Teen Titans
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The Teen Titans, also known as The New Teen Titans, New Titans, or The Titans, is a DC Comics superhero team. The first incarnation of the group unofficially debuted in The Brave and the Bold #54 (July 1964), with the group making its first appearance under the name “The Teen Titans” in Brave and the Bold #60. As the group's name suggests, its membership is usually composed of teenaged superheroes. In the group's first adventure, the team was a junior Justice League of sorts, featuring Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad, the sidekicks of Leaguers Batman, the Flash and Aquaman, respectively.
In its second appearance, the group branched out with the introduction of Wonder Girl, a character introduced for the group to serve as an analogue for Wonder Woman. In Donna Troy's wake, many additional new characters were introduced into the Titans team, many of which were not teenaged sidekicks to adult characters, most notably the college-aged heroes in the 1980 New Teen Titans revival Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven.
While only a modest success with its original incarnation, the series became a huge hit with its 1980s revival, under the stewardship of writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez. That year, the two relaunched Teen Titans as The New Teen Titans, aging the characters to young adulthood and featuring a level of complex storytelling and character exploration unheard of from DC Comics at the time. However, the departure of George Pérez from the book, the launch of a direct market-only Titans book, Marv Wolfman's own creative burnout (influenced partially by the departure of his longtime collaborator Perez), and editorial interference left the franchise decimated and the series was canceled in 1995 after 130 issues.
Since the cancellation of New Titans the concept has fluctuated in terms of success as creative teams have come and gone, though the most recent revival of the series has garnered both commercial and critical success. The animated television show, as well as the spin off comic, have also helped lead to a successful rejuvenation.
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Publication history
Original Incarnation
The genesis of the Teen Titans lays in the events of The Brave and the Bold #54 (July 1964), where Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad first teamed up to defeat a weather-controlling villain known as Mr. Twister. The trio end up deciding to form their own super-group as a result of the team-up.
In The Brave and the Bold #60, the group officially debuted with the team officially named “The Teen Titans” and sporting a brand new member: Wonder Girl. The character of Donna Troy (Wonder Girl) was created explicitly for the Teen Titans group, as Wonder Woman had no teen sidekick at the time, though the name “Wonder Girl” itself had been regularly used for a variety of flashback tales of Wonder Woman's childhood exploits at the time. Readers never saw Donna Troy join the team, though in the story “Who is Wonder Girl?”, Marv Wolfman revealed that Donna had joined the group shortly after the defeat of Mr. Twister and was the one responsible for coming up with the “Teen Titans” name for the group, unconsciously inspired by her post-Crisis tenure as a young charge of the Titans of Myth.
After a final appearance in one of DC's anthology comic books, Showcase #59, the Teen Titans were spun off into their own series, with “Teen Titans” #1, cover-dated February 1966.
The series' original premise revolved around the Teen Titans helping teenagers, answering calls from around the world. Their first set of stories included saving a town from a band of thieves who were impersonating a popular surf-rock band while committing their crimes, helping a teenager's burglar brother reform, investigating international teen tension at the Japanese Olympics and vindicating a teenager who claims interdimensional aliens were infiltrating his high school. Green Arrow's sidekick Speedy also soon joined in Teen Titans #4 (and was later given “founder status” along with Robin, Wonder Girl, Aqualad and Kid Flash). Additional team members were created for membership, most notably Lilith ClayThe Teen Titans #25 and Mal Duncan.The Teen Titans #26 Other existing heroes such as Hawk and Dove,The Teen Titans #21 a duo of teenaged superpowered brothers while Beast Boy of the Doom Patrol made a guest appearance seeking membership (though he was rejected for being too young at the time). Honorary members included AquagirlThe Teen Titans #30 and Gnaark.The Teen Titans #32
The theme of teenagers learning to take on adult roles and responsibilities was common throughout the series. The series explored (though not too deeply) then current events such as inner-city racial tension and various protests against the Vietnam War. One storyline beginning in issue #25 (February 1970) saw the Titans deal with the accidental death of a peace activist, leading them to reconsider their methods. As a result, the Teen Titans briefly abandoned their identities to work as ordinary, powerless civilians, but the change was unpopular with fans and was quickly abandoned. Along the way, Aqualad was removed from the series and the character of Mr. Jupiter, who was Lilith's mentor and employer, was introduced and financially backed the Titans for a brief period. Ultimately the book was quietly canceled with #43 (February 1973).
1970s revival
A few years after its cancellation, the series resumed with issue #44 (November 1976), but struggled to find focus. The few stories from the brief revival included the introduction of the African-American super-heroine Bumblebee, the introduction of the “Titans West” team, consisting of a number of other teen heroes including Bat-Girl (Betty Kane) and Golden Eagle, and the introduction of Joker's Daughter in Teen Titans #48. The revival was short-lived, and the series was canceled as of #53 (February 1978). Tellingly, in the last issue the heroes realized that, now in their early 20s, they had simply outgrown the "Teen" Titans. In the last panel, without speaking, they go their separate ways.
New Teen Titans (1980–1996)
DC Comics Presents #26 introduced a team of new Titans, anchored by founding members Robin, Wonder Girl and Kid Flash, soon followed by The New Teen Titans #1 (November 1980).
It re-introduced the Doom Patrol's Beast Boy as Changeling and introduced the machine man 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 villains' motivations were often complex, following trends that were coming to a head at that time towards greater depth in comics, particularly in the case of Deathstroke the Terminator, a mercenary who took a contract to kill the Titans in order to fulfill a job his son was unable to complete. This lead to the Titans' most complex adventure in which a psychopathic girl named Terra, with the destructive power to manipulate earth and all-earth related materials, infiltrated the Titans in order to destroy them.
This story also featured Dick Grayson, the original Robin, adopting the identity of Nightwing, Wally West giving up on his Kid Flash persona and quitting the New Teen Titans which eventually lead to him becoming the Flash, and the introduction of a new member in Jericho, the son of Deathstroke. New Teen Titans also regularly featured the Monitor as a background character.
Other notable New Teen Titans stories included "Terror of Trigon", which featured Raven's father, the evil interdimensional demon, Trigon the Terrible, from taking over Earth which lead to most of Raven's struggle to remain good despite Trigon's evil demonic blood inside her plaguing her; "A Day in the Life..." featured a day in the team members’ personal lives; "Who is Donna Troy?" depicted Robin investigating Wonder Girl's true identity and "We are Gathered Here Today..." told the story of Wonder Girl's wedding, noteworthy for being the rare superhero wedding in which a fight didn't break out.
Tales of the New Teen Titans, a four-part limited series by Wolfman and Perez, was published in 1982, detailing the back stories of Cyborg, Raven, Starfire, and Changeling.
New Teen Titans and the Uncanny X-Men
The brainchild of writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez, New Teen Titans was widely thought of as DC's answer to the increasingly popular Uncanny X-Men from Marvel Comics as both series featured all-new members and depicted young heroes from disparate backgrounds whose internal conflicts were as integral to the series as was their combat against villains.
Both books were instrumental in moving mainstream comics in a more character-driven direction. New Teen Titans also used long storyarcs, and the characters were sometimes involved in galactic and interdimensional conflicts. Much as Uncanny X-Men made a star out of artist John Byrne, The New Teen Titans did the same for Pérez. The two teams met in the 1982 crossover one-shot entitled "Apokolips ...Now", which teamed Darkseid with Dark Phoenix.
New Teen Titans (vol. 2)
The New Teen Titans series experienced some title and numbering confusion in 1984 when the title was relaunched with a new #1 issue as part of a new initiative at DC informally referred to as "hardcover/softcover." The New Teen Titans, along with Legion of Super-Heroes and Batman and the Outsiders, were the first and only titles included in this program, where the same stories would be published twice, first in a more expensive edition with higher-quality printing and paper distributed exclusively to comic book specialty stores, then republished a year later in the original low-budget format and distributed to newsstands. The New Teen Titans (vol. 1) title was renamed Tales of the Teen Titans (not to be confused with the earlier limited series), while a new concurrently published series named The New Teen Titans (vol. 2) launched with a new #1. After both titles ran new stories for one year, the former book began reprinting the latter's stories for the newsstand, continuing until the "hardcover/softcover" idea was abandoned after Tales of the Teen Titans #91.
Issue #1 of New Teen Titans (vol. 2) created controversy when Dick Grayson and Starfire were depicted in bed together, although it had been established for some time that they were a couple. Pérez left the series after New Teen Titans (vol. 2) #5. José Luis Garcia Lopez followed Pérez as the title's artist, and Eduardo Barreto contributed a lengthy run after Garcia Lopez. Paul Levitz scripted and wrote several issues when Wolfman briefly took a break from the book. Pérez temporarly returned as co-plotter/penciller with issue #50, with the series name being amended to The New Titans (without the "Teen" prefix), as the characters were no longer teenagers.
Issue #50 told a new origin story for Wonder Girl, her link to Wonder Woman having been severed due to retcons created in the aftermath of Crisis on Infinite Earths. Pérez remained as penciller with the book through to issue #55, 57 and 60, while only providing layouts for issues #58-59, and 61, with artist Tom Grummett finishing pencils and Bob McLeod as inker. Perez remained as inker for the cover art to issues #62-67. He would return to for the series final issue with #130 (Feb. 1996) providing cover art.
The series introduced a number of new characters and put older characters through radical changes during the next seven years. Members during this time included Phantasm,The New Titans #73 Pantha,TNT #74 Red Star,TNT #77 Impulse,TNT #0, Damage,TNT #0 Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner),TNT #116 Supergirl,TNT #121 Rose Wilson,TNT #122 MinionTNT #123 and Baby Wildebeest. As a result, the group that appeared in the final issue, #130 (February 1996), had little resemblance to the one that anchored DC's line-up in the early 1980s.
Team Titans
Team Titans is another Titans spin-off. The series ran from 1992 to 1994 in 24 issues and two annuals. One of only several Team Titans from the future, they function as a terrorist cell fighting against a world dictator, Lord Chaos, the son of Donna Troy and Terry Long. Sent ten years into the past, their mission is to kill Donna Troy and prevent his birth. Killowat, Redwing, Dagon, Prestor Jon and Battalion are all erased from existence during the 1994 Zero Hour storyline and the series was canceled. Mirage, Terra and Deathwing survive; it is established that they are from the current timeline. Mirage and Terra join the main Titans team and Deathwing is enthralled by an evil aspect of Raven and turns against the Titans.
Teen Titans (vol. 2, 1996–1998)
A new Teen Titans series written & penciled by Dan Jurgens began later that year with a new #1 (October 1996), with former New Teen Titans co-creator George Pérez as inker (Pérez would ink the first 15 issues of the series). Atom, who had become a teenager following the events of Zero Hour, leads the brand-new team, with Arsenal becoming a mentor about halfway through the twenty four-issue run, which ended in September 1998.
Jurgens' run was unpopular with readers due to the use of new characters that had no ties with previous incarnations of the team. The new characters were created due to an editorial ban preventing Donna Troy, Nightwing and Raven from being used in the book. In an attempt to boost sales, a contest was held in the letter pages to determine who would join the team. Robin (Tim Drake), won the vote, but editors on the Batman titles banned Robin from appearing in the Teen Titans, forcing Jurgens to use Captain Marvel, Jr. instead. The inclusion of Captain Marvel, Jr failed to boost sales of the title, which was then canceled.
The Titans (1999–2002)
The team was revived in a three-issue limited series, JLA/Titans: The Technis Imperative, featuring nearly every character who had been a Titan and showcased the return of Cyborg. This limited series led into The Titans written by Devin Grayson, starting with Titans Secret Files #1 (March 1999).
This incarnation of the team consisted of a mix of former original Titans, including Nightwing, Troia, Arsenal, Tempest and the Flash (Wally West), from the original team; Starfire, Cyborg and Changeling, from the New Teen Titans; Damage from the New Titans (the 1994 series); and Argent from the Teen Titans (the 1996 series). There was one new member, Jesse Quick. This version of the team lasted until issue #50 (2002).
The West Coast branch of the team, Titans L.A., appeared once, in the pages of Titans Secret Files #2.
Between the end of Teen Titans and the beginning of The Titans, the next generation of young heroes: Superboy, Robin, Impulse, Wonder Girl, Secret and Arrowette; formed their own team in Young Justice, a series similar to the original Teen Titans.
Both series were concluded with the three-issue limited series Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day, which led into new Teen Titans and Outsiders ongoing series.
Teen Titans (vol. 3, 2003 - present)
Writer Geoff Johns’ Teen Titans series began in 2003, again featuring a mix of previous and new members, most of whom had been part of Young Justice. Adam Beechen wrote the book for a four issue run from #46 to 49 after Geoff Johns' departure. Sean McKeever became the series' current writer as of #50.
The series’ original lineup mirrors and also inverts the lineup of Marv Wolfman's New Teen Titans series: veteran members Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy return, joined by younger heroes Robin, Superboy, Wonder Girl and Kid Flash. Raven re-joins the team in issue #12, and the new Speedy joins the team in Green Arrow #46, first appearing in the Titans book in issue #21. Starfire left the Teen Titans for the Outsiders. During the “Insiders” crossover with The Outsiders (issues #24–25), Superboy comes under Lex Luthor's control and attacks the team, afterwards taking a leave of absence that ends during Infinite Crisis.
The new series sees the team’s relocation from the east to the west coast, its headquarters located in San Francisco instead of the traditional New York City location. The new Titans Tower also has a memorial hall with statues of the fallen Titans.
One Year Later: The new Teen Titans
See One Year Later
In the one year jump after Infinite Crisis, Robin has returned to the Teen Titans after a year of travel with Batman and Nightwing. Feeling abandoned by Robin following the death of Superboy, Wonder Girl has quit the team and has been working alone, fighting the Brotherhood of Evil. Starfire is missing in action, never having returned from her journey into space. Raven and Beast Boy have split up: Raven's whereabouts are unknown, though she is rumored to be in Russia; and Beast Boy has left the Titans to join the new Doom Patrol. Joining him in the Doom Patrol are former Titans Bumblebee and Herald (renamed Vox). Speedy is said to be currently on an island with Connor Hawke. Kid Flash, who had aged into adulthood and lost his powers, is "kind of retired", according to Robin and has now become the fourth Flash. Cyborg has been damaged and inactive since his return from space, but 16-year-old genius fraternal twins Wendy and Marvin, have repaired him and given him new abilities. New members include Kid Devil and Rose Wilson (as Ravager), the latter of who was accepted at the request of Nightwing.
Robin, Kid Devil and Ravager reformed the Teen Titans along with Raven, Wonder Girl, Cyborg, the resurrected Jericho and new member Miss Martian.Teen Titans vol. 3 #40 Robin told Wonder Girl that he believes Raven could bring Superboy back to life, just like she did with Jericho.Teen Titans vol. 3 #41 Raven, however, revealed that she could not because Conner's soul had moved on.Teen Titans vol. 3 #43 A memorial to Superboy has been erected outside Titans Tower. Unknown to the other Titans, Robin has secretly been attempting to re-clone Superboy, with nearly 100 failed attempts. This was until Wonder Girl found the lab, where she and Robin shared an unexpected kiss brought on by their mutual pain.
During the lost year, at least 24Newsarama.Com: Teen Titans: One Year - Different new members joined the team, all of them short-term. Without proper leadership or the feeling of family the Titans normally provides, none of the new members could get along and work together.
Titans East
See Titans East
The Titans came into contact with a group calling themselves "Titans East" that was led by Deathstroke and intent on defeating the Titans. Geoff Johns referred to Titans East as juvenile delinquents who will be causing trouble, and described one character as who he believes was the first white trash superhero (Risk). The other members are Deathstroke, Sun Girl, Batgirl, Kid Crusader, Match, Inertia, Duela Dent and Enigma.Newsarama.Com: WWLA - DCU: One Year Greater Panel Deathstroke has been manipulating his Titans East, such as drugging Batgirl with the same chemical he used on his daughter, resulting in manipulated, aggressive behavior, offering Inertia a drug called "Velocity 9" which allows him to regain his super-speed without adverse effects, as well as blackmailing Risk.
After Rose joined the team, Robin created a cure for the chemicals Slade had used on Rose, having feared that Slade would use it again, and uses the antidote on Batgirl. Though she vows to kill Slade for what he did, she has at least temporarily allied with Titans West. Duela Dent, the Joker's Daughter, has also defected from Titans East (only after being asked by Raven).
Countdown
Soon after, Duela was killed,Countdown #51 followed shortly thereafter by Bart Allen.The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #13 With the loss of these friends, the team was thrown into turmoil, with a slight line-up change in the team with a roster of younger, relatively new members. Cyborg left the team for his own pursuits, with Beast Boy remarking that there is none of the "old guard" left at Titans Tower. Supergirl joins the team, and Blue Beetle is invited to Titans Tower to train whenever he wants. At a memorial service for Bart Allen, (shortly after a statue of him was constructed next to Superboy's) the Titans remember their fallen friend at a service celebrating his life.Teen Titans (vol. 3) #50
The Return of Titans Tomorrow
Soon afterwards, the Titans Tomorrow, including an older Conner and Bart, arrive in the present day with the intent of preserving their future. To this end, the Titans Tomorrow take down the Justice League so they don’t interfere and plan to have their younger selves fight Starro and a handful of brainwashed supervillains. It is revealed that the future versions of Bart and Conner are clones of the originals created by the future Tim and lack the morals and ethics their younger selves once had.Teen Titans (vol. 3) #51-54. Lex Luthor arrives with the rest of the future Titans. Luthor informs the Titans that their actions have changed the future for the worse. However, the teams are attacked by Starro, forcing them to work together. Through a telepathic link, Miss Martian's future counterpart reveals the rationale behind the Sinestro Corps and their war to subjugate the universe. The horror of this mental vision causes Miss Martian to lash out: she beheads her future self. Miss Martian finds Robin and takes him to a location that she says will remind him that what happens in the future it is up to them, rather than the future team. Blue Beetle is shocked to discover that he is the only non-Starro-controlled hero left standing after the main battle. Flying high above the planet, Supergirl witnesses the Sinestro Corps amassing for their assault on Earth. Blue Beetle frees Bart, who eventually retrieves one of Captain Cold's guns from the Flash Museum, with which he destroys Starro, freeing the Titans. Robin again confronts Batman, and is at the point of agreeing with him when Cassie arrives and informs him that the clones of Bart and Conner remember nothing of their pasts. She kisses Robin, leading to an alteration of Batman's memories. An enraged Conner arrives, stopped only by a Kryptonite-treated bullet fired from Batman's gun. As a result, all of the figures from the future fade away; the present-day Titans leave to take part in the battle against the Sinestro Corps.An epilogue is set eight years in the future: although Tim Drake and Cassie Sandsmark are in a relationship, Tim is having an affair with Miss Martian, and the two collaborate with Lex Luthor in the development of clones of several fallen Titans, including Conner and Bart.
Titans (2008-)
A second ongoing Teen Titans series, simply titled Titans, will be launched in April 2008 and will be written by Judd Winick and drawn by Ian Churchill. The title will follow on from the events of the Teen Titans East Special one-shot that was released in November 2007. The team's line up will consist of Nightwing, Flash (Wally West), Donna Troy, Beast Boy, Raven, Cyborg, Red Arrow, and Starfire.Wizard Magazine #193
Awards
The various series and characters have received a good deal of recognition over the years. The story "Then & Now" from Teen Titans (1996 series) issues 12–15, was a top voted candidate for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Story for 1998.
Trade paperbacks
Silver Age Teen Titans
Trade Paperback by DC collecting the most well-known adventures of this era:
| Title | Material collected | Pages |
|---|---|---|
| Showcase Presents Teen Titans Vol. 1 | The Brave and the Bold vol. 1, #54 & #60 Showcase #59 Teen Titans vol. 1, #1–18 | 528 |
| Showcase Presents Teen Titans Vol. 2 | Teen Titans vol. 1, #19–36 The Brave and the Bold vol. 1, #83 and 94 World's Finest Comics #205 | 512 |
| The Silver Age Teen Titans Archives Vol. 1 | The Brave and the Bold vol.1, #54 & #60 Showcase #59 Teen Titans vol. 1, #1–5 | 203 |
| Teen Titans Annual #1, 1967 issue (published 1999) | Showcase (vol. 1) #59 Teen Titans (vol. 1) #4 The Flash (vol. 1) #164 Wonder Woman (vol. 1) #144 | 80 |
New Teen Titans
Trade Paperbacks by DC collecting the most well-known adventures of this era:
| Title | Material collected | Pages | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DC Archives: The New Teen Titans Vol. 1 | DC Comics Presents #26 The New Teen Titans vol. 1, #1–8 | 230 | |
| DC Archives: The New Teen Titans Vol. 2 | The New Teen Titans vol. 1, #9–16 Best of DC (Blue Ribbon Digest) #18. | 240 | |
| DC Archives: The New Teen Titans Vol. 3 | The New Teen Titans vol. 1, #17–20 Tales Of The New Teen Titans #1–4 . | 228 | |
| Terra Incognito | The New Teen Titans vol. 1, #28–34, select pages from #26 Annual #2 | 224 | |
| The Judas Contract | The New Teen Titans vol. 1, #39–40 Tales of the Teen Titans #41–44 Annual #3 | 192 | |
| The Terror of Trigon | The New Teen Titans vol. 2, #1–5 | 134 | |
| Who is Donna Troy? | The New Teen Titans vol. 1, #38 Tales of the Teen Titans #50 The New Titans #50-54, select pages from New Titans #55 The "Who Was Donna Troy" back-up story from Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files 2003. | 224 |
The Titans
As yet, only the beginning and the end of this era have been collected in trade paperback form:
| Title | Material collected | Pages | ISBN# |
|---|---|---|---|
| JLA/Titans: The Technis Imperative | JLA/Titans #1–3 Titans Secret Files #1 | ||
| Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day | Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #1–3 (see also The Death and Return of Donna Troy below) |
Teen Titans (2003-Present)
Note: Issues 27 and 28, penciled by artist Rob Liefeld and written by Gail Simone, are not collected in any of the trade paperbacks. The two issues, along with The Outsiders (vol. 3) #27-28, were designed as last minute fill-in issues, after DC Comics decided to publish The Return of Donna Troy (originally intended to run in the pages of Teen Titans (vol. 3) #27-28 and Outsiders (vol. 3) #27-28) as a stand-alone mini-series.
| Vol. # | Title | Collected material | Pages | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Kid's Game | Teen Titans vol. 3, #1–7 Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files 2003 | 192 | |
| 2 | Family Lost | Teen Titans vol. 3, #8–12 Teen Titans #1/2 | 136 | |
| 3 | Beast Boys and Girls | Beast Boy #1–4 (1999 limited series) Teen Titans vol. 3, #13–15 | 168 | |
| 4 | The Future is Now | Teen Titans/Legion Special Teen Titans vol. 3, #16–23 | 224 | |
| Teen Titans/Outsiders: The Insiders | Teen Titans vol. 3, #24–26 Outsiders #24–25, 28 | 144 | ||
| Teen Titans/Outsiders: The Death and Return of Donna Troy | Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #1–3 Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files 2005 DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy #1–4 | 176 | ||
| 5 | Life and Death | Teen Titans vol. 3, #29–33 Teen Titans Annual #1 Robin #146–147 | 208 | |
| 6 | Titans Around the World | Teen Titans vol. 3, #34–41 | 192 | |
| 7 | Titans East | Teen Titans vol. 3, #42–47 | 144 |
In other media
Animated TV
The team's first animated appearance was in Teen Titans segments of the 1967 Filmation series The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, featuring Speedy, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, and Aqualad.
Robin was a member of the Superfriends. In addition, he and Cyborg appeared as a member of the Super Powers Team in The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians.
From 2003 until 2006, a Teen Titans animated series aired, with stories that emulate the Wolfman/Perez era and in an anime-style art form. Briefly airing on Kids' WB, Teen Titans premiered on and currently airs on Cartoon Network. The main characters are Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven and Beast Boy. Many other Titans comic book characters appear, including Aqualad, Speedy, Deathstroke (named Slade), Wildebeest and Terra. Other characters have been specifically created for the show, including Más y Menos, Mumbo and Mother Mae-Eye. The TV series depicts the main characters as being much younger than their comic book counterparts.
Although ultimately proving popular, the decision to use anime-influenced animation was somewhat controversial among fans. Other fans were more accepting, noting that many episodes were based on beloved storylines like The Judas Contract and The Terror of Trigon although some elements such as the romances between Starfire and Robin were dropped due to the characters' ages in the new show. While the series' storylines are sometimes serious, they are often humorous, accentuated by anime-influenced visual effects.
Despite high ratings, the series was cancelled after five seasons, with the final episode airing January 16, 2006. A direct-to-DVD movie, Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, premiered on Cartoon Network September 15, 2006 at 7pm. Three video games were made based on the show.
In addition, Titans members including the Wally West's Flash, Kyle Rayner's Green Lantern, Ray Palmer's Atom, Dick Grayson's Nightwing, Cassie Sandsmark's Wonder Girl, Tim Drake's Robin, Hank and Don Hall's Hawk and Dove, and Roy Harper's Speedy have appeared in some context in the DC animated universe (DCAU).
The Teen Titans are mentioned in a Static Shock episode entitled "Hard as Nails", in which the DCAU Batman made a guest appearance. Static inquires Batman about Robin, to which Batman responds "he's with the Titans". When Static presses for more information, Batman intimates that Static might one day meet and possibly join the Titans.
Animated DTV
At Comic-Con 2006, a Judas Contract animated movie was announced. Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, creators of The New Teen Titans will be working on the direct-to-DVD movie. The movie's animation will not be done in the style of the Teen Titans series, but rather a style similar to the comics.
Film
Warner Bros. is also in development on a Teen Titans movie in which Nightwing is the only confirmed member so far.Kit, Borys. "Teen Titans growing up at Warner Bros.". The Hollywood Reporter. May 31, 2007.
See also
