superman tells Wonder Dog aboutKrypto, the Dog of Steel, to reassure him (and the readers) that there's a precedent for canine superheroes adventuring with the Justice League.[5]
Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog then appeared in the first nine issues of theSuper Friends comic book series (November 1976 to December 1977). In issue #7 (Oct 1977), their on-screen replacements, the Wonder Twins, were introduced in a story called "The Warning of the Wonder Twins!". The cover showed the new characters literally pushing the old trio to the side, shouting, "Your time is past, kids -- this is a job for thenew Super-Friends!" The three-part adventure ended in issue #9, with Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog retiring from the team to go to college, as the Wonder Twins are accepted as new members of the team.[6]
According to the comic book, Marvin went on to study atIvy University, the fictional university where fellow superhero theAtom worked as a professor. Wendy moved toParadise Island to attend an Amazon university and continue her training. Wendy and Marvin appeared again in a later issue of theSuper Friends comic to aid the Wonder Twins, posing as Zan's and Jayna's human disguises, "John" and "Joanna", to fool a criminal who had deduced the Wonder Twins' secret identities and tried to use them to learn Batman's.[7]
InWonder Woman vol. 2 #186 (December 2002), an unnamed character identical to Wendy appears on Paradise Island as a tutor to Lyta (daughter ofCirce).
In 2006, a new version of the Wendy and Marvin characters debuted in theDC Universe. The pair work as "caretakers" ofTitans Towerone year after the events of theInfinite Crisis crossover.[1] The pair (nowfraternal twins, surname Harris) seem to be technical geniuses; Wendy mentions in their initial appearance that she and Marvin graduated fromMIT on their sixteenth birthday, and inTeen Titans #40,Ravager refers to them as "tenth-level geniuses" (comparable toBrainiac andBrainiac 5, who possess twelfth-level intellects). This Marvin continues the tradition of his previous incarnations by wearing a shirt with a stylized "M" on the front but without the attached cape of his animated counterpart. It is revealed thatCyborg was damaged and inactive since his return from space, but Wendy and Marvin repaired him and gave him new capabilities.
Wendy and Marvin meet a stray dog thatMiss Martian names Wonder Dog. Wonder Dog is revealed to be a demonic monster in the service of the villain King Lycus, who appears at the end of the issue after the beast has killed Marvin and mauled Wendy.[8] While comatose, Wendy is visited in this state by her fatherNoah Kuttler, who swears revenge on the Titans for allowing this to happen to his children.[9]
InOracle: The Cure #3, Wendy recovers from her coma, but is leftparaplegic, withOracle andLeslie Thompkins helping her adjust. After taking Wendy under her wing, Barbara eventually reveals her alter-ego to her. Wendy's first mission as an associate of the Oracle is to helpStephanie Brown, the new Batgirl, defeat her father theCluemaster and save Barbara from him. Afterward, she takes on the codename of Proxy, acting as a junior version of Oracle.[10]
An alternate universe variant of Marvin White appears inKingdom Come.[11]
Wonder Dog appears inDC Universe Online.
Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog appear in theAdult Swim web seriesThe New Adventures of the Wonder Twins episode "Be Kind, Rewind". These versions are part of a rock band. Additionally, following the end ofSuper Friends, Marvin put on weight and grew a beard.
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