The Phoenix Defenders

The Phoenix Defenders is an American animated television series produced by Cartoon Network StudiosTag line: Being a teen is hard, especially when you have superpowers and have to save the world from time to time. The Phoenix Defenders are no different from any other teenager. They just want to grow up, find their own way and be happy.

 Premise 

The series centers on the lives of a group of fifteen metahuman teenagers who lived in the fictitious city of Goldmoor, California. a vigilante team called The Phoenix Defenders. The team deals with all manner of criminal activity and threats to the city from time to time, and the series also explores what they do when they are not saving the world; like dealing with their own struggles with their high school life, their mutual friendships and their personal lives.

Themes

The Phoenix Defenders explores mutual relationships, adolescence, sexual orientation, sexual identity, and gender identity.

List of The Phoenix Defenders Characters

List of The Phoenix Defenders Episodes

The Phoenix Defenders Opening Theme Song

Star Guardians Unite! Opening Theme Song 2

The Phoenix Defenders Ending Theme Song

The Phoenix Defenders Shorts

Star Guardians Unite! Soundtrack

List of Characters

 Main Characters (The Phoenix Defenders) 

Lyn Betty Jean Manchester/Cursechanter (voiced by Elizabeth Gillies)- a 16 year old Scotch-Irish American self proclaimed yet unofficial highly disciplined leader of The Justice Guardians and is Julie's redheaded older sister with a heroic reputation. Lyn is a natural born leader who is fiercely serious and stubborn and is willing to help people in need and won't stop at nothing to protct her family, friends, and anyone in danger. She and her sister have alien heritage from an alien species called Anodite, through their deceased father.Hunter is vastly powerful thanks to her abilities and some of these abilities are include immense strength, the ability to emit destructive scream, capable of transforming between her human and Anodite form more freely, a talented gymnast and martial artist and a "strong" magical aura. She can easily manipulate and control a supernatural substance called mana from her aura to create numerous things(energy blasts, shields, etc.). Through their father, Her and Julie are the paternal cousins of Ben and Gwen Tennyson. Her Infinity Force mask is black.

Bernadette "Berna" Verdona Manchester/ManaStar (voiced by Ariel Winter)- a 15 year old member of The Phoenix Defenders and is the younger sister of Lyn. Berna can manipulate and control mana but can't manipulate magic and possesses the ability to foresee the future. Like Mallory and Devanie, She is portrayed as a high school outcast and gets bullied by her peers. Berna is shown to be very self-conscious, sensitive, shy and insecure but is very stubborn. She is a coward who would normally stays in the shadows while her friends fight against villains. However, as the series progressed, she became somewhat a confident, courageous and outspoken girl who is not afraid to defend what she believes in and is willing to try something to make things right and according to Lyn, "she has became a force to be reckon with". Her true identity is Berna Manchester, a member of the Manchester Family, an extremely wealthy and powerful family who lives in the richest part of Goldmoor and are close allies with the Wayne Industries. She, along with Sheila and Mallory, became part of Lakewood High's cheerleading squad.

Hermione Russo/Shield (voiced by Kate Micucci)- a 16 year old Italian American member of The Phoenix Defenders who is a super powered girl with elemental abilities to control, manipulate and reshape earthen materials, particularly soil, dirt, stone, concrete, and rock. She can be immature, simple minded, eccentric and sometimes hyperactive, but can be serious if necessary. Though is on good terms with Devanie, Hermione has strong romantic feelings for her in spite their different personalities. Her Infinity Force mask is brown.

Skye Rowan/StormWind (voiced by Kaitlyn Alexander)- a happy ,fun loving and caring but tomboyish 17 year old Canadian American member of The Phoenix Defenders who can control and manipulate weather and is Paul's older half sister. She are in a romantic relationship with Zak Saturday as evidenced in a few episodes. Skye is a girl who deliberately poses herself as a boy and because of her androgynous appearance, name, and innate inclination toward male behavior, many characters speculates if she is a girl or a boy and is making fun of by some of her peer as a result. Her Phoenix Defender mask is light gray.

Delphine Datura Isley/Venus (voiced by Jennette McCurdy)- a 16 year old girl who is quite intelligent and has a scientific mind but is sassy and sometimes cynical. Delphine is the biological daughter of Pamela Isley (Poison Ivy) as she is chemically made and injected into Ivy and is genetically identical to her. She has a strange connection with plants and has the ability to mentally control and animates all forms of plant life on a molecular level. This plant growth can occur in an instant, allowing her to use plants in the environment to attack or ensnare her opponents.causing her to have chlorophyll in her blood stream, pale green skin and the ability to control plants. Her Star Guardian mask is green.

Mallory Black/Hex Storm (voiced by Brenda Song)- a 14 year old gothic punk girl who is one of the team's only mixed raced members due to her being half Hmong American and half Caucasian. She is very agile and can use a form of black magic to bring misfortune upon others. She is depicted as a mischievous troublemaker and shows little disregard to other people, including her friends and her boyfriend Trent. Like Berna, she is considered a freak and an outcast by most her peers because of her appearance and bad luck. She, along with Sheila and Julie, became part of the cheerleading squad. She and Vanessa are cousins and is mostly known for their on and off friend/enemy relationship and won't hesitate to put aside their differences to help each other when necessary.

Tora Carmelita Gutierrez/Voltage (voiced by Keshia Chante)-a 16 year old Portuguese American is Lakewood High's class president. She has the ability to control and manipulate electromagnetism. She is the voice of opinion and is very clearheaded. She also has a bit of an aggressive side that only shows when those closest to her are hurt or injured in some way.

Seraph "Sera" Nikita Hernandez/Hyrr (voiced by Becky G)- the 15 year old Mexican American delinquent who acts more of an uncharismatic antihero than she is as a superhero. She has an elemental ability to control, manipulate and reshape fire. Sera is a grumpy, abrasive, tomboyish, aloof, ill tempered, critical and selfish girl who is very cruel and dismissive towards everyone including Berna and is visibly annoyed by her. As the series progresses, Sera somewhat matures and is a bit calmer and her feelings toward Berna eventually improves causing her to become Berna's closest confidant and eventual love interest, much to Aeolus's dismay. Prior to the events in the series, Sera was born to a couple who decides to get rid of her because of her gender. Years later, she was raised in an orphanage by a couple but ran away when nobody wants to adopt her because of her temper issues and upfront attitude, independence and her hatred for girly things. The main reason why she is so cruel to everybody is because she is afraid of getting close to them after the tragic death of Jackson. Her Infinity Force mask is red.

Crispin Richards/Ice Man (voiced by David Mazouz)-the 13 year old Puerto Rican American who has the ability to manipulate ice. Antonio is friendly and more of an open and gentle person but is really anti-social, shy and quiet, but only speaks up when he needs to. As of "Prom Edition",it is revealed that he is in a same sex relationship with Caden, the leader of the nerds.

Aeolus Rowan/Zephyr (voiced by Michael Cera) -Skye's 15 year old younger half brother who is a very passionate and honest person and can manipulate winds. He has romantic feelings for Berna, despite later knowing Maya is in love with her too. Paul aspires to join the SWAT team one day because they get a lot of action, despite it being dangerous. His Infinity Force mask is gold.

Maya Jelani/ Whirlpool (voiced by Raven Symone) -the sporty 17 year old girl and is the team's only mixed raced member due to the fact that her mother is Caucasian and her father is African American. She can use hydrokinesis, the ability to increase the local specific density of water and manipulate its shape. She, along with Julie and Wendy, became part of the Lakewood High's cheerleading squad. She is romantically interested in Ezekiel. Maya is revealed to be part atlantean as her deceased mother is the sister of the queen of Atlantis.

Ezekiel Sanders/Beam Boy (voiced by Drake Bell)- the fun loving 17 year old jock and member of The Phoenix Defenders who is able to shoot laser beams from his eyes. He is romantically attracted to Maya and is currently lives with Trent, Jan and Wendy.

Devanie Black/Oz(voiced by Isabelle Fuhrman)- the 17 year old emo girl who is somewhat apathetic and levelheaded who is usually depicted with a stoic expression on her face. Devanie has a range of superpowers based upon her skills with telekinesis and psychokinesis, with her mind empowering her to manipulate and levitate objects. Like Berna and Mallory, she is considered a freak and an outcast by most of her peers. She and Mallory are cousins and are mostly known for their on and off friend/enemy relationship but won't hesitate to put aside their differences to help each other when necessary. Devanie is shown to be romantically attracted in Hermione as she is shown to be jealous when a random boy gets to close to Hermione.

Saya Sato/Velocity (voiced by Sophie Oda)- the 16 year old Japanese American member of the Phoenix Defenders who is capable of running at hypersonic speed. She is very spunky, bright and perky. Lisa is shown to have a mutual attraction with Richie Foley as evidenced in a few episodes. She is later revealed to be a direct descendant of Samurai Jack as mentioned in one episode. Saya used to live in Gotham City when she was young because her parents were scientists before moving to Goldmoor where she soon started her superhero career as "Velocity". At the age of 2, she was in a lab accident at Wayne Industries which granted her the ability to run at high speed but doesn't remember what happened or who was responsible for the accident. Her Phoenix Defender mask is yellow.

Trent McGuire/LightMan (voiced by Jerry Trainor) -the ditzy, laid back and good natured 17 year old scene and a member of The Phoenix Defenders who can manipulate and control light. He is very good friends with Ezekiel and is in a romantic relationship with Mallory. Trent is served as the butt monkey of the series by everyone due to his inability to use his head.

 Recurring Characters 

Stan "Jan" McGuire (voiced by Gigi Gorgeous)- Trent's 15 year old younger sister and is a transgender who has suffered issues and some discrimination because of it.

Melanie(voiced by Tanaya Beatty)-Skye and Aeolus's 23 year old stepsister and the daughter of Hana.

Howard Russo(voiced by Brad Garrett) -Hermione's father who is a police officer.

Samantha Rowen and Hana (voiced by Grey Griffin and Alex Rice)- Skye and Aeolus's mothers who cared deeply about their children. Samantha is Skye and Aeolus's biological mother who had them with two different men. She had Skye with a man who ditched her after three months and later had Aeolus with a man who, unfortunately, ditched Samantha for another woman after Aeolus was born. Hana is Samantha's childhood friend and lover, the mother of Melanie, and the Rowan's siblings's second mother who is of Aboriginal Canadian descent. Hana also works as a customer service employee at Walmart as seen in Radda, Do you speak it?.

Fred Gooden (voiced by Rino Romano) -Robby's father who works as a Blaccu-Weather Forecast reporter for Channel WGPN.

Judith Gooden (voiced by Tara Strong) -Robby's mother.

Steve Sato (voiced by Eric Bauza )-Saya's father who is aware of his daughter's powers and superhero identity.

Daphne Sato (voiced by Stephanie Sheh)- Saya's mother.

Heather Jelani (voiced by Linda Park)- Maya's Korean American mother.

Donovan Jelani (voiced by Kevin Hart) -Maya's African American father and is Lakewood High's gym teacher.

Shirley Jonas voiced by Beatrix's mother and the maternal grandmother of Lyn and Berna. She is very domineering and manipulative individual who despises Manny and Lyn and Berna's friends because they are of "commoner blood" and doesn't want her granddaughters to tell anyone about the family. She has a strained yet poor relationship with her daughter and granddaughters as she is more concerned with the reputation and wealth of the Manchester name than the people close to her as evidenced that she had forced her own granddaughters to change their last names in order to protect the family's reputation.

Beatrix Manchester (voiced by Colleen Villard)- Lyn and Berna's 30 year old widowed mother who is a member of the Manchester family, a family of extremely wealthy socialites. She is also a billionaire industrialist and owner of The Manchester Industries. She is very anxious about both of her daughters and cares for their well being while trying to live her life as a single mother. She is currently in a romantic relationship with Agent Six.

Miguel Gutierrez (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui) -Tora's father.

Elena Gutierrez (voiced by Nika Futterman) -Tora's mother.

Refugio Martinez voiced by George Lopez- Crispin's uncle and guardian.

Beau Smith (voiced by )-The 18 year old leader of a group of hipsters and is later Delphine's love interest who has a strong dislike for cars. He is shown to have a thing for Doc Martens and his bike.

Manny Jonas (ne Tennyson) (voiced by Clifford Chapin) -the late father of Hunter and Julie and the late husband of Trixie who was killed in a car crash four years prior the series. He is the third son of Max and Verdona Tennyson. It was later revealed that Manny was a criminal and has a rough history with Ceila's mother, which later results in a deadly car crash with Julie inside, taking away her courage and hope and was replaced with fear and hopelessness, leaving her vulnerable to bullying and harassment.

Macy Connors (voiced by Pamela Adlon)- an insensitive ringleader of a small clique of mean girls who continually teased, harassed and mercilessly bullied Julie because she was involved in the same car crash that killed Celia's mother and because of Manny's criminal past.

Mayor Spoons (voiced by Seth McFarlane) the Mayor of Goldmoor who is very cheerful, irresponsible and yet childish.

Ashley(voiced by Stefanie Scott)- a stuck up, snobby head of the cheerleader squad who has a possessive love with Aeolus and is constantly jealous of Berna's friendship with Aeolus.

Mr. Tatum(voiced by Patrick Seitz)-A history teacher who is better suited as a drill sergeant than a teacher.

Mr.Johnson(voiced by Matthew Mercer)- Lakewood High's administrator who has a strong respect for school authority, structure and discipline.

Principal Williams(voiced by J.Michael Tatum)- the principal of Lakewood High.

Mr. Elliot (voiced by Tom Kenny)- the eccentric vice principal of Lakewood High who retains a clam and light hearted demeanor.

Evangeline Black/Charm(voiced by Ahney Her-) Mallory's younger twin sister and Vanessa's distant cousin who can use a form of white magic to bring good fortune upon others.

Deborah Malfoy (voiced by Emma Watson)Mallory's gothic friend and ex girlfriend who is a vampire. She speaks in an upper middle class English accent.

 Villains 

Mad Mod voiced by Malcolm McDowell)- a psychedelic British villain with no superpowers but has the ability to produce illusions resulted in surreal 1960's styled landscapes.

Celia (voiced by Kathleen Barr)- a close friend of Macy who was at first kind to Berna until Berna accidentally squirted mustard all over Celia's leather jacket which she had stated that it used to belong to her mother before she died and after that incident she became hostile towards Berna the main reason why many villains wants to kidnap Berna.

List of Episodes

Season One
 * Who's Your Deadpool: A villain has hired Deadpool to assassinate the Phoenix Defenders.


 * School Dazed: A group of extraordinary teenagers must survive another year of school while trying to hide their secret superhero alter egos from those around them.
 * Switched: As a teenaged superhero, one finds themselves in a lot of weird situations. What happens if a villain came to Goldmoor and his magic goes haywire and being inside someone else's body is probably the worst?


 * Hocus Dorkus: After Julie gets bullied, Zatavia gain control over her body.
 * Phoenix Defenders to the Future:

Season Two
 * Terror in the Woods: As the Star Guardians include Muffy, Melanie, Jan, Brent, Zak Saturday and Doyle Blackwell camp out in the Sierra Mountains, animals began to attack them for no apparent reason and the group must survive the animal onslaught and make their way to safety.
 * Let's Go Hunting: Desperate for friends, Julie met and quickly befriends a goth girl named Katie, who along with her mother, moved to Goldmoor for one mysterious purpose.
 * The Bitter Visit: As Trixie takes Hunter and Julie to visit her younger sister Candace, the other members of the Star Guardians comes with them. However, things go wrong when Candace gets possessed by a necromancer who wants to destroy Paul.
 * The Bitter End: Tired of the Star Guardians for protecting her from Celia, Julie decides to confront her alone, only to discover a shocking origin story that will shock her forever.
 * It's the Great Pumpkin, Phoenix Defenders!: Our heroes are getting ready for Halloween until a supernatural force came to get rid of them and the residents of Goldmoor to unleashed a powerful evil the world as ever known and see.
 * 2 Frenemies vs Detention: Mallory and Devanie had a hard time controlling their on and off rivalry which causes them to get detention. While serving detention, they must work together to escape for the clutches of Mad Mod himself.
 * How the Star Guardians Save Christmas: The Star Guardians must save Christmas from The Grinch.
 * Prom Edition: It's time for the team's prom and everyone is getting ready. With some drama, romance and friendship, Can the Star Guardians survive the ultimate high school experience: prom night?
 * Mechanical Mayhem: Although a giant robot in Goldmoor sounds pretty bad for the Star Guardians, they soon learn that there is something worse, a giant robot designed for their destruction! Who is behind this machine and will he strike again?
 * Boom: The peace in Goldmoor is interrupted by a villain with highly destructive habits. Can the Star Guardians stop him before the city is rubble?
 * The Gremlin: The Star Guardians must stop a villain who is actually a gremlin.
 * Bitter Reunion: A creature that feeds on energy roams the streets of Goldmoor and it's up to the Star Guardians to take it down. The only problem is that the creature might be somebody that one of the Star Guardians know.
 * Hit the Surf: Everybody needs some time off. Even superheroes. After calling in some people to watch the city while they're gone, the Star Guardians decide to hit the beach! What could possibly go wrong?
 * Arguments Can Cause Tears: Tired of Berna and Aeolus being close to each other, Katelyn takes matters into her own hands by threatening to kill Berna in front of the whole school unless Aeolus agrees to be her boyfriend. Aeolus then makes an ultimate decision that would shatter their friendship in pieces.
 * The Eye of the Hurricane Part 1: Maya gets over pressured after Macy threatens her to stay away from Julie, causing her to avoid Julie at all costs. Julie then founds out the truth behind the reason of why Maya is so harsh towards people.
 * The Eye of the Hurricane Part 2:
 * The Eye of the Hurricane Part 3: Once they finally reconcile, Berna then founds out the truth behind the reason of why Sera is so harsh towards people.
 * The Eye of the Hurricane Part 4: Maya and Julie publicly announced their relationship to the Star Guardians, who are shocked yet supportive upon hearing the news. Yet, Paul became very depressed upon hearing the news and not everybody are not as accepting of a same sex relationship.
 * Skye experiences womanhood for the first time since revealing herself as a girl to the team.
 * Saving Private Zeta: The Star Guardians must protect Zeta and Ro from Agent West and Agent Rush.

List of Shorts  TV Rating 
 * Beware of the Hax: Tired of getting killed off on Team Fortress 2, Indira decided to hack it in order to win. However, a certain stranger decides to show Indira what happens to people who hacked a game.
 * The Legion of Zatavia: What if Zatavia has her own Legion of Doom?
 * You Shall Not Pass: As Donovan drives down a road, he comes across a bridge where he must answer three questions from the bridge keeper before proceeding.
 * The Wrath of the Snails: Serena has the ability to control snails and use that power to kill Lisa only to have slower than expected results.
 * Emo vs. Goth: Devanie and Mallory are battling each other in a stereotypical yet comical way.
 * I'm at a loss for words: Devanie has a somewhat normal day while meanwhile, Control Freak introduces coffee to Jan.
 * Radda, Do you speak it?: Samantha works as a customer service employee at Walmart and has trouble understanding what a customer is saying.
 * That's Just Who I Am: Before she was a Phoenix Defender, Skye doesn't know who she is anymore. Luckily, she has a stepsister who has lots of knowledge and a half brother who has lots of spare clothes.

TV-PG for crude humor, mild violence and mild bad language.

Star Guardians Unite! Parents Guide

 Critical Reception 

The Phoenix Defenders has received positive reviews, with critics praising its animation, voice acting, characterization, writing, character development, and humor.

Sequel/Spin off

A television series titled The Phoenix Defenders: The Next Generation will serve as a spin off and a sequel to The Phoenix Defenders. The series follows the lives of the teenaged children of the original phoenix defenders as they became the next generation of teenaged crime fighters.

 Film 

Cartoon Network Studios has announced that a movie based on the series Star Guardians Unite! The Movie will set to be released on January 21,2023. The movie will take place after the events of the series, The Star Guardians are dealing with a group of villains who are planning on taking over the world. The film is intended as the series finale.

Quotes

 Trivia 
 * The Phoenix Defenders was inspired by The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, Teen Titans, Steven Universe and Family Guy.
 * The animation of the series was made using Adobe Photoshop CC 2015, Adobe After Effects CC 2015, TVPaint and Maya.
 * Although younger children and teenagers were the intended audience for the series, the deeper and serious themes of the show widened the appeal to a much broader audience.
 * The Phoenix Defenders is one of the few Cartoon Network shows to feature LGBTQ characters.