The Teen Titans are one of DC’s most prominent team, and they represent a key aspect of the DC Universe. More than any other shared superhero universe, DC is based around the concept of legacy, with the team initially made up of Justice League sidekicks being the epitome of this. Still, there’s a lot about the Titans that goes beyond their humble beginnings or the popular 2003 Teen Titans animated series.
The Teen Titans have been radically redefined over the years, with their comics in the 1980s and 1990s remaining their most important. Still, even current comics reach back to the Silver age stories, including the current World’s Finest: Teen Titans title from Mark Waid. Thus, there’s a lot that readers need to know in order to understand the core of the Titans’ mythology.
10 The Titans Began As A “Junior Justice League”
The original roster of the Teen Titans was made up of Robin, Aqualad and Kid Flash, the sidekicks of Batman, Aquaman and The Flash. They’d later be joined by Green Arrow’s partner Speedy and Wonder Woman’s younger sister Wonder Girl. This sidekick status would remain with the Titans for quite a while, even as they expanded.
The Bronze Age added Beast Boy (a sort of sidekick for the Doom Patrol) and Golden Age (Hawkman’s young partner). It would be during this period, however, that original heroes such as Bumblebee were added to the lineup. From there, the idea that the Titans were just second tier sidekicks was eventually done away with.
9 Beast Boy Changed His Name For A Long Time
During the iconic Marvel Wolfman/George Pérez The New Teen Titans run, Beast Boy was one of the main veterans alongside Robin, Wonder Girl and Kid Flash. With his goofy and sometimes inappropriate humor, it made sense that he was characterized as the team’s youngest member. Ironically, he changed his name during this time to something that didn’t reflect his age as much.
Starting with the relaunched series’ first issue, Garfield Logan changed his superhero title to Changeling. It still honored his shapeshifting powers, though according to him, it had more “pizzazz” than his former moniker. By the time of Geoff Johns’ Teen Titans run, however, he went back to being Beast Boy.
8 Titans Tower Was Created By Cyborg’s Father
Titans Tower is the most iconic base of the Teen Titans, but it wasn’t introduced until the 1980s. Beforehand, they usually operated out of a cave in Happy Harbor. Ironically, the creator of Titans Tower wasn’t a teen at all, though he was one of the Titans’ father. Silas Stone had a fractured relationship with his son Victor that only grew worse following Victor’s transformation into Cyborg.
Wanting to reconnect with him and be their for his son, he noted how happy he’d become while working with the Teen Titans. Thus, Silas created Titans Tower so that the team had a place to call home, with the gift being one of the last things he did for his son before passing away.
7 Deathstroke (Slade) Was Once A Staunch Ally Of The Titans
Deathstroke the Terminator debuted as one of the New Teen Titans’ worst enemies, with the man also known as Slade hunting them down as part of a contract. Since then, he’s remained one of their biggest threats, despite his children, like Ravager, being regular members of the Teen Titans. At one point, however, he and the Titans had put their differences aside completely.
Following the death of Terra, the Titans come to a begrudging truce with Deathstroke and actually ally with him on certain missions. In fact, this Nightwing even vouched to Batman for Slade when the latter came to Gotham City to clear his name. Sadly, he’s since reverted to an almost cartoonish villain, keeping his feud with the Titans alive.
6 Brother Blood Is The Titans’ Most Consistent Villain
The Titans’ trinity of villainy is easily Deathstroke, Trigon and Brother Blood. The latter is perhaps their biggest opponent, namely due to how pervasive his evil is. A cult leader who tapped into the religious fears of the 1980s, Brother Blood and his home of Zandia are some of the eeriest parts of Titans lore.
He’s never turned good like Deathstroke, and while he’s been tied to Trigon, he’s easier to write stories around than the terrible demon. Strangely enough, he’s rarely had very accurate adaptations in outside media, with the Teen Titans cartoon in particular having to tone him down.
5 The Atom Once Led A Very Different Group Of Teen Titans
The conclusion of Marv Wolfman’s tenure on The New Titans was the end of an era. A new version of the team was subsequently formed by Ray Palmer, a.k.a. The Atom. Artificially aged back to being a teenager, his group of Teen Titans consisted of young heroes with alien DNA.
Beyond the Atom, these new Titans were completely fresh, as were most of the villains. Sadly, the team didn’t take off due to the lack of connection to previous iterations. It remains something of a black sheep for the property’s history, despite the book itself being well-received.
The absence of the “normal” Titans left a void for a younger team of heroes. This was filled with Young Justice, who – like the original Teen Titans – were younger partners for the Justice League’s biggest heroes. Despite this concept and an erroneous assumption in the team’s first issue, they weren’t a new version of the classic Titans.
Young Justice would prove to be a popular series, and its core team was later bolstered with original and non-sidekick characters. After the death of Donna Troy, however, the team disbanded, with the main members joining the Teen Titans a few years later. Ironically, the Young Justice cartoon bears more resemblance to the Teen Titans than the Peter David comic book of the same name.
3 Starfire Was Nightwing’s First Major Love Interest
Though Dick Grayson is now paired with Batgirl, Robin/Nightwing’s first true love was Starfire. The Tamaranean refugee learned English by kissing him, and the two eventually developed a strong romance. This would remain their status quo until the 1990s, with Dick Grayson and Koriand’r almost getting married. DC adaptations have utilized the couple to varying degrees.
The Teen Titans cartoon, the DC Animated Movie Universe and Titans have embraced this iconic pairing, which actually has far more historical precedent than Nightwing and Batgirl. They were also married in the dark future of Kingdom Come, having a daughter named Nightstar.
2 Wonder Girl And Robin Have Both Led The Teen Titans
Robin/Nightwing is the usual leader of the team, likely because he’s the most recognizable sidekick. Even when Dick Grayson is absent, the Tim Drake Robin adan Damian Wayne Robins have either led the team outright or been prominent parts of the team. Usually when Robin isn’t in charge, it falls on Wonder Girl to lead the team.
Donna Troy was Dick Grayson’s second in command during The New Teen Titans. Conversely, the Cassie Sandsmark Wonder Girl led the team after Tim Drake left and became Red Robin. Given that the Wonder Girl mantle has been mostly defined in Teen Titans comics, this development makes sense.
1 The New 52 Temporarily Erased Titans History
The New 52 reboot did away with the DC Universe’s deep sense of legacy, truncating events and erasing character history. The most affected by these changes were the Teen Titans. Originally envisioned as the current version of the team that undid the history of the Young Justice generation, the New 52 Teen Titans were solidified as the only incarnation of the team.
This proved controversial, especially since it coincided with moves such as replacing Martian Manhunter with Cyborg in the Justice League roster. DC Rebirth has undone many of these moves, with at least some version of the classic team’s history restored. Everything from The New Teen Titans to Young Justice now seems to be back in continuity.