Comics character
Apache Chief is a Native American superhero from the various Hanna-Barbera Super Friends cartoons and the DC comic book series of the same name. He was one of the new heroes added (along with Black Vulcan, Rima the Jungle Girl, El Dorado and Samurai) to increase the number of non-white characters in the Super Friends' ranks. The visual look of the character was created by cartoonist Alex Toth, who designed many superheroes for Hanna-Barbera beginning in the 1960s. He was voiced by Michael Rye in most of his appearances, Regis Cordic in his debut appearance, and Al Fann in "History of Doom".
In the Challenge of the Superfriends series, Apache Chief was seen in every episode except one, but had spoken lines in only nine out of the sixteen episodes of the series. His arch-enemy from the Legion of Doom was Giganta, who was originally an enemy of Wonder Woman.
Fictional character biography
Apache Chief's origin, shown as a recording in the episode "History of Doom", was thus: while still a young brave, he went for a walk with a Native American Elder, who was also his mentor. The two men are quickly attacked by a grizzly bear, but the Elder, recognizing that the young brave might be ready for a test such as this, gives the younger man a pouch of a special magic powder which will amplify the user's thoughts and abilities a hundredfold. The young man resolves to be strong and brave (heeding the Elder's advice that whatever is in his mind at the time will be amplified by the powder), and upon sprinkling himself with the powder and invoking the magic phrase grows to fifty feet in size, becoming stronger and braver. He disposes of the bear without violence, proving that he has passed the test. However, a girl horseback riding witnesses the entire affair, hoping to use the powder to become big and famous, and uses her lasso to steal the pouch. Despite the Elder telling her that her thoughts were evil, she uses the magic powder on herself and becomes the evil Giganta, proclaiming: "The Medicine Man was right, Apache Chief! Your fifty feet of good are now matched by my fifty feet of evil!"
Powers and abilities
By speaking the words "inuk chuk" (most likely a reference to the inuksuk, giant stone figures built by various Arctic tribes that are depicted on the territorial flag of Nunavut), Apache Chief could grow to unlimited sizes. In the episode "Colossus", Apache Chief grows to many times the size of the Earth, making himself able to battle the Colossus, a titanic space creature that plucked Earth from its orbit and placed it in a small (relative to him) glass bottle. Originally his tribal powers limited his growth to only 50 feet tall, but in one episode, "Man in the Moon", he used the Atom's knowledge of atomic size and was able to increase his growing to unlimited size. He was then able to grow to 1/5 the size of the earth, with one foot the size of the entire eastern United States and defeated the creature, sending it back inside the moon. He also spoke in stereotypical "Native American English" and recited vaguely Native American philosophy. In the 1978 episodes "Revenge on Gorilla City" and "The Time Trap", and the 1984 short episode entitled "The Village of Lost Souls", Apache Chief also has exceptional tracking ability.
Other versions
In the comics, a somewhat similar character called Manitou Raven was created, as an homage to him,[1] and joined the canonical JLA. Both Manitou Raven and his widow, Manitou Dawn, have been shown to use "inuk chuk" when casting spells or invoking powers.
