Recent changes Random page
GAMING
Entertainment
 
Star Trek
SouthPark
Dragonball
 Twilight Saga
Terminator
See more...

Teen Titans

From the DCAU Wiki, working on 1,308 articles

Jump to: navigation, search
This article is written
from the Real World
perspective

Teen Titans was an animated series that followed the adventures of the superhero team of the same name. The main characters were Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Raven and Starfire.

A wealth of secondary characters also appeared, mostly drawn from DC comics, as well as a few original characters who were created for the show.

Contents

[edit] Teen Titans characters in the DCAU

[edit] Canonicity

The canonicity of Teen Titans within the DCAU is debated by fans. However, some fans believe that the show actually follows the continuity of The Batman.

[edit] Arguments Against Canonicity

  • Batman did not recognize the Gordanians in Justice League, "Starcrossed," despite their being the cause of the Teen Titans' origin in the Titans episode "Go!"
  • Teen Titans displays a markedly different animation style from the established DCAU, often reaching outright cartoonish levels.
  • In the "Old Wounds" episode of Batman: The Animated Series, Dick Grayson left Batman as a college graduate making him visibly too old to be the same character as seen in Teen Titans.
  • In Batman: The Animated Series, assuming that Dick Grayson left Bruce previously and that Titans did not occur after the events portrayed in Old Wounds, Dick Grayson never mentioned any adventures with the Teen Titans.
  • Dick Grayson's personality is different in Batman the Animated Series than it is in Teen Titans; furthermore, his physical abilities are far more advanced.

[edit] Arguments For Canonicity

  • Batman tells Static that Robin is "with the Titans" in the Static Shock episode "Hard as Nails". Later in the series, "The green dude" (Beast Boy) is mentioned as a member of the Titans in "Romeo in the Mix".
  • Dick Grayson's absence between Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures, makes him available to the Teen Titans in the DCAU timeline. Batman's comment in "Hard as Nails" may indicate that Tim Drake joined the team later. Of course, complete separation from Batman isn't necessary as in the comics continuity Robin appeared in both Teen Titans stories and Batman stories at the same time.
  • As an alternate argument, Dick Grayson could have also become Robin and trained with the Teen Titans before he returned to become Batman's partner in Batman: the Animated Series, where he is a college kid and much older than he was during the show, Teen Titans.
  • Robin switches his costumed identity to Nightwing in "How Long is Forever," an alternate future episode of Teen Titans. In The New Batman Adventures, Dick Grayson also assumed that identity. (This implies the show takes place before The New Batman Adventures.)
  • In a flashback on Teen Titans episode "Haunted" Robin's parents are shown falling from trapezes and he pledges his allegiance to a figure that appears to be Batman, which could be a reference to "Robin's Reckoning".
  • Bruce Timm said a Justice League/Teen Titans crossover was discussed with creators of both shows. See Comics Continuum
  • The character Speedy appeared in Justice League Unlimited's "Patriot Act" with a similar character model to the Teen Titans model and voiced by the same actor, Mike Erwin.
  • "Kid Flash" appeared on Teen Titans, voiced by Michael Rosenbaum, who also provided the voice of Flash in Justice League (although, again, his origin flashback seems to contradict Kid Flash's existence). Kid Flash was Wally West's costumed identity prior to the death of Barry Allen in DC comics. The same Kid Flash costume appears in Justice League Unlimited, "Flash and Substance".
  • Lightspeed Energy Bars appear in the Teen Titans episode "Lightspeed," which were first introduced in "Eclipsed".

[edit] Robin's True Identity

Another controversial issue is the identity of Robin. The following is information regarding that subject;

[edit] Tim Drake

A few individuals believe that in order for the Teen Titans cartoon to fit into the DCAU's continuity, (although not all believe it does) that Robin must be Tim Drake, since he was the current Robin in the DCAU. There are however very few things that would support the idea that he is Tim Drake. He does use a bow staff, which was very popular for Tim Drake's comic book counterpart. He also seemed a bit more cocky than Dick Grayson, which is more in line with Tim Drake's character. In fact, Dick Grayson in the DCAU is characterized as very aloof and light-hearted compared to Robin of Teen Titans, even as Nightwing.

It could be argued however that the show takes place after Tim Drake's abduction by the Joker as it took Leslie Tompkins one year to get Drake through the experience which would make him roughly the right age for the Titan's Robin and although Batman forbade him to be Robin in Gotham, Tim's rebellious nature could mean he decided to continue in another city without Batman's approval. It could also explain why the Robin in Teen Titans is so hateful of criminals like Slade and obsessed with catching them.

[edit] Jason Todd

Some fans have speculated that Robin is Jason Todd, since he was never shown in any other medium but comics. There are no significant arguments to back this theory up. An episode of Teen Titans did give a vague reference to Jason Todd though but it referred to him as a the possible identity of the new Red X; it could have been considered as merely an in-joke. And if it wasn't an in-joke, it still doesn't prove that the Robin from this cartoon is Jason. If anything, it confirms that he definitely is not.

[edit] Dick Grayson

The majority of fans believe that the Robin from this cartoon is Dick Grayson. There's more evidence to suggest that he is Dick Grayson than anything else. Some fans, although they do believe that this Robin is Dick Grayson, don't believe that the show takes place within the continuity of the DCAU, while other fans also believe that Robin is Dick Grayson and the show definitely does take place within the DCAU.

The explanation often given by those who think "Teen Titans" is in the DCAU continuity is the fact that the show takes place at a point sometime before Batman: The Animated Series. Or possibly even sometime between Batman: TAS and The New Batman Adventures. Robin on the Teen Titans cartoon appears younger than the Robin in B:TAS, although this could just be because of the show's stylistic differences. Also, it's possible that even though he was seen stripping off his costume and throwing it down in "Old Wounds," it's possible that Dick could have had/made another costume and joined the Teen Titans for a while before becoming Nightwing.

But continuity of the show aside, there are still several things that suggest (although in most people's opinions it's solid proof) that this Robin is Dick Grayson. The first one is the fact that when Starfire travels to the future in "How Long Is Forever?", Robin is now Nightwing, which is what Dick Grayson is known to be in the comic books and in the DCAU.

Another one is that in the episode "Fractured," Robin's counterpart from another dimension was named Nosyarg Kcid, which is Dick's name spelled backward. The Flying Graysons are also shown in a flashback sequence on "Haunted." Also Robin's pants are green just like the BTAS Dick Grayson/Robin. Tim Drake's pants were red. (of course this would just be considering the possibility that Teen Titans is part of the DCAU's continuity, because it could also be argued that the Teen Titans Robin was based on the Tim Drake Robin of the comics).

It's also been argued that if Robin was Tim Drake rather than Dick Grayson then Starfire should be much older, and not in love with him, since that's how it is in the comics. Once again this is not necessarily a worthy argument, since the comics continuity is totally separate from the animated continuity. Still, the fact that the show is so obviously based upon the look of "The New Teen Titans" comics of the '80s would make one wonder why someone other than Dick Grayson would be used as the Robin. His relationship with Starfire is a big part of this series, and the same is the case in the comic books.

In an issue of the Teen Titans Go! comic, which takes place in the continuity of the TV show but set after the events of the series, Robin was revealed to in fact be Dick Grayson, and also showed Batman for the first time implictly as existing in the Titans continuity, resembling his DCAU design.

Retrieved from "http://dcanimated.wikia.com/wiki/Teen_Titans"
Rate this article:
Share this article: