Samurai (Super Friends)

Samurai is a Japanese superhero in the Super Friends animated television series. His real name is Toshio Eto. 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. The visual design of the character was created by cartoonist Alex Toth. 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 Superfriends, Super Friends (1980), 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 with whom he shares similar wind-based abilities. After sporadic guest appearances, Samurai grew into a prominent team member in the series' later seasons.

Samurai appeared in the third volume of 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 appeared in a double page spread in the Infinite Crisis hard cover trade collection. The actual Samurai made his first appearance in the comics several years later during the Brightest Day event.