Flashback Friday: Samurai

Each Friday, I take one of the entries from my old Super Posts and expand it into its own featured article.

This week: Samurai!

Samurai always makes me a little sad to think about. Everyone wants to use him, but no one wants to use him, you know? You'll see what I mean.

Samurai debuted in the eighth episode of The All-New Super Friends Hour (segment: "Volcano" (1977)). His main powers are that he can turn into wind and also become invisible, but occasionally he was also seen to control flame or cast illusions.

Samurai's first comics appearance was a cameo in Crisis on Infinite Earths #5 (June 1985), but it's easy to miss him even if you're looking. Panel 4, far right, next to Catwoman.

He appeared more fully in Super Powers #1 (July 1986) and he would go on to appear in every issue of the miniseries. Strangely, even though the comic is a tie-in with the toyline that would also be adapted as the last couple seasons of Super Friends, the Justice League does not recognize Samurai and Samurai does not seem to have ever been a superhero before; in fact, he debuted as a villain - although brainwashed. Ultimately it doesn't matter because this story is not in continuity.

He later appeared as a toy in Green Lantern #89 (June 1997), but obviously this doesn't really count.

His next cameo was as a member of the Super Friends in the "Crisis One Million" section of DC One Million 80-Page Giant #1 (August 1999). Superwoman used a bad luck generator and made Hypertime fold in on itself, causing numerous alternate Justice Leagues to appear together.

His first appearance in mainstream continuity was a - you guessed it - cameo in a group shot in the Infinite Crisis #5 section of the Infinite Crisis hardcover (December 2006)...

...while his first full appearance was in Justice League of America #46 (August 2010), though again, he's playing an antagonistic role against his will.

Another version of Samurai (using his same first name, Toshio) appeared in Justice League of America 80-Page Giant #1 (November 2009) as a samurai in 1223.

And finally, Samurai did survive the New 52 and Rebirth, though fittingly only as a cameo: in Doomsday Clock #6 (July 2018), the backmatter addresses superheroes in the East, and Samurai is listed on Japan's team.

A strange thing I noticed while researching this post is how similar it is to Golden Pharaoh's: Super Powers volume 3, Green Lantern #89, Doomsday Clock backmatter...a lot of things line up. What a strange coincidence.

Anyway, Samurai has fared slightly better in adaptations. A version of him called Wind Dragon appeared in the Justice League Unlimited episode, "Ultimatum" (December 2004)...

...and then Young Justice featured a female version of him called Asami Koizumi in season 2 for several episodes, beginning in the episode "Beneath" (May 2012).

He also makes cameos in Scooby-Doo!: The Mask of the Blue Falcon (2013) and The LEGO Batman Movie (2017).