In 1984, DC Comics awarded the license of their characters to Kenner toys, hot on the heels of Mattel's "action feature" heavy He-Man toy line. Winning the license away from Mego Corporation and Mattel with their emphasis on action and art, Kenner devised hidden mechanisms within the figures that would trigger an action when the figures legs or arms were squeezed. This emphasis on each figure's "super power" led to the naming of the line The Super Powers Collection. Once the line was in full force a merchandising frenzy took place, with DC Comics and Kenner slapping a Super Powers logo on whatever they possibly could. Three waves of figures and accessories were released: in 1984, 1985, and 1986. Hanna Barbera also produced two animated series (a refreshing of the venerable Super Friends concept, called Superfriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show and Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians) and three comic book mini-series in support of the Super Powers line. Only the toy line carried the "Collection" tag; all other merchandise would have a solo "Super Powers" logo. Each figure in the first two waves were also packaged with a mini-comic featuring that character's adventures.

Based on definitive style guide artwork, with decent articulation and hidden action features, the Super Powers Collection eventually released 33 unique figures into stores with not a single character variation, unlike all of today's popular toy lines.