Teen Titans
Official Team Names: The Teen Titans
Team Nicknames: The Titans
Former Team Aliases:The New Teen Titans; The New Titans; Team Titans; The Titans
Other Current Team Aliases: No other known current aliases
Status
Team Status: Active
Team Identity: Secret
Base of Operations: San Francisco, California; Formerly New York City, New York
Organization
Team Leader: Cyborg (Victor Stone)
Active Members: Beast Boy, Kid Flash (Bart Allen), Raven (Daughter of Trigon), Robin (Tim Drake), Speedy (Mia Dearden), Superboy (Kon-El), Wonder Girl (Cassandra Sandsmark)
Former Members: Argent (Toni Monetti), Arsenal (Roy Harper), Atom (Ray Palmer), Baby Wildebeest, Battalion, Bumblebee, Captain Marvel, Jr., Damage, Dove (Dawn Granger), Dove (Don Hall), Flamebird (Bette Kane), Flash (Wally West), Flash (Walter West), Fringe, Gnarrk, Golden Eagle (Charley Parker), Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), Harlequin (Duela Dent), Hawk (Hank Hall), Herald, Jericho, Jesse Quick, Joto, Killowatt, Christopher King, Kole, Minion, Mirage, Nightrider, Nightwing (Dick Grayson), Omen (Lilith Clay), Pantha, Phantasm, Prestor Jon, Prysm, Red Star, Redwing, Risk, Robin (Jason Todd), Starfire (Koriand'r), Supergirl (Linda Danvers), Tempest (Garth), Terra (Tara Markov), Terra (Tara Markov clone), Troia, Rose Wilson
Known Allies: No known Allies
Known Enemies: No known enemies
Origin
Place of Formation: Place of formation unknown
First Appearance: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD Vol. 1 #54 (1965)
Origin: Origin unknown.
Comic History
The Teen Titans first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #54 (July 1964), portrayed as a junior Justice League consisting of Robin I, Kid Flash I, and Aqualad, joining together as had their mentors (respectively, Batman, The Flash II, and Aquaman). They were soon joined by Wonder Girl I, whose existence as a teenaged version of Wonder Woman had previously been established, but this character was new and separate from the adult character, and their link was not immediately clear (the mystery of Wonder Girl's background would linger in the series until finally resolved in the 1980s).
The Teen Titans were popular enough to be awarded their own series, with issue #1 (cover-dated February 1966). The early issues were noted for their artwork by Nick Cardy. While Green Arrow's ward Speedy would naturally join (though would later be retconned to be a founding member despite not showing up for several issues), the series later introduced entirely new teenaged heroes, notably Lilith Clay and Hawk and Dove.
The series' tone was often torn between the freewheeling excitement of the 1960s, and its darker side as keyed by the Vietnam War and the protests thereof. One memorable storyline beginning with #25 (February 1970) put the Titans in the middle of the accidental death of a peace activist, leading them to reconsider their means and goals, and leading to the temporary departure of Robin. The theme of teenagers learning to take on adult responsibilities was common throughout the series.
The series' popularity flagged heading into the 1970s, and it went on hiatus as of #43 (February 1973).
A few years later, the series was revived resuming with #44 (November 1976), but struggled to find focus, moving through a number of storylines in rapid succession. Notable among these were the mysterious Joker's Daughter, as well as the Teen Titans West, consisting of a number of other teen heroes from around the DC Universe. The revival was short-lived, and the series was cancelled as of #53 (February 1978).
The Titans were again revived with a new series. Previewed in DC Comics Presents #26 (October 1980), The New Teen Titans #1 (November 1980) introduced a team of new Titans, anchored by previous members Robin I, Wonder Girl I, and Kid Flash I. It re-introduced the Changeling (formerly Beast Boy), and introduced for the first time the man-machine Cyborg, the alien Starfire, and the dark empath Raven. Raven, an expert manipulator, formed the group to fight her demonic father Trigon, and the team remained together thereafter as a group of young adult heroes.
The brainchild of writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez, it has been widely speculated that the book was DC's answer to the increasingly popular X-Men from Marvel Comics, and indeed both books involved a group of young adult heroes from disparate backgrounds whose internal conflicts were as much a part of the book as their combat against villains. In any event, both books were instrumental in moving mainstream comics in a more character-driven direction. The title also borrowed the use of long story arcs and having the characters swept up in galactic battles and interdimensional conflicts. Much as X-Men made a fan favorite out of artist John Byrne, The New Teen Titans did the same for Pérez.
Even the villains' motivations could be complex, as in the case of Deathstroke the Terminator, a mercenary who took a contract on the Titans to fulfill a job his son was unable to complete. This led to the Titans' most complex adventure, in which a psychopathic girl named Terra I infiltrated the Titans in order to destroy them. This story also included the original Robin, Dick Grayson, adopting the identity Nightwing. The series also made regular feature of The Monitor as a background character.
In 1982 there was a four-part mini-series by Wolfman and Perez, Tales of the New Teen Titans, that detailed the back stories of Cyborg, Raven, Starfire II, and Changeling.
Other notable stories included "A Day in the Life..." which featured the personal lives of the team on one day. There was also the story "Who is Donna Troy?" in which Robin investigated Wonder Girl's true identity (#38), and "We are Gathered Here Today...", the story of Wonder Girl's marriage (#50 and noteworthy for being a rare superhero wedding in which a fight didn't break out).
The series underwent some numbering confusion when DC moved some of its more popular books from the newsstand to the direct distribution market (to comic book specialty stores) in 1984. The New Teen Titans became Tales of the Teen Titans for a year (not to be confused with the earlier Tales of the New Teen Titans mini-series), while a new book named The New Teen Titans was launched with a new #1. The former book began reprinting the latter's stories for the newsstand a year later, and ran to #91, but the new stories were in the direct market book.
Issue #1 of the new direct market book got some controversy as Dick Grayson and Starfire were depicted in bed together, although it had been established for some time that they were a regular couple.
Pérez left the book after #5 of the second series, and the series seemingly went into a tailspin (at some point Wolfman reportedly suffered from writer's block, and other writers chipped in from time to time). José Luis Garcia Lopez followed Pérez, and Eduardo Barreto contributed a lengthy run. Then Pérez returned with #50 (the book again being renamed, this time to The New Titans, the characters effectively no longer being teens) to tell another origin story for Wonder Girl (her previous link to Wonder Woman having been severed due to retcons in Crisis on Infinite Earths), resulting in her being renamed Troia. Pérez this time hung on through #61.
Following this, the book introduced a number of characters, put others through some radical changes, and though it ran for another 7 years, the group which appeared in the final issue, #130 (February 1996), bore little resemblance to the one which had anchored DC's line-up in the early 1980s.
A completely unrelated group of Teen Titans began their own series later that year with a new #1 (October 1996). Led by the Atom, who had become a teenager following the events of Zero Hour, the series ended with #24 (September 1998). The entirety of this run of the title was written by Dan Jurgens.
The earlier team was revived in a 3-issue mini-series, JLA/Titans, featuring nearly everyone who had ever been a Titan. This led into The Titans #1 (March 1999), written by Devin Grayson. This incarnation of the team consisted of a veritable grab bag of former Titans, including Nightwing, Troia, Arsenal, Tempest II, and the Flash III (from the original lineup), Starfire II, Cyborg, and Damage (from the New Teen Titans era), and Argent (from the 1996 series). This series lasted to #50 (2002).
It was followed by the Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day crossover, that led directly into the new Teen Titans series, and set also the grounds for the new Outsiders series.
Writer Geoff Johns launched another Teen Titans series in 2003, again featuring a mix of previous and new members, many of whom had previously been part of Young Justice.
The original lineup of this version of the team was intended to mirror the lineup of Marv Wolfman's New Teen Titans series. Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy return, this time as the veteran members, whilst the current Robin, Superboy, Wonder Girl and Kid Flash (who, as Impulse, served very briefly with the New Titans before that series's cancellation) are portrayed as the rookies, inverting the dynamic of the earlier series. They were initially the core of the teen team Young Justice. Raven joins the team in the first few issues, her soul housed in a new body and having to relearn how to use her powers, putting her in a middle-ground between the veterans and the rookies. While Starfire left to join the Outsiders, Mia Dearden, the new Speedy, also joined the team during the "Lights Out" storyline.
This new series saw also a relocation of the team from the east to the west coast. The headquarters of this new team are located in San Francisco instead of the traditional New York City location.
Team History
The Teen Titans began when Kid Flash, Robin, and Aqualad banded together top save the town of Happy Harbor from a villain calling himself “Mr. Twister.” Shortly afterward, the three of them met again, along with Wonder Girl and Speedy, battling an alien called the Antithesis who had taken control of various JLA members. They decided to make the team permanent, and became known as the Teen Titans.
Speedy himself did not immediately join, but worked with them occasionally, and the team gained additional members. During a dark chapter of their history, in which they inadvertently allowed an important man to die, they abandoned their costumes for grey uniforms while working for a wealthy man named Loren Jupiter. Eventually, of course, they were back in costume. Yet the pressures of growing up tore the team apart, and as members began heading off for college, the team disbanded.
Some time later, a woman named Raven appeared, attempting to gather together a new group of Titans. She convinced Robin to start recruiting, and they collected Wonder Girl, Changeling, and the cyborg Vic Stone. Kid Flash declined, trying to be Wally West instead. Raven, an empath, needed him on the team, and so she interfered with his emotions, made him feel that he loved her, to convince him to join. On their first case they met the final member of the team, the alien princess Starfire. With all of them assembled, they were able to face the threat Raven had discovered: her own father, the greatest evil of an alternate dimension, was coming here. They elected to keep the team going, making their headquarters in New York.
The golden age of the Titans ended when they brought in a new member, Terra. The pressures of “real” life continued to wear on some of the members; Dick Grayson decided to abandon being Robin and find a new identity, and Wally West decided to give up heroics forever. Uncomfortable with what Raven had done, still unsure whether he was really Wally West or Kid Flash, and faced with his super-speed killing him, he retired. Two members down, the Titans were then captured by Deathstroke the Terminator and turned over the the H.I.V.E, where they learned that Terra had actually been a double agent. In the ensuing battle Terra died, the Titans recruited Deathstroke’s son Jericho as a new member, and Dick Grayson took on the identity of Nightwing.
Eventually, Raven lost control of the evil within herself, and Trigon was able to reach Earth. The Titans faced their own inner demons (literally), and they were able to force Trigon back, but at the apparent cost of Raven’s life. Then Starfire was called back to her homeworld Tamaran for an arranged marriage, and the team fell apart. It took a major battle with Brother Blood and his entire church, the return of Raven, and a coalition of former Titans (including Wally, now the Flash) before the team returned to anything resembling normal.
On the team’s third anniversary, all the Titans (and many former Titans) were captured by the Wildebeest, except for Nightwing, who managed to subdue his attacker, and discovered something astonishing: there was more than one Wildebeest! Together with Deathstroke (whose contract to destroy the Titans had long since expired), Raven’s mother, and a few unfamiliar faces (and eventually Troia, who had been lucky enough to be on vacation during this whole fiasco), they tracked down their former teammates only to discover that Jericho had been possessed—some time back—and had taken over the Wildebeest organization. Deathstroke was forced to kill his son, Raven died (again), Cyborg was left catatonic in a remote-controlled robot body, the Titans were discredited and targeted as menaces by the city of New York, and everything just sort of generally went to hell.
Then they got worse. First a team of future Titans came to the present to kill Troia, since her son would be born with godlike powers and take over the world. When Donna gave up her powers to prevent that future, they found themselves unable to return to their own time, and settled in the present... ironically, under the guardianship of the now-powerless Donna. Cyborg was revived by an alien computer sentience, but was only able to stay aware within it, and so left to explore the universe.
Then there was Raven. Since she had always had the ability to separate her soul from her body for short periods of time, her soul was able to remain on earth. The evil in her freed, she took possession of a new body and began recruiting allies, implanting seeds of Trigon’s soul in various captives—including Changeling and Frances Kane, who had finally begun to turn her life around. She interrupted the wedding of Nightwing and Starfire, implanting a seed in Kory—one which her alien biology appeared to fight off, but which eventually turned out to contain all the good in Raven’s soul. It led her to return to her homeworld once again, leaving a drastically reduced team of Titans. Troia had given up her powers, Raven was evil, Starfire and Cyborg were both in space, and Nightwing was going solo.
Roy Harper (formerly Speedy, later a government agent, and now Arsenal) stepped in to fill the leadership gap Nightwing had left. He made a deal with Sarge Steel of Checkmate to solve the Titans’ credibility problems, which ended up with them essentially working for the government. Unhappy with the deal, nearly everyone from the previous team left. He was left with the two Teamers who had survived Zero Hour, Damage (who had been remanded into the Titans’ custody), and Impulse. Fortunately by this time Donna had joined the Darkstars, and they were able to add the latest Green Lantern, Supergirl, and an alien with a powerful morphing battlesuit (the Omegadrome) calling himself Minion.
This team was a disaster. While they managed to succeed against Raven and other threats, the internal dynamics were... turbulent, to say the least. Kyle was still learning the ropes, Terra was facing an identity crisis, Damage’s temper was at its worst, Donna was dealing with her divorce, Mirage was secretly pregnant, no one could stand Impulse, and Arsenal—who has always had a problem with authority—found himself having problems exercising it.
The return of Cyborg (now Cyberion) from his exile in space led the Titans to head for Tamaran, seeking out Starfire as Raven began recollecting the pieces of Trigon’s soul. This left Changeling freed, and in the final confrontation, the piece of Raven’s soul that Starfire had carried was able to destroy Trigon’s soul forever (for the third time, mind you), leaving Raven a disembodied, but pure, spirit. Raven, Changeling, and Cyberion remained for a time on New Tamaran to help the survivors of the world’s destruction rebuild, while the rest returned to Earth and disbanded.
A decade and a half ago, an alien race called the H’san Natall hired Psions (the same aliens who accidentally gave Starfire her starbolt powers) to impregnate several Earth women with genetically-engineered H’san Natall/Human hybrids. The women were returned home, their children growing up as humans who eventually developed powers. Shortly after the disbanding of the previous group of Titans, Loren Jupiter contacted four of these now-teenage children and recruited them to form a new group of Titans, under the leadership of former JLA member the Atom (who had been de-aged recently and was once again a teenager).
They operated in Metropolis for a while, discovered that the mysterious Omen was not only the Lilith of the original Titans, but that she was also Mr. Jupiter’s daughter, and picked up several new members. They also lost Joto. Eventually the H’san Natall came to take them back to their world. Prysm and Fringe elected to leave, while Argent, Risk, and a revived Joto returned to Earth.
Cyberion, in his explorations of the galaxy, began losing touch with his humanity. Completely mechanical at this point, there was still a human soul inside him. To reconnect, he/it returned to Earth—along with all the machinery (including a number of very large starships) that it had bonded with, slowly engulfing the moon, and sought out those Vic Stone had considered family: the Titans. All of them. Some who had only been Titans for about five minutes. Once they began to realize what was going on, the Titans came into conflict with the JLA; the League’s main concern was to ensure the safety of the Earth, while the Titans wanted to somehow save Vic first. Eventually, they were able to provide the Omegadrome as a new body for Vic.
This adventure brought all the Titans together for the first time in quite a while, and over the next few weeks the original five talked about reforming the group, partly out of their friendship, partly out of the responsiblility to train the next generation of heroes. To that end each of them nominated an additional member, and the latest Titans were formed.
Within a few months, however, half the team left. Starfire returned to her people, Cyborg left with a new body cloned from his original one, Flash left to pursue his commitments in the JLA and Keystone City, and Damage left to work out some personal issues.
As both the Titans and Young Justice were hearing out funding offers from international conglomerate OptiTron, a cybernetic robot appeared and latched onto Cyborg. Believing themselves under attack, members of both teams tried to subdue the robot. By the time the battle was over, most of the heroes were injured, and two—Lilith and Troia—were dead. Both teams dissolved.
While Arsenal went off to found a new Outsiders team (recruiting Nightwing, among others), Cyborg, Starfire and Changeling (now calling himself Beast Boy again) set out to form the Titans in a new way. This time based in San Francisco, they planned to formalize the mentor/training aspect. So far they have invited the core members of Young Justice—Robin, Wonder Girl, Superboy, and Impulse—to spend weekends at the new Teen Titans headquarters on an island in the San Francisco Bay.
Early on they learned that Jericho, just before dying, had used his possession abilities to leap into his father’s mind. He had been lurking in Deathstroke’s subconscious ever since. Determined to prevent any more “kids” from dying by being super-heroes, he attempted to break up the newly-formed team. As the Terminator, he shot Impulse—the final trauma that led to the speedster’s decision to become Kid Flash. Raven also returned, her spirit bound to the body of a teenaged girl.
Animated Series
Cast of the new Teen Titans series
- Teen Titans is an animated series, created by Sam Register, Glen Murakami, and Bruce Timm, that premiered on Cartoon Network on July 19, 2003. It is based on the DC Comics superhero team, the Teen Titans. The series is loosely based on The New Teen Titans comic books and its related series. It revolves around the main team members Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven. Titans Tower, is used as a headquarters for the team and is based on the comic book tower. Self-referential humor is used throughout the show with villains of the week for many episodes. Seasons two and four were based upon two of the most popular New Teen Titans arcs, "Judas Contract" and "Terror of Trigon" respectively. Many characters from the comics, such as Aqualad and Speedy, have appeared occasionally throughout the show. One unique quality of the show is that it is character driven and intentionally often focuses on the struggles the main characters have with being teen-aged superheroes. Many episodes deal with the relationships between the characters as friends and with the personal limitations of the characters.
- While most episodes are not connected with a central plot, each season has several episodes devoted to a continuing storyline. The first season introduced Slade, an arch-rival of Robin and the Titans. The season two adaptation of "Judas Contract" brought Terra into the series. She eventually betrays the Titans to Slade, just as the original character had in the comic books. Season three focused on Brother Blood and the H.I.V.E. academy, and ended with the creation of the Titans East team, based primarily on the East Coast. The fourth season adapted the "Terror of Trigon" arc, showcasing Raven and her relationship with the father, the demon-god Trigon. Season five has begun airing. It focuses on the Brotherhood of Evil, long enemies of the Doom Patrol, a fellow heroic organization.
- The show is set in Jump City (which is seemingly far from Gotham, as stated by Cyborg), while the Titans East is located in Steel City.
- A quirk of the series is that the characters maintain their superhero identites while the concept of an alter-ego or secret identity is sometimes hinted at but rarely explored. In particular, there is some debate over which of the Robins actually leads the Teen Titans. While many signs point to Dick Grayson the original Robin.
- The animation style portrays a heavy anime-influence, represented by the art style as well as references to popular anime such as FLCL. The series's theme song also alternates between the English version and Japanese version of the song, both sung by the Japanese rock band Puffy Amiyumi.
- A comic book based on the show, Teen Titans Go, written by J. Torres is being published by DC Comics.
- The show is rumored to end its run on Feburary 4, 2006, but this is unconfirmed.
- A source of controversy among fans has surrounded the place of the series in the DC Animated Universe. Series producer Bruce Timm has stated that there will be no crossover with Justice League Unlimited. Also, series producer and creator Glen Murakami has stated that the inspiration for the series is the 1980s The New Teen Titans comic book series, and not the Justice League animated series. Although Batman does refer to the Titans in the Static Shock and Justice League crossover episode "Hard as Nails," there is no proof that the mentioned Titans relate in any way to the ones represented in this series. The issue of continuity ties in directly with the debate about Robin's secret identity: if Teen Titans fits into the larger DCAU, then Robin must be Tim Drake, contrary to the slighly ambiguous on-screen hints that he is Dick Grayson. However this is contradicted by the existence of a pre-Arsenal Roy Harper (the first Speedy), a pre-Tempest Garth as Aqualad and most recently the Wally West version of Kid Flash, all three of which hail from Grayson's era. There is not enough evidence to either prove or disprove its place in the continuity of Justice League Unlimited.
Statistics
Total Members: Total number of members unknown
Total Allies: Total number of allies unknown
Total Enemies: Total number of enemies unknown
Miscellaneous
Equipment: No known equipment.
Transportation: No known transportation.
Weapons: No known weapons.
Notes
- No special notes.
Trivia
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