fandomhigh_ooc | Spotlight on Fandoms: The New Teen Titans

The New Teen Titans!

The Teen Titans' first incarnation was back in the '60, and was pretty much comprised of disgruntled sidekicks, teenage mini-heroes who wanted more respect. There was Robin/Dick Grayson, Wonder Girl/Donna Troy, Kid Flash/Wally West, Aqualad, Speedy/Roy Harper (Green Arrow's sidekick). In 1980, the series was rebooted as "The New Teen Titans." This is the series where Fandom's Raven comes from. Fresh from the Justice League telling Raven "Sod off, you're evil" when she came to them for help against her father, she reformed the Teen Titans, including original members Robin, Wonder Girl, and Kid Flash (Speedy and Aqualad did pop up for a few appearances), and adding Beast Boy/Changeling, as well as new characters Cyborg, Starfire, and, of course, herself. She used a wee bit of empathic manipulation to get them all to come together (more than a wee bit in Wally's case -- she made him fall in love with her), but it wasn't out of any malicious intent. She knew Trigon would attempt to conquer the Earth, and she needed a group of heroes to repel him. The New Teen Titans (later just "The New Titans") ran from 1980 - 1996. It was retooled in new forms and is currently running as two titles: "Teen Titans" (consisting of Robin/Tim Drake, Wonder Girl/Cassie Sandsmark, Ravager, Red Devil, Miss Martian, Supergirl, Blue Beetle (hi, Jaime!), Bombshell, Kid Eternity, Static, and Aquagirl) and "Titans" (consisting of Nightwing, Flash, Donna Troy, Beast Boy, Raven, Cyborg, Red Arrow, and Starfire).

The Core Team

	Robin/Dick Grayson/Nightwing Robin was the most well-known and popular character on the new team -- due in no small part to being the sidekick of one of DC's most well-known and popular characters. Dick's parents were circus performers who were killed by the Gotham mob when the circus owner refused to pay extortion money. Bruce Wayne adopted Dick, and Dick eventually learned that Bruce Wayne was Batman. Bruce offered the job of sidekick to Dick, and thus Robin was born. He, like Batman, had no superpowers of his own, but was trained extensively in fighting and detecting skills (as well as having his own acrobatic circus training to fall back on). After Dick was wounded by the Joker, Batman "grounded" him, though Dick refused to accept that. Not long after he was summoned by Raven and took over the leadership role of the New Teen Titans, where he also began a romance with Starfire. Eventually Dick abandoned the Robin identity and became Nightwing. He had an evil future self known as "Deathwing" pop up at some point, but I think he got retconned out of existence.
	Wonder Girl/Donna Troy/Troia Donna Troy was another orphan adopted by a superhero -- or so she thought. Her birth mother had given her up for adoption, and a fire destroyed the orphanage, but not before Wonder Woman rescued her. This was later retconned when Donna was revealed to be one of the "Titan Seeds," children raised by the original mythological Titans and given god-like abilities and powers. When she found out her true (at the time) background, she changed her name to Troia. Donna often took over the leadership role in the Titans when Dick wasn't around, though she retired and gave up her powers after she got married, got pregnant, and found out her son would take over the world (as one does). Eventually after a divorce and the subsequent killing off of her family, she rejoined the Titans and had her powers restores when her new true origin was revealed -- that she had been created by a sorceress to be a playmate for wonder Woman as a child and cursed to live countless tragic lives. But she's all better now. Maybe.
	Kid Flash/Wally West Wally wasn't an orphan. Surprise! But his aunt was dating Barry Allen, aka The Flash. While visiting his Aunt Iris, Wally was introduced to his idol, Flash, and when he asked Flash how he got his powers, Flash set up the chemicals he'd been working with at the time, thinking that the lightning strike that trigger the change in him would never happen again. Cha! Lightning struck, chemicals went explodey, and Wally got the same speedster powers. Flash taught Wally everything he knew about the powers and gave him a sidekicky costume. Wally was the most reluctant to join the reforming Teen Titans, so Raven, knowing he would be needed, made him fall in love with her. He was understandably quite bitter when he found out, and that, coupled with his powers beginning to cause him pain, caused him to leave the team. Eventually he took on the identity of the Flash when Barry Allen was killed.
	Starfire/Princess Koriand'r/Kory Anders Starfire was princess of the planet Tamaran. She was second in line for the throne, but her older sister, Komand'r, couldn't fly, so succession went to Koriand'r. This, of course, made Komand'r just a wee bit bitter. She betrayed her world and helped conquer it, forcing her parents to turn Koriand'r over. Kory was tortured for years, including energy absorbtion experiments that gave her the power to fire "starbolts," blasts of solar energy. Giving your prisoners destructive powers is always a bad idea, and Kory escaped and found her way to Earth. Raven had foreseen her escape and directed the newly formed Titans to rescue her. Fearing to return to her home, Kory remained with the Titans and took on the name Starfire. She also had a career as a fashion model, and somehow no one connected Starfire, the 6'4" golden superhero with long red hair, with Kory Anders, the 6'4" golden model with long red hair. Aside from flight and starbolts, Kory is also well-trained in hand-to-hand combat, as Tamaran is a warrior culture. She also has no shame, which means the artists can draw her eating a sausage and not wearing any underwear. No, really. Starfire and Nightwing almost got married, but evil!Raven interrupted the ceremony and killed the priest. And kissed Starfire. And knocked her up. Sorta. Just go with it.
	Cyborg/Victor Stone Victor is the son of scientists who worked in S.T.A.R. Labs. One day while visiting them, he was attacked by a giant glob of jello that came through an interdimensional portal. It killed his mother and severely injured Vic before his father managed to drive it back. His father then fit Vic with prosthetics to save his life, replacing 90% of his body, including half his face. Vic didn't take this very well and considered himself a monster. But the implants gave him enhanced strength, toughness, and speed, as well as integrated weaponry and the ability to interface with computers, so Raven recruited him for the new Teen Titans. He still considered himself a freak, but gradually came to accept his new body when he started helping out a group of children who were in therapy for their own prosthetic limbs -- and who idolized Victor as their hero. He's the brick of the team and frequently is blown up, but fortunately he can be reassembled.
	Beast Boy/Garfield Logan/Changeling When he was a child, Gar fell seriously ill, and the only cure was a serum that came from a green monkey. The serum worked, but it also left Gar green and with the ability to change himself into any animal form, from the size of a fly to an elephant to a dinosaur. He was a member of the Doom Patrol and called himself Beast Boy until they all got blowed up (but they got better). After he was recruited by Raven to the Titans, he changed his name to "Changeling" because it sounded less dorky than "Beast Boy." He is the joker of the team, mainly to hide his angst over his parents dying, his foster mother dying, his foster father going insane, and his girlfriend turning out to be an evil spy.
	Raven Oh, Raven. You know the story, daughter of a demon, taught to repress her emotions lest they be used to control her and make her serve her father. She formed the Titans to fight Trigon after the Justice League dissed her. In canon, the Titans were able to seal Trigon away for awhile, but he was still able to influence Raven, and eventually he escaped and took control of her. The Titans were able to defeat Trigon again, and Raven was seemingly killed in the process, but she rose from the ashes of the battle and vanished. She somehow got captured by a cult known as the Church of Blood, which worshiped her father. Brother Blood planned to marry Raven and knock her up with evil little demons, but she was rescued by the other Titans. After that she started wearing a white cloak and allowing herself to experience emotions, thinking herself free of her father's influence. Riiiiight. She seemed to die again but reappeared as evil!dominatrix!Raven, implanting seeds of her father's children in new bodies. She interrupted Dick and Kory's wedding and implanted a seed in Kory, but it was actually the essence of her good self, which was reformed in a golden spirit body after her evil!dominatrix!body was destroyed for good (yeah right). Her spirit eventually found a new body, but she was once again kidnapped and brainwashed by the Church of Blood. Brother Blood married her as part of a prophecy that the marriage between Brother Blood and Raven that would result in Armageddon. Fortunately, she was again rescued and restored to herself.

Other Members

Terra/Tara Markov - earth manipulating lying betraying sociopath. She was hired by Deathstroke to infiltrate the Titans and learn their secret identities. She was successful in fooling them all (except Raven, but she wasn't sure if her empathy was going haywire due to her father's influence so she didn't say anything). When confronted by the Titans after betraying them, she lashed out with her powers and killed herself.

Jericho/Joe Wilson - gentle, peaceful mute artist with the ability to possess people once he made eye contact. Horribly abused by DC when he became possessed by the Trigon-tainted souls of Azarath and went evil until his father, Deathstroke, was forced to kill him. Of course he wasn't dead, and he started jumping from Titan to Titan until Raven absorbed him. Cyborg put him on a computer disk (don't ask), and later Raven was able to resurrect him. And then he went insane again. *sigh* Poor Jericho.

Danny Chase - Think Wesley Crusher, only he didn't grow up to be cool like Wil Wheaton. Danny was an annoying kid with telekinetic powers who tried to join the Titans. Nightwing didn't want to be responsible for someone so young, so he booted Danny out. Danny then started hanging around under a sheet calling himself "Phantasm." When he died, there was much rejoicing.

Aqualad - Sidekick to Aquaman. He didn't show up very often. Talks to fish.

Speedy - Sidekick to the Green Arrow. Another orphan! Eventually changed his name to Arsenal, and later the Red Arrow.

Enemies

Frequent foes included:

Trigon (Raven's daddy) -- the personification of the dark emotions purged by those of Azarath. Ooops! He conquered or destroyed millions of worlds, and he's got a hankering for Earth. He also has six retconned sons -- Wrath, Greed, Lust, Gluttony, Sloth, and Envy. Guess what that makes Raven?

Deathstroke the Terminator (Slade Wilson) - a mercenary who ended up tangling with the Titans to fulfill a contract his son failed to complete. He came pretty close to taking out the Titans, but never succeeded. Eventually, he became an ally of the Titans. Except when he wasn't.

The Brotherhood of Evil - an evil crime syndicate lead by the Brain. No, not the rat, a disembodied human brain. Included Phobia, who made your fears real; Houngan, who made voodoo dolls of his foes; Plasmus, who reduces people to protoplasm; Warp, who opens holes in space; and Mallah, a super-intelligent gorilla.

The Church of Blood -- a cult that worships Trigon. It is led by Brother Blood, who has mind-control powers, and who apparently is some kind of vampire now (haha!). The title of "Brother Blood" is passed from father to son. The Titans first tangled with the father, then later the son, and both of them want to marry Raven.

The Fearsome Five -- a highly dysfunctional team of villains, but what do you expect when they were formed via a want ad? First led by Dr. Light, the "master of illumination," who was pretty pathetic until they turned him into an evil rapist, wtf, but eventually Psimon, the man with a plastic skull given powers by Trigon, took over. Other members included Shimmer (matter transmutation), Mammoth (pretty much a Juggernaut clone), Gizmo (genius with tech toys), Jinx (elemental sorceress), and Neutron (human nuclear bomb).

H.I.V.E - Evil! Criminal! Scientists/Terrorists!

Komand'r/Blackfire -- Starfire's evil sister. Komand'r couldn't fly and was denied her birthright as heir to the Tamaran throne. Naturally, this pissed her off, so she helped conquer her home planet and send her sister off into slavery. She later ended up accepted as leader of Tamaran, but because she still hated her sister, she refused to listen to Starfire's warnings and ended up getting her planet blowed up.

Where Can I Find It?
Your local comic book store, of course, though finding all the back issues might be a tedious task. The animated series bears some resemblance to the comics, though I can't say for certain because when I saw they made Raven grey and snarky I didn't watch it. :P

You might be able to find the hardcover Teen Titans Archives (reprints of the original comics) Volumes One, Two, Three, and Four in comic stores. Or you can find paperback collections of some of the major storylines, such as Terra's infiltation of the Titans, The Judas Contract (Terra's betrayal), Who Is Donna Troy (Donna's many many changing origins), and, of course, my favorite, The Terror of Trigon, on Amazon.

...not that I have a thing for angsty half-demons struggling with their evil side. NOT AT ALL OKAY???

Spotlight on Fandoms: The New Teen Titans

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