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Titans (comics)

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For the animated television series based on this comic book, see Teen Titans (TV series).
The Teen Titans, briefly known as simply The Titans, is a DC Comics superhero team that first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #54 (July 1964).

As the group's name suggests, its membership is usually composed of teenaged superheroes. In its early adventures, the team is a junior Justice League of sorts, featuring Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad, the sidekicks of Leaguers Batman, The Flash, and Aquaman, respectively. The team has branched out to include Wonder Woman’s protégé Wonder Girl and characters not connected with adult heroes, notably Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven.

The Teen Titans comics stumbled to find an audience in their early days, but became one of DC’s most beloved franchises in the 1980s when writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez began work on the series The New Teen Titans. Since then, the characters have maintained at least moderate popularity and have been adapted into an animated series that aired from 2003 until 2006.

Contents
  • 4 ''Team Titans''

    • Silver Age

    Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad first team together in The Brave and the Bold #54 (July 1964). Wonder Girl soon joins in Showcase #59. Despite Wonder Girl's history as a teenaged version of Wonder Woman, an editorial error presented her as a separate entity, a sidekick to the adult character. (This was finally addressed fully in the 1980s.) The Showcase #59 appearance is the first usage of the term "Teen Titans," and it portrays the characters as a junior Justice League, joining together as had their mentors: Batman, Flash, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman. The Teen Titans were popular enough to be awarded their own series with issue #1, cover-dated February 1966. The early issues are noted for Nick Cardy's luminant artwork and Bob Haney's un-hip teen slang.

    The series's original premise was the Teen Titans helped teens, answering calls from around the world. They save a town pillaged by teen rockers gone bad, the Flips. They help a teen reform his brother, the burglar Ant. They defuse teen rumbles, investigate international teen tension at the Japanese Olympics, and vindicate a teen who claims interdimensional aliens are infiltrating his high school.

    The original Teen Titans.
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    The original Teen Titans.

    Green Arrow's ward Speedy also soon joins, but the series also introduces entirely new teenaged heroes, notably Lilith Clay and Mal Duncan and incorporates exising heroes such as Hawk and Dove, a pair of teenaged brothers.

    The series's tone shifts from the freewheeling fun of the 1960s to the darker side of the modern world, particularly the Vietnam War and its related protests. One storyline beginning in issue #25 (February 1970) sees the Titans deal with the accidental death of a peace activist, leading them to reconsider their methods: how can anyone fight for peace? The Teen Titans even abandon their superpowers to work as unpowered civilians, but the change brought howls of protest from fans. Robin temporarily departs. The theme of teenagers learning to take on adult roles and responsibilities is common throughout the series.

    The series' popularity flagged during the early 1970s and went on hiatus as of issue #43 (February 1973).

    Notable Silver Age appearances

    Silver Age members

    Founding members

    Later members

    Honorary members

    Loren Jupiter, one of the world's richest men, briefly became a mentor to the team as well.

    Silver Age Teen Titans graphic novels

    Graphic novels by DC collecting the most well-known adventures of this era:
    Title Material collected
    Showcase Presents Teen Titans Volume one The Brave and the Bold #54 & #60, Showcase #59, and Teen Titans vol. 1 #1–18

    1970s revival

    A few years after its cancellation, the series resumed with issue #44 (November 1976) but struggled to find focus, moving through a number of storylines in rapid succession. Notable among these are stories involving the mysterious Joker's Daughter and Teen Titans West, a team consisting of a number of other teen heroes. 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 sadly go their separate ways.

    Notable 1970s appearances

    New 1970s Members

    (Note: Mal Duncan has two separate heroic identities during this run; first as the Guardian and later as the Hornblower. After Crisis on Infinite Earths, those identities were retconned away, and he was established as having always been the Herald.)

    Titans West members:

    (Note: After Crisis on Infinite Earths, Bumblebee and Mal Duncan/Herald were said to have been a part of the Titans West at some point, and the character of Bat-Girl was replaced with Flamebird.)

    New Teen Titans (1980–1996)

    George Perez and Marv Wolfman's Titans. This is the most famous of the Teen Titans incarnations.
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    George Perez and Marv Wolfman's Titans. This is the most famous of the Teen Titans incarnations.
    
The New Teen Titans #1 (November 1980) introduces a team of new Titans, anchored by founding members Robin, Wonder Girl, and Kid Flash. It re-introduces the Doom Patrol's Beast Boy as Changeling and introduces the machine man Cyborg, the alien Starfire, and the dark empath Raven. Raven, an expert manipulator, forms the group to fight her demonic father Trigon, and the team remains together thereafter as a group of young adult heroes.
    

The villains' motivations are often complex, particularly in the case of Deathstroke the Terminator, a mercenary who takes a contract to kill the Titans, in order to fulfill a job his son is unable to complete. This leads to the Titans' most complex adventure, in which a psychopathic girl named Terra infiltrates the Titans in order to destroy them. This story also features Dick Grayson, the original Robin, adopting the identity of Nightwing. New Teen Titans also regularly features the Monitor as a background character.
    

Other notable New Teen Titans stories include "A Day in the Life...", featured a day in the team members’ personal lives. "Who is Donna Troy?" depicts Robin investigating Wonder Girl's true identity (#38), and "We are Gathered Here Today..." tells the story of Wonder Girl's wedding, noteworthy for being the rare superhero wedding in which a fight didn't break out (#50).
    

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. 
    


    

    Cover to New Teen Titans #1 (1984). Art by George Perez.

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Cover to New Teen Titans #1 (1984). Art by George Perez.
    

    

    


New Teen Titans fans experienced some title and numbering confusion when DC moved some of its more popular books from the newsstand to the direct distribution market (comic book specialty stores) in 1984. New Teen Titans became Tales of the Teen Titans for a year (not to be confused with the earlier limited series), while a new series named The New Teen Titans launched with a new #1. The former book began reprinting the latter's stories for the newsstand a year later, and ran until issue #91, but the direct market series printed only new stories.
    

Issue #1 of the direct market New Teen Titans created controversy when Dick Grayson and Starfire were depicted in bed together, although it had been established for some time that they were a monogamous couple. Pérez left the series after New Teen Titans vol. 2 #5, and the series began to flounder (Wolfman reportedly suffered from writer's block, and other writers contributed from time to time). José Luis Garcia Lopez followed Pérez as artist, and Eduardo Barreto contributed a lengthy run. Pérez returned with issue #50, the series again being renamed, this time to The New Titans: the characters were no longer teenagers. Issue #50 tells a new origin story for Wonder Girl, her link to Wonder Woman having been severed due to retcons in Crisis on Infinite Earths. Pérez remained through issue #61.
    

The series introduced a number of characters and puts others through radical changes. Though The New Titans ran for another 7 years, the group which appears in the final issue, #130 (February 1996), bears little resemblance to the one that anchored DC's line-up in the early 1980s.
    


    New Teen Titans and the Uncanny X-Men
    

    

    The Uncanny X-Men team up with the New Teen Titans in a Marvel/DC crossover one shot.

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The Uncanny X-Men team up with the New Teen Titans in a Marvel/DC crossover one shot.
    

    

    

The brainchild of writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez, New Teen Titans is widely thought of as DC's answer to the increasingly popular Uncanny X-Men from Marvel Comics: Both series depict young heroes from disparate backgrounds whose internal conflicts are as integral to the series as is their combat against villains. Both books were instrumental in moving mainstream comics in a more character-driven direction.#redirect  New Teen Titans also uses long story arcs, and the characters are 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 actually met in the 1982 crossover one-shot entitled "Apokolips...Now". 
    


    Notable New Teen Titans appearances
    


    New Teen Titans graphic novels
    
Graphic novels by DC collecting the most well-known adventures of this era:

    
 Title 
 Material collected 

    
DC Archives: The New Teen Titans Volume one 
DC Comics Presents #26 
    The New Teen Titans vol. 1 #1–8

    
DC Archives: The New Teen Titans Volume two
The New Teen Titans vol. 1 #9–16 
    Best of DC (Blue Ribbon Digest) #18.

    
The Judas Contract
The New Teen Titans vol. 1 #39–40 
     Tales of the Teen Titans #41–44 
    Annual #3

    
The Terror of Trigon
The New Teen Titans vol. 2 #1–5

    
Who is Donna Troy?
The New Teen Titans vol. 1 #38 
     Tales of the Teen Titans #50 
     The New Titans #50–55 
     Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files 2003.

    


    New members in The 'New Teen Titans
    

    

    A montage of the 60s, 80s and 90s incarnations of the team; art by Nick Cardy, Dan Jurgens & George Perez.

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A montage of the 60s, 80s and 90s incarnations of the team; art by Nick Cardy, Dan Jurgens & George Perez.
    

    

    


    

    New members in The New Titans
    


    Team Titans
    
Team Titans is another Titans spin-off. The series ran from 1992 to 1994 in 28 issues and two annuals. The members, most of whom hail from an alternate future, are almost all erased from existence during the 1994 Zero Hour storyline, and the series was cancelled.
    


    Team Titans Members
    

    

    Deathwing, art by Phil Jimenez.

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Deathwing, art by Phil Jimenez.
    

    

    


    
Mirage, Terra, and Deathwing survive; it is established that they are from the current timeline after all. Mirage and Terra join the main Titans team, and Deathwing is enthralled by an evil aspect of Raven and turned against the Titans.

    Other Team Titans characters
    

    


    • Anvil
    • Aurora
    • Axe
    • Backbeat
    • Bongo
    • Brass
    • Crystal
    • Deathwing (formerly Nightwing 2001)
    • Droom
    • Enforcer
    • Fusion
    		 


    • Hellebore
    • Hero X
    • Judge
    • Lazarium
    • Monsieur Poniard
    • Señorita Navaja
    • Silent Vapor
    • Silver Shield
    • Sunburst
    • Volt
    • Wonder Boy
    


    Teen Titans (1996–1998)
    

    

    Teen Titans (2nd series) #5 cover, featuring the 1996–98 team.

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Teen Titans (2nd series) #5 cover, featuring the 1996–98 team.
    

    

    

A new Teen Titans series written by Dan Jurgens began later that year with a new #1 issue (October 1996). 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 24-issue run, which ended in September 1998. 
    


    New members in the Teen Titans, vol.2 (1996) series
    


    Notable appearances
    


    The Titans (1999–2002)
    
The team is revived in a 3-issue limited series, JLA/Titans: The Technis Imperative, featuring nearly every character who had been a Titan and showcasing the return of Cyborg. This limited series leads into The Titans written by Devin Grayson, starting with Titans Secret Files #1 (March 1999).
    

This incarnation of the team consists 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).  This version of the team lasted until issue #50 (2002).
    

The West Coast branch of the team - Titans L.A. - appears once, in the pages of Titans Secret Files #2.
    


    

    The Titans roster. Art by Phil Jimenez.

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The Titans roster. Art by Phil Jimenez.
    

    

    


Between Teen Titans and The Titans, the next generation of young heroes - Superboy, Robin, Impulse, Wonder Girl, Secret and Arrowette - had their own team in Young Justice, a series similar to the original Teen Titans.
    

The series, written mostly by Peter David and with art mostly by Todd Nauck and Lary Stucker, was a fan-favorite and was noted for its humor, which had a tendency toward meta-fiction.
    

Both series were concluded with the two-issue limited series Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day, which leads into new Teen Titans and Outsiders series.
    


    

    Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #2 (2003). Art by Ale Garza and Jeromy Cox.

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Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #2 (2003). Art by Ale Garza and Jeromy Cox.
    

    

    


    New members in The Titans (1999) series
    


    Titans L.A. members
    


    Notable appearances
    


    Teen Titans (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.
    


    

    Teen Titans #1 (July 2003) by Geoff Johns and Mike McKone. Cover art by Michael Turner.

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Teen Titans #1 (July 2003) by Geoff Johns and Mike McKone. Cover art by Michael Turner.
    

    

    

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. 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 saw 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.
    


    Notable appearances
    


    New members in the Teen Titans (2003) new series
    


    One Year Later: The new Teen Titans
    


    [Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.
    
In the "One Year Later" 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. 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 capabilities. New members Kid Devil and Rose Wilson (as Ravager), the latter of who was accepted at the request of Nightwing. 
    

During the lost year, at least 24[Newsarama.Com: Teen Titans: One Year - Different] new members joined the team, all of them short-term, from the new Hawk & Dove, Aquagirl, and someone who appears to be Plastic Man's son Luke dressed like Offspring from The Kingdom limited series, to previously unseen characters such as a teenage , Talon, Power Boy, and Miss Martian. Without proper leadership or the feeling of family the Titans normally provides, none of the new members could get along and work together.  
    

A memorial to Superboy has been erected outside Titans Tower. Unknown to the other Titans, Robin secretly has 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 awkward kiss. 
    


    [Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Promotional information about upcoming comic book storylines follow. Details and publication status subject to change prior to publication.
    

    


    

There are also two active teams of Titans. The main Teen Titans team is still located on the west coast and Titans East is on the east coast. Geoff Johns referred to Titans East as juvenile delinquents who will be causing trouble, and described one character as who he believes will be the first white trash superhero.[Newsarama.Com: Wwla - Dcu: One Year Greater Panel]

    Spoilers end here.
    


    New members One Year Later
    

    


    Trade paperbacks
    

    
 Title 
 Material collected 
 Story

    
 A Kid's Game
 Teen Titans Vol. 3 #1–7  
     Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files 2003.
    		Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy put the new team together, as a way to help the ex-Young Justice members.  
     Raven and Deathstroke reappear.  
     Impulse becomes Kid Flash.

    
 Family Lost
 Teen Titans Vol. 3 #8–12 
     Teen Titans #1/2.
    		The Titans confront the new Brother Blood, Deathstroke and Ravager (the ex-Titan Rose Wilson), to free Raven.  
     Cyborg files Jericho away as a computer file.

    
 Beast Boys and Girls
Beast Boy  #1–4  (1999 limited series) 
     Teen Titans Vol. 3 #13–15
    		 All children in San Francisco get infected by Sakutia, the same illness that turned Gar into Beast Boy, while he loses his powers.

    
 The Future is Now
Teen Titans Vol. 3 #16–23  
     Teen Titans/Legion Special #1
    		The Titans go to the 31st century to help Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes.  
     In the returning voyage, the team get stuck 10 years in the future and meet the older versions of themselves.  
     Once back to the present, they face off (with the help of former Titans) against the now dangerous Dr. Light.

    
 The Insiders
Teen Titans Vol. 3 #24–26  
     Outsiders #24–25, 28
    		Superboy gets brainwashed by Lex Luthor, and Indigo from The Outsiders reveals herself as Braniac 8. 
     Indigo gets killed by her lover, Shift. 
     Superboy leaves the team after overcoming Luthor's programming. 
     Nightwing leaves the Outsiders and declares that he's quitting life as a superhero. 
     Captain Marvel Jr. joins the Outsiders.

    
 The Death and Return of Donna Troy
 Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #1–3  
      Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files 2005  
      The Return of Donna Troy #1–4
    		

    
 Life and Death
Teen Titans Vol. 3 #29–33  
      Teen Titans Annual #1  
      Robin #146–147.
    		The Titans deal with Brother Blood, who now leads the undead Titans East.  
     Later, amidst the chaos of Infinite Crisis, Superboy dukes it out with Superboy Prime.

    


    In other media
    


    

    The Teen Titans from the animated series.

    Enlarge
    
The Teen Titans from the animated series.
    

    

    

The team's first non-comics appearance was in backup segments of the 1960s series The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, featuring Speedy, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, and Aqualad.
    


    

    From 2003 until 2006, a Teen Titans animated series aired, with stories that emulate the Wolfman/Perez era and an art style influenced by anime. Briefly airing on Kids WB, Teen Titans premiered 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. 
    

Although popular, the decision to use a manga-influenced style rather than the Bruce Timm style used in the DC animated series Justice League Unlimited, disappointed some fans. Other fans were more accepting, noting that many stories are based on comic book stories such as important storylines like "The Judas Contract" and "The Terror of Trigon." 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, is in the works.
    

Two video games were made based on the show.
    


    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 votegetter for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Story for 1998.
    


    See also
    


    References
    

    


    External links
    

    


    


    


    


    


    


    



     



    

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