Mighty Mouse

Mighty Mouse is an animated superhero character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox. Originally, the character was a super-powered housefly named "Superfly," but the studio changed him into a toon mouse instead. A parody of Superman, he 1st appeared in 1942 in a theatrical animated short entitled The Mouse of Tomorrow. Mighty Mouse was not extraordinarily popular in theatrical cartoons. What made him a cultural icon was television. The Mighty Mouse Playhouse began running in late 1955 and remained on the air for nearly 12 years. Mighty Mouse cartoons became a staple of children's TV programming for over 30 years, from the 1950s through the 1980s.