Misconception about his powers:
According to The Super Friends (1976) It is not necessary for him to say "Wonder Twin powers: ACTIVATE" in order for his transformations to occur.

Weaknesses:
Physical separation from his sibling would ostensibly render him powerless to transform. The exact dimensions of a "nullifying distance" from Jayna are unclear. Do they have to be in direct contact, or is "in the same room" good enough? If he's in a transformed state, does he lose that shape if she wanders off too far?

Bio:
Zan was a mutant from the planet Exor, so far removed from the current evolutionary "norm" on the planet that no one would take he and his sister, Jayna, when they became orphans.

Instead of finding a loving new Exorian home, he and his sister were packed off to a Space Circus, whose owner had legally adopted them. For a time, they were pressed into his service as "sideshow freaks". There was little to make this life anything but miserable, but the love of one of the Circus' clowns. Though the Circus owner had legally adopted them, the clown became their de facto father, and taught them the harsh facts of their life. In time, he would give them a "space monkey" named Gleek as a pet.

As they grew into teenagers, the Circus life became increasingly untenable. They escaped eventually to a planet they thought would be safe.

Unfortunately, it was the temporary hideout of Grax, a rival of someone called "Superman". Discovering that Grax intended to destroy Superman's home, Earth, they bravely journeyed to the strange, alien world so they could warn its inhabitants of the impending doom.

Tracing this "Superman" to a place known as "The Hall of Justice", the Wonder Twins and their pet, Gleek, landed their craft nearby. Well, crash-landed, anyway. Wendy and Marvin, monitoring the craft's arrival, were the first Super Friends to meet the Exorians.

Exor or Exxor?
There is some confusion over how, exactly, to spell the name of the Wonder Twins' home planet. Specifically, writer E. Nelson Bridwell used one less x than the cartoon. There, careful viewers will have noted it spelt Exxor in the title of an episode produced for All New Super Friends (but aired as a part of Challenge of the Super Friends) called "The Demons of Exxor".

The issue is more than one of semantics. While it is somewhat unclear whether the cartoon appearance of Exxor or the comic book origin of Zan and Jayna came first, it's obvious that Exxor is a very different place from Exor. This is unsurprising, however, as the cartoons as a whole stand in marked contrast to the comic book.

Notes:
This character was created for the cartoon series, The Super Friends. He has no existence in the pre-Crisis DCU outside of the cartoon's accompanying comic book. This "Hanna-Barbera Earth" was never named or numbered, but the comic on which its based can reasonably be said to be Earth-1. For more details, please see the title notes for The Super Friends (1976).

First Appearance: The Super Friends (1976) #7

Favorite Characters:
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View a chronological listing of this character's appearances

Issue Appearances:
Superfreunde (1980)