Terra (comics)
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Terra is a fictional character in the DC Universe. Created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, she first appeared in New Teen Titans #26 (December, 1982).
Character history
Tara Markov, half-sister of Geo-Force, was the illegitimate daughter of the King of Markovia. While in Markovia she came under the care of a Dr. Helga Jace, through her experiments Terra obtained terrakinetic powers: specifically, the ability to control all forms of earthen matter. After obtaining these powers she left Markovia for the United States.
Terra became a mercenary, doing dirty work for others such as Deathstroke the Terminator (who she shared a romance with, despite being barely sixteen years old while he was a grown man). She joined the Teen Titans, fooling them by staging a battle versus Deathstroke. She then operated as a spy for Deathstroke, eventually giving him the information he needed to kidnap the Titans.
Eventually, the captured Titans were held in a stronghold of Deathstroke's contractors, The H.I.V.E.. Nightwing and Deathstroke's son raided the complex to rescue them, but were captured. When presented to Deathstroke and the organization in general, Jericho possessed his father and freed the Titans who then attacked H.I.V.E.. Not knowing of Jericho's powers, Terra believed Deathstroke to have turned against her. In retaliation, she went berserk and fatally pulled the whole H.I.V.E. complex down upon herself. Despite her betrayal, a statue of her was placed in the Memorial in Titans Tower.
Revival
In 1991, Terra reappeared as part of Team Titans from a possible 2001. She developed an attraction to Beast Boy, but he rejected her.Though this new Terra initially believed she was a different girl who had been surgically altered to resemble the original Terra, she was told by the Time Trapper that she was not from the future at all, although she destroyed Time Trapper's messenger orb out of panic before he could elaborate further. Subsequently, she discovered Tara Markov's coffin to be empty.
Further genetic evidence suggested she was the original Terra, but due to her horror at what she did, Geo-Force decided to spare her this knowledge, thinking she would rather have no past at all. Terra has appeared occasionally afterwards, usually in scenes involving Teen Titans reserve members.
In the "Titans Tomorrow" storyline, wherein the Titans glimpsed a grim possible future, Terra (in a costume modeled closely after her original) is a member of the Titans East, a more benign rival group that opposes fascist future versions of the current Teen Titans. (This future's version of Beast Boy still bears a grudge against Terra and wants nothing to do with her.)
Terra showed up in Infinite Crisis #4 and Teen Titans #32 to help Conner Kent defeat the Earth-Prime Superboy.
Powers and abilities
Terra has control over the Earth and can transform the consistency of earth and rock. She can use this power to cause earthquakes, tap into lava flows and create shapes out of solid rock.Appearances in other media
Animated Series
Terra is also featured in the Teen Titans animated series, voiced by Ashley Johnson. In this version, Terra appears much less physically developed. Her diminutive frame, skinny limbs, and longer, lank blonde hair work to create a dramatic contrast between her tremendous power and her apparently frail body. These changes also make her look closer to Beast Boy's age relative to the other Titans.
In this setting, she also betrayed the Titans to Deathstroke, (called Slade in the series), despite her relationship with Beast Boy, but was portrayed as more of a lost soul than an irredeemable psychopath. Also, her dysfunctional relationship with Slade more closely resembles the twisted family dynamics exhibited between the comic's Deathstroke and his daughter Rose Wilson, than the comic book Terra and Deathstroke's extremely illicit romance.
Terra was portrayed as an outgoing, fun-loving, tomboyish orphan girl, driven to wander from place to place. Her poor control of her terrakinesis caused earthquakes, avalanches or mudslides wherever she settled, causing her to be ostracized by those she tried to aid. When she joined the Titans, Beast Boy quickly discovered the volatility of her powers, though Terra, fearing rejection, made him promise not to tell the others.
On a mission with the Titans, Terra was approached by Slade, who, playing on her vulnerabilities, told her he knew her secret. He offered to train her to better control her powers, warning her that Beast Boy would break his promise. When Robin figured out her lack of control on his own, Terra left in panic, wrongfully believing that Beast Boy had betrayed her trust. She then defected to Slade.
After training with him, she returned to the Titans as his undercover agent, under orders to spy on them and compromise Tower security, which she did not without her own doubts and hesitation. When she took Beast Boy on a date to occupy him and cover the attack, Slade followed, and revealed his alliance with Terra to Beast Boy. Beast Boy's subsequent angry, impulsive rejection of Terra hurt her enough to prompt her complete turn to the side of evil.
Now Slade's villainous apprentice, she was given armor with a neural link to Slade to ensure her complete obedience, and instructed to hunt down and kill her former friends. However, after taking a beating from both the Titans and Slade, she had a change of heart, and with Beast Boy's help (she pleaded at him to kill her so she could be free, but Beast Boy refused and turned the tables on her), broke free of Slade's control.
During the ensuing fight, Terra accidentally triggered a volcano, killing Slade. When it began to erupt, the Titans told Terra to flee with them. Instead, realizing that only she could stop the upcoming disaster, she stayed and sacrificed herself to save the city, turning into a stone statue in the process few after tearfully saying good-bye to Beast Boy. The Titans vowed to find a way to reverse the process, and laid a plaque at her "grave" reading: "Terra: a Teen Titan, a true friend."
The series finale, titled "Things Change," centered around the possible return of Terra, when Beast Boy crossed paths with a civilian high school student who looked and sounded exactly like her. Although Terra's underground statue had disappeared, the girl claimed to have no memory of her former life. There are hints throughout the episode that she truly does remember, such as her statement that "Things were never the way you remember [...] Things change, Beast Boy. The girl you want me to be is just a memory." However, the girl's true identity and the mysteries behind her appearance are left unexplained.
Amalgam Comics
During the Amalgam Comics run, Terra was infused with Terrax of Marvel Comics to create the character of Terra-X, who appeared during the second X-Patrol issue.References
- [Titans Tower biography]
- ['San Diego Comicon 2005: Teen Titans Behind The Scenes', Titans Tower (July 19 2005)].
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