The Teen Titans were created back in 1964, and despite years of ups and downs, revamps
and new team members, the series is still one of the most popular superhero teams to
date.
But popularity doesn’t come without a bit of controversy.
So today we’re counting down the top 10 controversial moments in Teen Titans.
We’re sticking to moments that specifically occurred during the Teen Titans series, meaning
to do with the comics, films and television series rather than controversial moments that
occurred amongst members of the Titans individually.
So with that in mind, lets jump in!
10 Anti-Drug Campaign Since the 50’s, after Fredric Wertham’s
Seduction of the Innocent led to the Comics Code Authority and the censorship of any mention
of drugs or other ‘harmful’ topics, drug issues had been handled sensitively through
the Silver and Bronze ages.
And whenever they were featured in comics, in both DC and Marvel, the comics were pretty
much depicted drugs in the same way – as evil, with the wholesome heroes fighting against
drug crimes and advising teens to steer clear.
As was the case with the New Teen Titans; The Presidents Drug Awareness Campaign between
1983 and 1984, and was explicitly sponsored by major companies, including Keebler, the
American Soft Drink Industry and IBM.
A few adjustments were made to the titans though in order to fall in line with the corporate
sponsorship – Starfire’s outfit was altered to be less revealing, and Robin was replaced
with Protector due to licensing issues.
9 The Judas Contract Film While we’ll be touching on some of the more
controversial aspects of the Judas Contract, film and comic arc, a little later on, for
this number we’ll be taking a look at how the 2017 animated film is taking a page out
of other DC film adaptations – by trying to be more ‘adult’.
How has this affected the retelling of this iconic Titans story arc?
Well, it’s trying real hard to be sexy.
As if sex and hormonal impulses didn’t cause the superhero group enough grief, the recent
film seems to jack the sex appeal right up, with critics noting that it may be the horniest
dc cartoon to date.
Nightwing and Starfire tend to be the main focus of this, with a lot of focus on the
two either talking or joking about sex.
And Terra…well, her cringe worthy seduction scenes had a lot of people feeling mighty
uncomfortable.
8 Terry Long After Marv Wolfman and George Perez revived
the Teen Titans series as The New Teen Titans in 1980, Donna got a romantic interest by
the name of Terry Long.
Who was an older professor who at times just creepily hung out at the Titans Tower.
He was 29 while she was 19.
He also had a kid from a previous marriage.
She marries Terry in Tales of the Teen Titans #50 in 1985.
But Terry didn’t last overly long, with their marriage ending in divorce, a restraining
order – that he filed against her and Terry and his kids dying in a car crash.
He would creepily reappear in Blackest Night.
7 Robert Long Speaking of Terry, while Donna was only married
to him for a brief while, it was long enough for her to conceive a child with him, who
they named Robert.
While Donna was pregnant, a group of Titans from the future travelled back in time with
the intention of killing her in a very Terminator-esque narrative in order to prevent her unborn child
from becoming Lord Chaos in the future.
The Titans ended up working with the future titans to defeat Lord Chaos.
But that wasn’t enough for Donna – she went to the Titans of Myth to have her and
her son’s powers removed to ensure that Robert wouldn’t grow up to become Lord Chaos.
Not that any of that mattered though, because Robert was one of the children who died in
the car accident with Terry.
He was only 3.
Robert would also show up in Blackest Night.
6 Tim Drake Kills The Geoff Johns Teen Titans ‘The Future
is Now’ story arc takes the Titans to the 31st century, with their return trip dropping
them off 10 years in the future from their present day.
This gives the Titans an interesting look at what their futures are like, and Tim Drake’s
is particularly jarring.
Tim was now donning the Batman mantle, and used lethal force.
And a gun.
To the point where Arkham Asylum had been converted to a cemetery for villains.
5 Robin’s Costume Ever since the news of the live action Teen
Titans adaptation came out, the internet has been buzzing with speculation.
Titled Titans, the show will include Dick Grayson, Raven, Starfire, Beast Boy, Hawk
and Dove.
But while excitement is high, there has been some outrage over Dick Grayson’s Robin costume.
Because it’s not Grayson’s.
The costume is actually the Robin costume designed by Neal Adams for Tim Drake.
Traditionally Grayson (and Jason Todd’s) Robin costume features a yellow cape, green
scaled underoos and pixie boots, while Drake’s is seen as being more modern, which is likely
why the production opted to design a costume closer to his threads instead.
4 Cover Controversy Moving out of moments found within the Titans
narratives and to one revolving around their comics’ publishing, let’s take a look
at the stir that Teen Titans Volume 5 issue 1 caused when it was released in 2014 as a
reboot to the series.
Aside from fans critiquing the very different looks of many of the titans on the cover,
former DC Editor Janelle Asselin’s critique caused the most controversy, and even led
to fans of the comic bombarding her with threats of violence and social media harassment.
Not cool.
Janelle had written a review in which she broke down the fact that Wonder Girl Donna
Troy had been over sexualized on the cover, along with a critique of the art style and
the piece as a whole.
3 Dick and Kory’s Wedding New Titans #100 featured the wedding of Nightwing
and Starfire.
While it was clear that the decision to get hitched was a spontaneous one, and that Dick
clearly had cold feet going into it, the real shocker came in the form of Raven.
She appeared, possessed by Trigon, her demon father, and proceeded to murder the wedding’s
priest.
Via disintegration.
Then, she pretty much makes out with Kory, planting Trigon’s seed inside of her.
It was the climax of Raven’s internal struggle to remain good, even though she had the blood
of her demon father running through her veins.
2 Nightwing and Starfire Get It On In New Teen Titans Vol 2 from 1984, the depiction
of Dick and Kory’s relationship got a bit of heat by critics.
Even though they had been a couple for a lengthy time prior, the two were shown in bed with
one another, which gained some controversy.
While not containing any direct nudity, there was MUCH that was implied within the panels,
with the two often lying naked in bed barely covered by sheets.
Some felt it wasn’t too far of a stretch from the already scantily clad Kory and her
superhero uniform.
To others, the implication of implying that the teen titans were sexually active was inappropriate.
Despite this, the depiction of the pair’s sex life would could to be a staple in the
series, even in more recent years.
1 Terra and Deathstroke Terra’s betrayal of the Titans was a big
deal.
Readers witnessed her working hard to become an integrated, trusted member of the group,
a force of her own, and many were excited about her promising romantic relationship
with Beast Boy.
Then it was revealed that she had been working with Deathstroke all along; a plot twist that
wasn’t overly common back in those days, and one that spawned what is likely the most
iconic Titans story arc – The Judas Contract.
But there was something unsettling about Terra’s new alliance with Deathstroke.
It wasn’t just a partnership in a platonic sense – it was romantic, which led many
critics to note that it made Deathstroke seem pedophilic.
There we have it friends!
What other moments in the Teen Titan’s history do you consider to be controversial?
Let us know in those comments below.
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In the meantime thanks for watching!
I’ve been Kelly Paoli and this has been top 10 nerd.
See you all in the next one!