The Heroes (Persian: þÃÂÃÂÃÂçÃÂçÃÂ, <small>romanized:</small> PahlevÃÂnÃÂn, meaning The Champions) is an Iranian animated television series written and directed by Siavash Zarrinabadi and produced by Alireza Golpayegani from Harekat-e Kelidi Company and Saba Animation Center. The first season aired in March 2008 on IRIB TV2 and the last season aired in April 2022 on IRIB TV1. This series was rebroadcast many times by IRIB Pooya & Nahal. The series focuses on fight of Pourya-ye Vali's students against Eskandar Khan and admonishes of Pourya-ye Vali in 13th century.
Pahlavan Pourya-ye Vali, a blacksmith and master of Pahlevan Haydar Khorasani's Zoorkhaneh, with the ingenuity and cooperation of his students: Pahlavan Yavar, who is also Pourya's apprentice in blacksmithing, Pahlavan Safi, who was formerly one of the commanders in the army of Balkh and now engaged in felt-making and Pahlavan Mofrad, who was Ayyar, has now set up a barber shop in the city square, foils the schemes of Eskandar Khan, the greedy and ambitious Darughachi of the city. The lazy and stingy king of city is also present in the series. The story of this collection takes place in the city of Khwarazm, one of the cities of Greater Khorasan, in the 13th century. Each episode is self-contained and has a stand-alone story, though some earlier episodes get referenced from time to time.
Alireza Golpayegani described the production of the first season as follows:
Siavash Zarrinabadi stated the reason for choosing to make the series 2D: